Thinking about a South American puffer

[Dare]

In short I saw these guys can work in a semi aggressive community

my tank 75 gal 1 blood parrot 4.5”, 5 buenos aires tetras 2.5”, pictus catfish 5”, 7 3” tiger barbs these guys are old and lazy now lol, and a 13” ropefish

I know about the dentistry required if they don’t get enough snails but I have bladder snails like crazy in a 29 I have

the blood parrot is the newest maybe 2 months old, I just rehomed some severums I had that grew to about 8” and the parrot will join them in a 125 once he gets bigger

anyone have experience with South American puffers? the main thing I’m worried about is him taking a bite out of the ropefish

Thanks

 

[neko1]

your tank is too small to house a group of pictus catfish in my opinion.
I would advice a max of 3 puffers in that size tank. But they are group fish so ..

Keep in mind that they are very weak for ammonia / nitrate levels etc.
So you will need to do waterchanges every week in a decent amount. They can be very mean to other fish but it really depends on the fish its behaviour and i cant say for certain that it will go great or bad with your fish.

 

[Dare]

your tank is too small to house a group of pictus catfish in my opinion.
I would advice a max of 3 puffers in that size tank. But they are group fish so ..

Keep in mind that they are very weak for ammonia / nitrate levels etc.
So you will need to do waterchanges every week in a decent amount. They can be very mean to other fish but it really depends on the fish its behaviour and i cant say for certain that it will go great or bad with your fish.

I only have 1 pictus, I know they are recommended to be in groups but he’s been solo for about 10 months and is almost always out swimming around, of course he has a favorite hiding spot but doesn’t do too much hiding anymore, I’ll post some pics when I get home, and if I got the puffer it would only be 1

 

[Deadeye]

These guys are nervous wrecks - they need to be in groups to feel secure and act properly.
I’d be concerned about them with the rope fish - last thing you need is one thinking the other is food. Blood parrot may also cause an issue with aggression. Amazon puffers should be the only remotely aggressive fish in their tank.

 

[Dare]

These guys are nervous wrecks - they need to be in groups to feel secure and act properly.
I’d be concerned about them with the rope fish - last thing you need is one thinking the other is food. Blood parrot may also cause an issue with aggression. Amazon puffers should be the only remotely aggressive fish in their tank.

So only get the puffers if I can accommodate a group of them? That’s disheartening lol back to the drawing board and probably back to looking for an African butterfly

Thanks for the information

 

[Deadeye]

Amazons break the rules - almost every other species would do fine in its own.