Blue dot puffer in a 20g L

[clownfish07]

Hello everybody, I recently have fell in love with puffers, and I was wondering if I could keep a blue dotted puffer in a 20 gallon long? Thanks!

 

[blaxsun]

Blue spotted? 20 gallons would be a bit small long term. You'd ideally want something in the 40-50 gallon range.

 

[clownfish07]

Blue spotted? 20 gallons would be a bit small long term. You'd ideally want something in the 40-50 gallon range.

Which puffers would you reccomend for that tank size long term, I can’t upgrade unfortunately due to size restrictions.

 

[Lyss]

Which puffers would you reccomend for that tank size long term, I can’t upgrade unfortunately due to size restrictions.

Maybe I'm wrong but I feel like in a tank that small you'd need to do FW or brackish if you want a puffer. A Figure 8 could work, but is brackish. Also dwarf pea puffers, which are entirely freshwater -- I have 3 of those guys in a heavily-planted 10 gallon, and they are great with the same puffer personality as the big guys. The issue with puffers is they are messy, so require a larger volume of water even at the smaller sizes.

 

[NoahLikesFish]

if you want one, id go for canthigaster leporda they are small and live in deeper water near leather corals and sea fans. you could probably get some other fish too that inhabit a deeper water habitat such as orangeback basslet. some other corals you could do is piorites and montipora

 

[clownfish07]

Maybe I'm wrong but I feel like in a tank that small you'd need to do FW or brackish if you want a puffer. A Figure 8 could work, but is brackish. Also dwarf pea puffers, which are entirely freshwater -- I have 3 of those guys in a heavily-planted 10 gallon, and they are great with the same puffer personality as the big guys. The issue with puffers is they are messy, so require a larger volume of water even at the smaller sizes.

Maybe I'm wrong but I feel like in a tank that small you'd need to do FW or brackish if you want a puffer. A Figure 8 could work, but is brackish. Also dwarf pea puffers, which are entirely freshwater -- I have 3 of those guys in a heavily-planted 10 gallon, and they are great with the same puffer personality as the big guys. The issue with puffers is they are messy, so require a larger volume of water even at the smaller sizes.

Alright, thanks for the info, do you think it could be accomplished with religious water changes and a protein skimmer?

 

[vetteguy53081]

20g would be fine for now. Do know they are NOT reef safe.

 

[Lyss]

Alright, thanks for the info, do you think it could be accomplished with religious water changes and a protein skimmer?

Honestly, I wouldn’t unless I had plans to upgrade to a larger tank at it matures. Since you say you won't be able to upgrade the tank, I wouldn't do it. Puffers are not beginner fish – they require adequate space, quarantine and deworming since most are wild caught and come with internal parasites, need a careful diet of crustaceans to help keep their teeth filed (the only species I'm aware that doesn't is the peas), and most will only accept live food at least until you train them otherwise.

I’m not sure why the recommendation is 40-50 gallons or more for this particular species on every website, but there is a good reason. I know for my pea puffers the rule of thumb was 5 gallons for the 1st fish, and 3 gallons for each additional, b/c they are messy eaters and create a lot of nutrients (and boy that’s for sure), and also their nature is shoaling but they do exhibit aggression towards one another. My tank needs to be very heavily planted to help them not chase and nip at each other. In extreme cases they could kill one another.

Puffers are also very intelligent fish, and they will definitely glass surf and stress if not provided an adequate environment – like if the tank is too small and/or too barren.

 

[clownfish07]

Honestly, I wouldn’t unless I had plans to upgrade to a larger tank at it matures. Since you say you won't be able to upgrade the tank, I wouldn't do it. Puffers are not beginner fish – they require adequate space, quarantine and deworming since most are wild caught and come with internal parasites, need a careful diet of crustaceans to help keep their teeth filed (the only species I'm aware that doesn't is the peas), and most will only accept live food at least until you train them otherwise.

I’m not sure why the recommendation is 40-50 gallons or more for this particular species on every website, but there is a good reason. I know for my pea puffers the rule of thumb was 5 gallons for the 1st fish, and 3 gallons for each additional, b/c they are messy eaters and create a lot of nutrients (and boy that’s for sure), and also their nature is shoaling but they do exhibit aggression towards one another. My tank needs to be very heavily planted to help them not chase and nip at each other. In extreme cases they could kill one another.

Puffers are also very intelligent fish, and they will definitely glass surf and stress if not provided an adequate environment – like if the tank is too small and/or too barren.

Alright, I have kept some freshwater puffers before and yeah they definitely are not easy fish, I will just skip out on them If my tank isn’t enough long term. Thanks for all the responses.