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Today our topic is Amazon Puffer, as you can guess from its name it is native to Amazon River. If you are new in the fish keeping world and want to learn more about these fish then continue reading this article. Here we will discuss everything related to Amazon Puffer fish, and you will be left with a lot of knowledge about these species.
General description
Amazon puffers are widely known as Colomesus asellus, and are very unique compared with other puffers. These are South American species. They do not have any specific native habitation type. They can be found in any fast moving water, be it with vegetation or not. The water can be hard, acidic or soft.
These are the smallest type of puffers that can grow maximum up to 8cm. Almost all puffers have yellow and green backs and white bellies, but they have different patterns, which is why people often struggle to distinguish between their types. Amazon puffers are distinguished by their five stripes along the body. And it is actually almost impossible to tell the male and female Amazon puffers apart, just like with other puffer types. An interesting thing about these fish is that they are one of the few fish that can actually blink and close their eyes.
Behaviour of Amazon puffers
It might be a little difficult to keep Amazon puffers especially for those who are knew to the fish keeping world. But these are very fun fish to keep, as they are very curious and intelligent. They will very closely inspect anything that gets into the tank, with their big eyes. Also, they start to recognize their owners pretty fast. They are always on the move and are swimming all day long.
As they are very curious they always need something new in the tank, so when you see your Amazon puffers staring the glass it means they are bored. So add some new decorations in the tank.
Tankmates for Amazon Puffer
Amazon Puffers are very active but at the same time very peaceful. You can keep these fish in a community tank with other species, but it is recommended to keep them in a single species aquarium. Also, it is not recommended to keep them with slow fish. If you want to get Amazon puffers then you better keep them with only in the group of Amazon puffers. Or you can keep them with short finned and fast-moving fish. You can keep them with for instance, medium-sized characins, barbs, larger rasboras and peaceful Rams or Apistogramma.
When Amazon ouffers sense danger they can inflate with water or air and become a few times bigger than their actual size. This is done to scare the opponent and also to be hard to get swallowed.
The diet of Amazon puffers
Amazon puffers are omnivores, which means they eat shrimp, snails warms etc. In the tank you should feed them with crunchy food, it can be crab legs, mussels and so on. The crunchy food can maintain their sharp teeth. As with other types of puffers, their teeth will grow continuously and become a problem for the fish, so that is why they need to be kept ground down. If their teeth will grow too much they will not be able to eat and will starve. Also, to avoid that you can trip their teeth with cuticle clippers, I know this may sound weird, but that will do only good to the puffers.
Tank requirements for Amazon puffers
These are very active fish species and should be kept in groups, you can keep them at least in a group of three, but more is preferable. They need large aquarium so it is better to get a t leas 120cm tank. As for the water type it doesn’t really matter what hardness or temperature it has, but the quality of the water matters. So you should always have good cycled water without any nitrite or ammonia. Also, you need one ore even more powerful canister filter. To be sure that you provide best quality water it is better to test it from time to time. These fish love aquarium decorations see it is recommended to have plenty of plants, leaves and rock so they will have a lot of things to explore. But it is also important to keep a wide space for swimming and they like swimming in a current. So you can put the filter in a way that it will create a current.
How to breed Amazon puffers?
It is unfortunately impossible to breed them in a tank. As the eggs are too small. Before they become real fish they pass through a planktonic phase that is why it is impossible to breed them in a tank.
Overall specifications of Amazon puffers
- Temperature of the tank: 72 – 82°F
- pH level of the water: 5.5 – 8
- Hardness of the water: 5 – 15°H
- Size of the tank: at least 120 cm
- Diet of Amazon puffers: Omnivores
- Breeding: Impossible in the aquarium
- Decoration for the tank: Very important to have decoration and change them from time to time
So, what do you think, will you get some Amazon puffers for your tank or not?
You might find it a little difficult at first, which is completely fine, but you will get used overtime and see that you made the right choice. Hopefully you found enough information in this article. Just be sure to keep all the aquarium requirements for them, provide them with a quality water and some good decoration and they will be happy and healthy. Do not forget about their endlessly growing teeth and always try to fill their curiosity with some new decorations. Also do not forget to keep them with right tankmates otherwise they might lose their fins. So good luck with your choice.
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