Help Needed in Building an Indian biotope Tank

[Starsplitter7]

Hello there,

I am building a biotope tank for my Dwarf Puffers, which are from India. I love catfish, and I wanted to add a few hearty catfish (and a couple other fish) to the tank for interest. Are there any relatively common catfish native to India that will not hurt dwarf puffers (1/2-1" in length) and of course that the puffers will not injure or stress.

I am looking into moth catfish. I have two and I am looking to buy 2-4 more. I need to do more research to find out which rivers the puffers live in to make sure the catfish match.

Any ideas to get me started in the right direction? I am open to all types of cats. Thank you. P.S. This will be a heavily planted tank with a sand and a smooth stone substrate with wood covered in java moss.

[Shovelnose]

Hey Startsplitter,

Are your puffers Carinotetraodon travancoricus or Tetraodon cutcutia??? I have seen

Glyptothorax

Sp. and

Batasio travancoria

in the same habitat as C.travancorius (found in south India).

T.cutcutia is from north India. A recent checklist (Arunachal Pradesh, 2009) has listed

Erethistes pussilus

,

Hara hara

,

Hara jerdoni

,

Olyra longicaudata

and

Amblyceps

Sp as found in the same river system as T.cutctia. There are other catfish mentioned too (

Mystus

,

Ompok

etc ) but they might not be suitable for your tank.

[sidguppy]

I don't think this is a good idea at all

yes, these fishes might live together in the same biotope

but did it occur to you that they might not be friendly to each other?
all puffers are nippy, some species more than others, but they are not to be trusted with slowmoving fish!

Hara, Erithistes and the likes are very slow moving, almost stationary fish which rely on their camouflage.

however, puffers are quite intelligent and able hunters, once they discover that the "leaves" sitting on the floor have edible fins, the catfish will go through a small private hell

I hope the phrase "sitting duck" rings a bell, cause that's what theyre going to be
and also very dead finless catfish afterwards........

[Starsplitter7]

Shovelnose, I will need to research my drawf puffers a bit more and make sure which species I have. Thank you for the list of possibilites. I will take a good look. I bought two groups of puffers. Hopefully they are one species.

SidGuppy, please do not worry, I am a responsible fish keeper. I do not put any of my fish in danger. (I bring home feeder guppies and ghost shrimp as pets -- and my "live eaters" all eat frozen food.) I have kept dwarf puffers in community tanks in the past with no issues. Dwarfs are not like their larger, aggressive cousins. The dwarfs are 1/2-3/4 inch. They are tiny and they are big fans of blood worms and snails. If I put catfish with my puffers, I would would watch them very carefully. If there was any interest in the catfish, the cat would be moved immediately. I would never let the puffers hurt a catfish. My big love in fish are loaches, catfish and oddballs. I am not looking for a sacrificial catfish.

My biotope is a temporary set up. Maybe a month. I am entering it in an educational display. If it ends up being a puffer only display, that is fine. No worries.

[sidguppy]

I've kept the tiny "pea Puffer" some years ago in my Asian tank, the travancorius and in my experience they were terrible little terrorists, constantly sneaking up to any other fish in the tank and taking a bite

they harassed my Ancistrus to the point where i was almost about to bring out a double barreled houwitzer

usually I feel a bit bad when a fish dies in my care, but when those tiny biters just faded away after a few weeks, despite plenty of snails and bloodworms i actually felt relieved.

the only puffer I know of that isn't a nasty piece of work is the African Tetraodon mbu from Lake Tanganyika; unfortunately this one grows to the size of a Mastino Napolitano puppy......

my personal experience with several species of puffers isn't that good.
they are certainly among the fishes that I've striped off the list of fish I ever will keep again.

[racoll]

I think it can go either way with these dwarf puffers. Some individuals seem to behave themselves, and others cannot be trusted at all.

The general consensus, however, is that they are best off in a species tank.

The trouble is also that because catfishes tend hide a lot, it may not be apparent that they are being attacked, until it's too late to save them.

[Starsplitter7]

I agree. Individual specimens can vary. I had my dwarf puffers several years in a community tank. I didn't have any stressed fish -- they ignored each other. The puffers thrived and so did the other fish which were guppies and Bristlenoses (they outlived the puffers). I had no problems at all. But I know fish well enough to know that even though my puffers may have been peaceful the first time, doesn't mean my second group will be.

I would think if the puffers died so quickly that there was something wrong with their environment, and that could have made them a bit more grouchy than normal. Also there are two species, and that may make a difference. Probably something I need to look in to.

Thanks.