What kind of puffer fish should I get?
I have a 26 gallon tank – penguin biowheel filter. I recently asked about cichlids for this, however, I have since thought about a species puffer fish tank. There is so much conflicting info on the internet I thought I would ask here.
1-what type of puffer fish would you recommend – I don’t mind either freshwater or brackish, but don’t want saltwater.
2-how many puffer fish in this tank?
3-what is the best set up – plants (I don’t want real), rock caves, wood, color of gravel, etc. Best to have more swimming room, or more hiding places?
4-best types of food?
5-Should I put any other fish species also, if so what?
6-Why would you recommend this type of puffer?
Any other info that you think could help me (puffer specific)- I am familiar with cycling the tank, cleaning, etc.
*I don’t plan on ever upgrading this one to a larger tank – so need a type that can stay in this, I already have a 75 gallon community.
Thank you for your help!
1. I would get some dwarf puffers. They are only freshwater and are about one inch.
2. You could probably do about 5 or 6.
3. lots of plants, and lots of places to hide and explore
4. snails
5. No other fish, perhaps a little otto cat, some shrimp would be nice
6. they are really neat little fish with cool personalities.
I’d go for either the pygmy puffer or the figure 8 puffer (the figure 8 is my personal favorite but you would be able to have more of the pygmy)
Okay so here’s in your format…
1 – Figure 8 Puffer
2 – Just one
3 – Plants, rock caves, and wood are all okay as far as I know. They appreciate obstacles and plants to swim in and out of but they’re not hiders and will need some open space as well. They will spend most of their time watching you.
4 – Frozen foods such as bloodworms and brine shrimp work, but they will also need some crunchier food items, such as snails and ghost shrimp (if a puffer isn’t fed enough crunchy food you will have to clip its teeth)
5 – I would recommend only the puffer. Some people have success mixing figure 8′s with bumblebee gobies, but I tried that out and lost one of my gobies. It depends on the puffer – they all have their own personalities.
6 – I like Figure 8 Puffers because of their unique coloring patterns and their “friendly” faces. They always look like they’re smiling at you! I also like how whenever I stick my hand in to clean or move stuff around my puffer follows my fingers around. They recognize their feeder and watch eagerly when you come close to the tank (although this is true of a lot of puffers), and for this reason you can hand feed them if you’re careful about your fingers!
Here’s a video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1vxiATS422I
1 – Pygmy Puffer
2 – I’m not sure – I would say a few, but your fish store should be able to tell you. I know they don’t require a ton of space because they’re so tiny.
3 – Same as with figure 8 I would think. Sand substrate is helpful.
4 – Same as with figure 8, minus the ghost shrimp.
5 – Bumblebee gobies, and sometimes people have luck with otocinclus (algae eaters).
6 – Tiny little guys with big eyes that watch you all of the time. Watching them hunt is a hoot as well. Here’s a vid:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6o1fw9jtRNc
Good luck and enjoy your puffer(s), whichever one you select!
I’m HUGE GSP puffer fanatic…I have figure eights and green spotted right now, which are the two most commonly available brackish species…a lot of people/places will sell them as fresh because they tolerate fresh for short periods, but both are brackish.
There are few true fresh species…one is the fahaka puffer, but you couldn’t have anything else in the tank with it and you’d probably need a bigger tank. The others aren’t commonly available..I think another fresh species is called the Congo Puffer, and maybe the Ceylon, but don’t quote me on the Ceylon – that might be brackish.
The questions you asked are species specific so once you select the species you want to have then I could give you answer cause each species has it’s own unique needs.
For the fresh/brackish ones it’s usually a bad idea to mix species…mostly because they have different water quality needs…..for example my figure eights and green spotted puffs are in different tanks…not only cause four puffs in a 30 gallon tank is way too many, but because they have different salinity preferences.
My personal fav is green spotted because they are spunky and generally aggressive, they are intelligent fish that learn and are in a sense personable and they have funny individual quirks…mine are very playful…I just love the hell out of em….I could never own a goldfish or tetras – no personality -….for example with this brackish species the recommended smallest tank size for an adult is 30 gallons…they are competitive and territorial…right now I have two juveniles in a 30 gallon and I’m already seeing those traits developing in them…when they’re younger they tend to tolerate having another puffer in the tank, but as they get older they get more aggressive and territorial….keep in mind puffs aren’t shoaling/schooling fish…you don’t and a lot of times shouldn’t put another puffer in the tank…they won’t get “lonely” and that’s generally a bad idea.
As a general rule they are carniverous….eating shelled animal like snails and crustaceans, but some eat seaweed, … I feed mine bananas once in awhile, but you’ll here people talk about the importance of feeding them hard, crunchy food and that is improtant because a puffer’s beak(teeth) is always growing and it NEEDS those harder shelled foods to keep its beak filed.
If for example you wanted to keep two green spotted in a tank together through adulthood you’d need a minimum 60 gallon tank.
