# Opinions about freshwater puffers



## dvantuyl (Apr 26, 2012)

Considering getting a spotted puffer for my community tank but not sure if they're hard to keep alive. Read there a little aggressive but Im sure the cichlids will keep him at bay. Supposedly they need almost brackish water for longivity but i just run standard aquarium salt and no massive amounts. Any thoughts?


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## Crazy (Mar 1, 2012)

I have no personal experiance with them but from what I have read they are a pretty aggressive fish that is very delicate and requires an experianced hand and precise water perameters. I do not think they would be at all suitable for a community tank.


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## SuckMyCichlids (Nov 5, 2011)

Definetly not a community fish and your cichlids would tear him up, they are a lot faster and even more aggro than a gsp, also they don't just need brackish but eventually full marine, they start off in fresh and work their way back to the ocean in the wild so you would have to gradually raise the salinity over time if you wanted a full freshwater puffer look into the pea puffers, but again. Not really suited for a community tank and definetly not cichlids lol


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## dvantuyl (Apr 26, 2012)

Yeah my jewel cichlid is very calm and not aggressive at all but my yellow chases the jewel all the time but never bothers any of the other fish that are way smaller.


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## Kehy (Apr 19, 2011)

If the cichlids don't get the puffer, realize that a puffer's favorite food is snails. Including the shell. If a puffer can easily bite through a snail shell, it'd be even easier for it to bite through a fish. They can get aggressive and have special requirements- they do best in a species-only tank. I can't recommend them for your tank.


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## snail (Aug 6, 2010)

One of my favorite fish in the world and I don't actually think they are delicate but they do have special requirements that must be met or they are a disaster.

Tankmates are tricky. They have a hard beak and an inquiring nature so they will take chunks out of other fish. As they mature they can become very aggressive and territorial, sometimes that means one fish per tank. On the other hand they are slow and like their own space. They contain a deadly toxin so may kill a fish that eats them. They are easily intimidated and will be miserable, sulking in the corner and refusing to eat, if they don't feel safe. I tried my puffers with a molly which I got away with but it wasn't really a great combination, she regularly lost chunks out of her tail but pushed them out of the way and chased them at feeding time, which they got quite sulky about.

Green spotted puffers require high end brackish/full marine water. Dwarf puffers are a fresh water species.

They wont eat flake food and need meaty food like frozen bloodworms. They also require regular hard material to grind down their ever growing beaks. Snails are perfect for this and often people keep a small tank to bread snails as food.

For someone who can give them what they need they are wonderful, full of personality and very entertaining, but not a fish to be taken on casually and not suited to a normal community tank.


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