Saltwater Wood

Posted by admin on January 16, 2010 · Leave a Comment

Saltwater Wood
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!

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!