Saw some at a chain petstore(bad, i know!)and got curious about them. I will admit right now, i haven't done a google or yahoo search on them, but i thought i'd ask here about their care, tank requirements, aggressiveness, feeding requirements, adult size, etc.

So, please educate me or point me to some webpages where i can learn about them. The petstore didn't have a scientific name or what type they were, just said "freshwater puffers"....

Thanks! :)

It really depends on witch one you are after as there are alot of them. The Fahaka Puffer is to agressive to be keept with tank mates once they are older, but there alot also alot witch are ok with other tank mates.

oh dear, this could be a problem as there are so many different puffers and not all "freshwater" puffs are actually freshwater, some need brackish water. Also the freshwater puffers range from the tiny dwarf puffer fish, to the giant tetradon mbu.

There are a few snippets of info here on brackish, and fish profile, hopefully punky will see this thread as well. Im gonna take a look for a good site ut i cant promise anything untill tommorow

were the puffers really tiny? like less than an inch? if they were then it's likely that they are dwarf puffers (these are the only freshwater puffers that i know of that are sold in the ''chain'' stores)

if you find out what kind they were we can definately get ya some info on their care :)

They were actually about an inch to an inch and a half long...not really tiny, about the same size as the baby oscars which were in the next tank.

I'm going to go back and ask the employees if they have a name for them, there has to be something in the paperwork, right?? They definately got me curious, but i always do my research before getting any animal, so i'm not getting any anytime soon...i did find a site on dwarf puffers(www.dwarfpuffers.com) and two other sites: http://www.rr.iij4u.or.jp/~kohda/en/en-dwarfpuffer.htm and http://www.pufferlist.com/. The latter of which i tried to use to identify which ones i saw at the petstore, but a lot of them look a lot alike. lol

So i have decided to go back to the petstore and try to find out from them which species they have, do my research and then maybe set up a tank for them. Doing my research will help me decide whether or not this would be a good idea. I've already learned that they put out a lot of waste and need more frequent water changes and a good filter to ensure they stay healthy....and that their dietary needs are pretty strict too.

I really hope that this petstore knows these things and tells ppl who buy the fish this...

Well, I know our petco has some spotted puffers right now, they've had them for a while, they're starting to get big too.

They ended up being figure-8 puffers(brackish and not a dwarf, right??)and pea puffers(true dwarf and 100% freshwater, right?)...i'm still debating it, as my poor, angelfish just died and once i get his 20 tall cleaned out and disinfected, i'm thinking about getting 5 of them. I'm not planning on doing this anytime soon, i have lot's of research to do first. And i wanna make sure that the angel really died from the ADA in the tank and not from something else, so i wanna clean it really well, replace filter media, etc.

Better to keep in odd numbers, right? Also read they need 2-3 gallons/puffer of space, so 5 should be great in my 20 tall, right? Also need tanks that are heavily planted, so i'm going to run the tank with plants after it's cleaned, for a while before getting the puffers.

But from what i have learned on here and on www.dwarfpuffers.com, they eat: frozen bloodworms, live snails, ghost shrimp, frozen krill, fr. daphnia and fr. glass worms. That's what was on the list that i know my awesome lpf has on hand(not the lps i saw the dp's at though).

Good filtration is a must, so while my tank is a 20 tall, i'm getting a h.o.b. filter that's made for a 40 gallon and turning the flow down pretty low and putting sponge piece in the tube so puffers don't get sucked up. Is that overly paranoid, would a filter made for 20 gallon tanks be just fine??

Temp at 80°F. PH neutral(7.0). No tank mates, though some ppl keep oto cats with them. I'll keep mine alone though.

So does my plan sound alright?? Anything else i should know? I'm currently wading through pages from a yahoo search, trying to learn everything i can. :)

in a 20 tall, i would do either 1 fig 8 or 2-4 dwarf puffers.

the problem with dwarf puffers is that one might become "dominant" and eat all the food and leave nothing for the other ones... so i would make sure they all get food every time you feed them (a turkey baster or syringe works well for spewing bloodworms in their faces).

have you ever had a brackish setup before? if not, and you want to keep the fig 8, i can help you get started. i would personally go with dwarves though. it depends if you want a few little smiling faces or 1 bigger smiling face looking at you waiting for food!

let us know what you decide!

Hi Punky, thanks for the quick response. :) So 4 is a better number. I'm definately taking your advice to the letter. :) Don't wanna mess this up.

I have done a brackish before...i had bumblebee gobies, kept them for about a month in completely freshwater before i read in a book(way before i had internet, i think it was back in 1989ish)that they were brackish water fish. So i slowly raised the salinity up, can't even remember now what ppm i had it set at. lol Passed the info on to the store i bought them from(Petland i think), and had them for about a year. I think. It wasn't really long at all. But i have a special place in my heart for bbg's now, they are so personable for such a small fish. :) Plus the way they hop is kind of cute.

So i have very limited experience with brackish water setup's...so while i'd like to try my hand at the figure-8...i think i'm gonna go with the pea's. :)

I'm sure the more i research, the more questions i'll have. lol Thanks. :)

I keep 4 DPs in a 55 gallon tank along with 9 FFF (florida flag fish). They (the DPs) are a bit aggressive for being so small, but the FFF are tough enough to stick up for themselves. :starwars: I would personally do no more than 3 or 4 in a 20 tall. I have found mine to be more aggressive with each other until my plants grew in a bit. They definately need something to break up their view of each other. If you get some fast growing stem plants, they will swim at all levels equally, once the plants grow in well. Also, now that I've grown in my plants well my female FFF are looking gravid, so maybe they will spawn soon. I hope I have enough hiding spots for the fry. I know the DPs will certainly be relentless in hunting them down.

I can't really comment on any other Puffer species, but I really enjoy the style of puffers. I will eventually get a SW puffer, but for you I'd suggest the DPs for now.

*oddy claps* :hug: hey MLH, love your approach to this ^^, your gonna get a real nice puffer by the look of things :D

Anyway yes they are very, VERY messy feeders, worse then most of my catfish in comparison (ive had the dis/pleasure of a tetradon mbu for a few weeks for my lfs while he made tank space, damn thing ATE one of my filters, 28 rainbow crabs and anything i saw fit to put in there) and need good filtration for their size. I totally agree with the no other fish policy, ive seen the damgae these fish can do.

Also, you know that they need shelled victims to keep their beaks trimmed down? ohterwise youll have to do this by hand, and trust me it looks a sod to do

In any case a final note, you know that they are venomous? not externally, but their internal organs contain one of the most lethal poisons going, tetradotoxin, its enough to stop you respiratory system n the matter of hours. (sorry random fact but its 7.08 am and im typing as it comes to my mind) i guess if one goes "missing" you should make sure that its just hiding coz you dont want it getting into the water system of the tank.

Well MLH i wish you the best of luck, coz your gonna get a nice happy puffer or two