More space is always a good thing with puffs and seriously a 26/30 gallon tank is the bare minimum…as soon as I move and have the space I’m getting both sets of puffs, the green spotted and the figure eights their own HUGE tanks. I’ll use the others for breeding pond snails for them to eat or something.
Once you’ve decided on a species I’d be glad to help you further.
If you don’t plan on upgrading the tank I wouldn’t put more than one gsp in the tank, maybe two figure eights as the are generally less aggressive…salt water puffs tend to be more docile though…so it’s worth considering if it bothers you to only have one or two smaller sized puffs in the tank.
I’m happy to meet another puff fan!
everything Adam said- except i think you could have as many as 8- they only need 3 gallons each, as they’re so very tiny!
do a google search for dwarf puffer info- there is a site dedicated to them- also look for them on youtube- you’ll soon see why they’re the talk of the town!
i’d say to go with sand substrate, and to feed them on meaty foods only- brine shrimp, worms, snails, etc- they LOVE snails!!!
1- dwarf puffers. They’re really small compared to other puffers,easy to keep.
2- I don’t know, but don’t get more than 10 because they fight each other.
3- I don’t really think it matters. My puffer stays near the surface most of the time but sleeps on the artificial leaves. You can get some plastic plants, but I don’t know about caves.
4- Mine eat freeze-dried shrimp, small snails are good especially if you have a lot of puffers. They just eat the snails and you don’t have to feed them that much. They DON’T eat flakes or that kind of food. Live food is best.
5- If you want, you can put some large non-aggressive fish. I have ghost shrimps in my fish tank, but only because they’re larger than the puffer. Small ghost shrimps might get killed and eaten.
Puffers are great fish and its really good to hear your wanting to research the fish before buying it!
I own one figure eight puffer and have done tons of research on several kinds of puffers and im more than happy to share some of that info with a future puffer owner:
1. The only two types of puffer you could put in a 26 gallon tank would be dwarf puffers(100% freshwater) or figure eight puffers(low end brackish). Do not get a spotted green puffer, they get too big(up to 6″)for your tank, so be careful when going out to buy b/c a lot of times stores mislabel these little guys.
2. If you go with dwarf puffers you could go with up to 5-8 little puffers. They only grow to be 3 cm in length at adult size so they stay small and cute. If you go with figure eights 2-3, theyre adult size will be about 3 inches. Both puffers make wonderful pets and its really up to you wich ones to get, the dwarfs are easier to take care of b/c theyre freshwater but figure eights have beautiful patterns that do not fade with age.
3. Plastic plants are fine Just make sure the plastic ones are not too sharp b/c puffers have sensative bellys that could get scratch up. Yes hiding places need to be provided so that they could get away from the light. Most of the reaserch ive done says to provide lots of hiding places but MY puffer prefers to swim in the open and around the plants so i would say have a nice balance of hideaways and swimming area.For the gravel i would go with a more natural looking color but thats more of a preference. A lighter color would help them find any uneaten food at the bottom of the tank, make sure to get fine gravel tho cuz like i said they have sensitive bellies, sand would be better but fine gravel works just fine for me.
4. Puffers eat meaty foods like frozen or dried brine shrimp, shrimp pellets, they LOVE bloodworms, and pond SNAILS! Puffers have teeth that grow throughout their entire life so youll need to feed them something with a shell to wear theyre teeth down like snails. One pond snail per puffer a week should work just fine. Pond snails can be found at just about any fish store, they usually get ship in along with the fish and live plants so theyll be in most of the tanks. Usually stores dont sell them theyll just give them to you for free. You could even breed them so you wont have to constantly make snail runs to the store. I breed them in a small 1 gallon tank, just add water and a piece of lettuce every now and then and theyll survive on that alone. They require almost no care at all, water changes are optional but recommended so that it doesnt stink plus you want your snails to be healthy so that your puffer doesnt eat sickly snails.
5.Tankmates: puffers are agressive fish so adding tankmates can be a try until you get it right process. It took me 3 tries and fish returns to get it right. My puffer gets along with a cute little oto catfish. Id recommend an algae eater or a bottom feeder like a cory catfish. Bottom feeders would also be good b/c puffers are very messy eaters so a bottome eater will clean up any uneaten puffer food. Every puffer is different so youre probably gonna have to several times. A tank with only puffers would work best.
6.I would only recommend dwarf puffers or figure eight simply because of the size of your tank. Puffers in general are great fish.
Im glad your familiar with cycling b/c youll need to have your tank completely cycled before putting puffers in, puffers are sensitive fish and do not do well in a uncycled tank.
Well i believe i covered all of your questions but please do not JUST take our advice, there are many cites out there that provide helpful info about puffers. Theyres just waaay too much info to type on here but i did my best.
I hope you do decide for sure you want to get puffers, I absolutely love my little figure eight!
Best of Luck!