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They seem to be especially more sensitive then other freshwater fish.

What reasons do you have for that? True freshwater puffers are fairly hardy given a few specifics. They are slow swimmers, slow feeders, shy, and territorial. All that means that they need a tank with low water flow, no competition for food(species only), generally at least frozen if not live food(will not eat flake or dried food), lots of cover or decorations, and not overcrowded. 1 puffer per 3-5g for dwarf and very small species. 10g+ for larger species. They are not that sensitive to poor water quality and can withstand missing a few water changes, are not picky about water parameters, and overall quite adaptable. They are some of the most hardy fish in my opinion but have specifics for their care. You'll find alot of species like that if you branch out from the standard community tank fish.


An exception is if we aren't talking about true freshwater puffers. Alot of puffers sold as freshwater are actually brackish and will be weaker, suffering from more illnesses, as well as having a shorter lifespan. Most common examples are the figure 8 and green spotted puffer. The figure 8 is actually a full saltwater fish as adult and requires marine conditions as it grows. Yet they are kept in freshwater at stores and sold for freshwater tanks.

I always found freshwater puffers tough enough, it was the other fish that werent tough in their presence

I'm with sham on this. If theyre coming up sensitive its either because of disease, or the diet or water conditions arent up to much.

I used to have a dwarf pea puffer. Nasty little sucker. Always tried to nip at the fins of the other fish so I had it only for like 2 days before I brought it the LFS. Though I did actually buy it in petsmart and not the LFS. I saw on the sign it was "Community" fish. Complete BS

would i be able to put a FW puffer with my 3 tinfoils and 2 gouramis?

Only if you want them picked to pieces. Puffers are predators. Unlike most fish, puffers, primarily because of their clipping shear dentition and bite power dont actually have to be bigger than the fish they intend to kill. Most pick cagemates apart within weeks, even if they dont catch on immediately.

Puffers come with the biggest aggression warning of all fish. Quite simply, 95% of all freshwater puffers take chunks out of cagemates, and theyre not even that nice with other puffers , and territorial overstock has to be truly avoided. No fish has a defense when a puffer is hunting or on the warpath. Plecs doradids and shellfish all fall to puffers. Nothing can withstand their bite power, and few fish will attack them back because of their extreme toxicity. Marine puffers can be predatory enough, freshwater puffers are infinitely worse. You cannot guarantee any fish will be safe with them. Even the dwarf species will fin nip other small fish to death. Large puffers can crunch through a frozen cockle youd have trouble breaking with a hammer, some have been known to bite through metal heaters, and plastic filter intakes and outlets are often destroyed by them. They bite through them like they are nothing. Puffers that are bored are notorious for being destructive. You cant even risk them in an aggressive community, because even if a big fish like an aggressive cichlid or snakehead or piranha takes a bite out of a puffer it will likely die, and if that toxin reaches the water intact, the entire tank contents ,fish, crustaceans and plants included, may be killed.

Puffers.Have teeth, will use them Even a fish as big as a tinfoil could be mutilated into a bloody mess by a three inch puffer over several weeks. Its a big nono.

I saw some freshwater puffers at petsmart the other day and they even look mean. I don't know alot about them but I know I want to stay away from them.

Justin

Colts Fan For Life
30g platy tank: 2 sunburst wag platys, 2 redtailed white calico platys, 2 red wag platys, 1 fry(not sure who it belongs to), 1 Golden CAE.
Bettas:1 VT male

Guys, I have a ton of experience with two freshwater puffers. The dwarf puffer(i have owned at lease a dozen, my oldest(still living) are 4+ years old). If you keep them well fed with live and frozen food they are good community fish. That said, do not keep fish with long flowing fins with them. A male betta would get its fins nipped, they are just too tempting. These are in my EXPERIENCE good tankmates; neons, cochu's blue tetras, marble hatchets, zebra loaches, blue rams, glass catfish, BN pleco, ottos, celebes rainbows, dwarf gouramis, cherry barbs, and upside down catfish. They prefer a well planted tank, and you will be more successful is there is much coverr to break up their line of sight. THEY WILL EAT ALL SNAILS.

The other pleasant puffer is colomesus asellus. They need a whole lot of snails to keep their teeth trimmed. I have had zero agression from these puffers. I would not put them in a tank with male bettas or other long finned fish. Also the larger they get, the more careful you have to be about their tankmates. These guys have GREAT personality.

A few people get away with it, but bottom line, adding puffers to community is a death sentance. Its just too risky a thing to recommend other people do, no matter how much you love puffers. You'll kill the community fish of 95% of the people you recommend them to. My dp's killed ottos and tetras, and I had to set up a seperate tank for them. This is a common experience for most owners. When they get on its an exception to the rule.

This is one of the most tedious arguements that fp plays host to.Happens on average every 4 months or so. Anyone who knows anything about fishkeeping knows that puffers are pretty reliable killers. All species in the freshwater group will kill, sooner or later they get to it.Mine lasted nearly two years before they turned.Recommending them for community is like recommending a child play with a loaded gun. Nobody responsible would do it, no matter how much they adore puffers, The potential death toll attached to a piece of advice like that is far too high to take cavalierly. My advice is to completely ignore the advice of anyone who recommends a freshwater puffer for community. Its playing a game of chance with lives.The odds will always be against you. Everywhere you go that one person in 50 or so who has puffers in community successfully goes around recommending them to everyone, like its perfectly ok. Its a lottery and it will never be ok, you cant control puffer behaviour, once they figure out another fish is food it starts, and theres no placating them, and no feeding routine that will stop the fin nipping from happening. The choice of species to go in with them is irrelevant. Its pure, pure, pure, luck.

Actually, I do think FW puffers, like all puffers, suffer more from bad water quality due to their sensitivity to nitrite, nitrate and ammonia. Apart from needing frequent, large water changes, I think they're pretty hardy myself.

Eric

It's pretty well accepted as fact that puffers will turn on their tankmates even if they are fine for years. I think I'd rather play the numbers and go with the 100s of people that say puffers will kill than the 1 or 2 that occasionally say they make good community fish. I highly suggest anyone with puffers in a community tank immediately remove them to their own tank no matter how long they have coexisted with other tankmates. Even the puffer forums will only suggest keeping rather unnoticeable fish like otos and plecos in a tank with puffers and they will still warn that some day you may find those tankmates dead. Reason why the only other thing I put in with mine was ghost shrimp for a cleanup crew and I expected them to become meals so that I had to replace them occasionally.