figure 8 puffer in 20 gallon?

M

Mooch28

AC Members
Dec 24, 2004
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Toronto (Brampton)
Im thinking of converting my 20 gallon gold fish tank into a tropical one. Id like to get a puffer in there, but how many of these guys could be put in a 20? Ive heard they can be aggresive. The tank is bare right now, with just a few fake plants and some plain black gravel. How will the puffers do in a tank like this?

Also, what are some suitable tank mates for them in a 20 gallon?

Thanks.
 
the recomended tank size is 30 gallons for 1 puffer so id put 1 ;)
 
I agree with RTR. If you can find two docile figure 8's you could possibly put two in the tank. I currently have one in a 10 gallon tank all by himself and he is healthy and happy. I thought about getting a 20 gallon and adding other fish but my Figure 8 is not very friendly. Anything added to the tank is food as far as he is concerned.
Remember though, Figure 8's require brackish water and are not a fresh water fish.
 
razorxxx - that rule of thumb is for ~6" puffers, GSPs, Ceylons, Arrowheads, Palembang's - Not for ~3" F-8s, nor SAPs, nor any of the Carinotetraodons. Can you picture one ~1" dwarf in a 30, three in a 90?
 
yes i can. I GOT IT OFF A WEBSITE-LIVEAQURIA.COM :mad:
 
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razorxxx said:
yes i can. I GOT IT OFF A WEBSITE-LIVEAQURIA.COM :mad:
Click to expand...

First off, keep your cool. The internet and the hobby, is flooded with misconceptions and flat out bad advice.


What RTR is trying to explain to you is that puffers come in a variety of sizes and species. From the giant Fahaka puffer that needs his own 180g, to the cool little dwarf puffers which (as PurpleSmurf already mentioned) only need around 3g's per fish.

I honestly don't agree with most of the minimum tank sizes on liveaquaria.com (the RTC profile used to recommend a min. tank of 180 :rolleyes: ). So even though they recommend a min. tank of 30g for the fig. 8 puffers, (that's actually a surprisingly generous estimate from them), a 20g will be just fine for a single specimen.


EDIT: BTW Mooch28, since fig. 8's are brackish water fish, this belongs in the "Brackish" discussion forum. The system can only work as long as those within it, support it.
 
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razoxxx - You are correct, that site does list a 30 gallon as minimum tank size for Dwarf Puffers. Pathetic. I knew there was more bad info than good about puffer on the web, but that is a new high - or low as the case might be.

Give them credit, they do know that DPs are FW (many do not know this), but it might be handy if they were aware that their genus is entirely FW.
 
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