call me superstitious but recently ive been looking into getting a baby puffer for my tank. after doing a little research i feel like i could have a small puffer in my tank. My oscar is about 7inches long now and refrains from eating the other fish in my tank. I feed him pieces of shrimp that are larger than some of his tankmates. He strictly eats shrimp and worms as well as pellet food with no major problems. Ive only witnessed him eat one fish in the past (ironically right after i posted on these forums querying why he doesn't eat his tankmates). I wish he would eat some of my african cichlids, they breed all the time.. In any case i wasnt worried about him eating a small puffer if i bought one, there are lots of hiding places as well..

anyway, the funny thing is. I researched puffers and read that they need to eat snails to wear their beaks down so they dont overgrow. Here is where i tought, crap, i felt like i wouldnt be able to feed him enough snails to keep his beak in shape. So kinda gave up on the idea..

So i was cleaning my tank today, and noticed that there were snails everywhere.. No idea how they got in my tank, i never had live plants or anything like that. Only thing i can think of, was the previous owners of the tank had plants, must have had snails, and so the eggs must have stayed on the dry gravel and they hatched when i set up the tank again. it seems that they were reproducing all along and now there are dozens of them in my tank..

Could this be a sign that i should try a puffer in my tank? i wanna get one or two very small puffers. My only concern is adding them after my oscar. But my oscar is very non-confrontational and unagressive. Kinda lethargic so i doubt he would care. I have african cichlids running about, but im pretty confident puffers could defend themselves. My fish tend to only screw around with fish of their own species and dont really interact with other fish. i really wanna try this and hope i get another non confontational fish like my tiger oscar who doesn't harm another fish in my tank (as i write that he swims near a group of fry simming freely about, and continues on his way).

What are your thoughts?

after doing some more research online, i found that most puffers are not community fish. has anyone on these forums ever tried successfully to have a puffer in a community tank?

you seem to have a lot of fish.
how big is your tank?

bout 75, im constantly trying to get rid of my fish because my africans are always spawning, and my oscar doesnt eat them

75 is probably too small for all those fish, when your O grows, ideally he will want 75 all too himself

probably you have small snails in the substrates, not
an eggs. snail's eggs are usually attached to the wall
or to the plants and has pink color. if no water is
available when they hatched, they will just dries up
and died. however, once hatched and developed hard
shells, they could hibernate and survive several weeks
without water. any moisture will do.

Heard a story about an oscar tring to eat a lil puffer, seconds after he spit him out the Oscar was floating upside down,DEAD!
Some or most puffer are toxic!
Seen a video of a lil puffer swimming upto an oscar and biting a piece of meat out of his back.
I love puffers, dont get me wrong but any threat to my O has to leave the tank asap.

yeah puffers seem to be very social fish like oscars. its too bad they aren't community fish. im assuming probably a few snails hibernated and came along with the gravel. its interesting that im only seeing them now though. i seem to be finding many more about my tank. im thinking about getting an assassin snail.

i want to get some kuhli loaches for my tank, but i been feeding my oscar and my other fish worms pretty regularly.. heh dunno if thatll turn out well.

some fish keepers do raised snail as a pet. they won't harm
you other fish but oscar do smash them, eat or plays with it.

puffers, no experience with them except in the wild
sea where we enjoy playing with them whenever we catch
some. i love them being bloated and bubbles up to scape.

i want to get some kuhli loaches for my tank, but i been feeding my oscar and my other fish worms pretty regularly.. heh dunno if thatll turn out well.[/quote]

yeah, not too sure bout that either... i used to have a few Kuhlis, but like you said the O sees them as a worm.
mine didnt last long.... maybe you could try a clown loach if you have planty of shelter

A puffer will kill your oscar. I mean i wouldn't even trust a dwarf puffer with an O. Plus even if it says it's a freshwater puffer (i only know of one type that's freshwater) it would still need to eventually be moved to a brackish tank. Puffers are spawned in freshwater but eventually end up living their adult lives in brackish or saltwater areas.
hope this helps ( oh and they are very aggressive towards their own species and others as well.)

i would tell you to buy a product called "snail away" or "had a snail". Or sell the little guys on ebay or craigslist.

i think im gonna try to get some assassin snails and toss em in.