# Fish compatibility



## rday (Mar 10, 2003)

My girlfriend is limiting my number of tanks, so I have to try to mix as many of the fish that I want as possible in as few tanks as possible... I am sacrificing my failed molly breeding experiment but I really want to keep my 3 blue gourami, but my question is, can I add a couple of small figure eight (or similar) puffers to the gourami tank? I've heard/read conflicting info on the brackish water requirements of puffers and they are fairly aggressive (so I'm told) so I'm not 100% sure they will work with the gourami. But I really want them! Thanks for any advice...

Also, on peteducation.com they say that dwarf puffers need a 30 gallon tank. Is that legit? It seems pretty crazy that a 1" fish needs 30 gallons. Especially one that trolls around all slow.


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## piranha45 (Apr 8, 2003)

I'm sure the 30 gallon part has to be inaccurate


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## unxchange (Mar 4, 2003)

Your gouramies will probably get killed by your figure 8 puffers.. besides, figure 8 puffers need brackish water to thrive. IMO, gouramies are boring, especially dwarf gouramies (no offense). Maybe you should convert that 30 gallon of yours to a dwarf Puffer tank, you can get a couple of them little guys in there, or better yet , convert it to a Cichlid tank!


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## piranha45 (Apr 8, 2003)

to me, dwarf puffers just screeeeeeeam HI IM SO CUTE 
AND ROUND, WOULDN'T I MAKE A GREAT FEEDER FISH FOR YOUR CICHLIDS? 

I'm tempted to buy them every time I go to lfs that sell them... but the 2 bucks slaps some sensibility in me


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## unxchange (Mar 4, 2003)

Dwarf puffers will not be okay with Cichlids, but are pretty cool if kept alone.
They are carnivourous, do not let the "cute" face misguide you on their agressiveness.


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## thePACK (Jan 3, 2003)

your gourami will be chomped at..and as unxchange said they do better in brackish water


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## pcrose (Mar 9, 2003)

puffers chomp down feeder just as much as piranhas


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## piranha45 (Apr 8, 2003)

not 1" puffers, tho.


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## Innes (Jan 13, 2003)

the main problem IMO would be the water requrements - the puffers may nip the gouramies, bur the gouramies can be aggressive also - in fact the only fish I ever said no to was my friends golden gourami which was just plain nasty, it bullied all of my cichlids and other fish for the 3 days I looked after it - and that was when I had quite a few cichlids and a busy community tank.
My experience with small puffers is that they die after a few days, but I have never actially seen much aggression - although I don't doubt thay can pack quite a punce with their little beak mouth.

I say if you can get them to live in the same water conditions then try it and see what happens.


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## unxchange (Mar 4, 2003)

> My experience with small puffers is that they die after a few days, but I have never actially seen much aggression - although I don't doubt thay can pack quite a punce with their little beak mouth.


Maybe it was because of the water parameters, did you add salt to it too? Small puffers are very fragile.


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## Innes (Jan 13, 2003)

I always have 1 tablespoon per 5 gallons - but when I bought these fish each time I was assured after asking that they were already in salt water


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## bgshortys (Apr 7, 2003)

Your main problem is your.............girlfriend. yeah. your going to have to get rid of that, then all your tank problems will be solved









J/k


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## piranha45 (Apr 8, 2003)

The never-ending battle of your heart's innermost desire vs Sex


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## BiteMeNipMe (Apr 26, 2003)

Don't mix the puffers w/ fish that sh*t so much in the tank. They seem to be very sensitive to ammonia. Two of mine just died this morning







They died together. They died with smile on their faces. They're still cute even in morbid stage. Poor puffers. Also they shrunk to just 3/4 of size when they lived and their skin turned black from fluorecent green.


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## SnowCichlid (Jan 10, 2003)

I would keep puffers as a species tank only


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