Inherited 2 puffers

[madhippoz]

Howdy. I recently ended up getting 2 puffers (T. fluviatilis variety) about 2" in size each. Unfortunately I only had 1 free 5gal tank at the moment. While at a minimum that would be ok for one of them for now, its not enough for both. I happen to have a 77gal Brackish tank with 3 Colombians, 5 Knight Gobies, and 2 Archer fish. What do you think a puffers chance would be in such a tank? If I move one into that tank do you think he'll survive. The colombians are about 7 inches, but are non-aggressive to the extreme (don't ask me how that happened) I'm more worried about the gang of Knight Gobies picking on him, or of the Archers taking picking on him. I have 2 planted tanks overflowing with snails, so live foods in that manner won't be a problem. Any thoughts?

 

[GrImLoCk]

hmm i would be more of the opposite worried the puffer might pick on the gobies but with a tank that big i personally think that set up would be fine be sure to accilmate them to brackish if they weren't in brackish b4

 

[supahtim]

Grim's right...most LFS' put brackish fish in freshwater. its a lot easier to clean and they don't have to go through with the hassle of setting up a brackish tank. the 2 puffers should be fine in that 77g tank. they would be the aggressors if anything. BTW, congrats on your purchase! puffers are awesome

Tim

 

[madhippoz]

My knight gobies are a might feisty themselves. They gave my archer fish a pretty rough time until they got big enough to assert themselves. I'm told they had them in a section that was all Brackish fish, but as you mention, you can never assume if they are keeping them in Brackish or not, so I'm slowly acclimated the little 5gal tank up to the level of the 77gal tank.

BTW, congrats on your purchase! puffers are awesome

Heh thanks, I only wish I'd bought them. They were gifts of a sort from someone who knew I liked puffers, but didn't understand at the time that I didn't have any because I really didn't have a place in mind as to where to keep them . Their getting along well in the 5gal for now. I've been giving them a steady diet of snails from my planted tanks (finally revenge HAHA!) so their filling out nicely. I might wait until they get just a little bit bigger, and then move them into the 77gal. More than likely I'll only move one over at first to see how he interacts with the Gobies and Archers. If that goes well I'll move the other across. I'm sure the Colombians will be too busy swimming in circles in the corner to even notice their there .