Confused about puffers

So I was looking into setting up a puffer tank, I have seen dwarf puffers at the local pet store especially this species:

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"Carinotetraodon travancoricus "

Now according to some websites these fish need to be in brackish water to survive and other says they dont need because the salt will kill them as they are fresh water types. Then there is the size issue some say they get big (16cm) while others say the maximum size is (2.5cm) And then some sites say you need 12.6 liters per fish and other say 50 liters I am really confused at this point.

I need to do my research properly so that I can keep them in a proper home but current I am getting mixed information.....

 

That is indeed a dwarf puffer that only gets to 2.5cm max and are true fresh water puffers.
Almost look like a male.
Had some of them myself.

 

Yeah saw them at a lps the other day, I just dont want to end up buying the wrong type and not providing a good home for them.

 

Check you get about 2 females to one male.

 

Yeah that is what I planned 2 females and 1 male in the Jebo, but will see what the people who always supply me with my fish goods say about finding dwarf puffers.

 

True fresh water fish. LOVE SNAILS......

 

My Oscar tank is filled with breeding Asian Trumpet snails so it should not be an issue also got someone who is willing to give me a bunch on a weekly basis.

 

How do they produce(egglayer, egg depositor......)? Can they go in a community tank?

SAMB

 

Nope not community fish as they are quite shy and other fish will harras them. The re best kept in a well planted species tank like Larch is providing.

 

These are really cool fish, had a few a year or so ago, very entertaining! never got them to breed but have read a fair amount of them and they don't seem to be impossible to breed!

 

I've never seen puffers eat trumpet snails. They prefer baby apple, ramshorn and pond snails.

 

Well one thing that most sites I visited agree on is that they will eat any type of snails including Asian trumpet snails.

Here is a video of one eating a Asian trumpet snail:

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That's interesting. It's sucking it out of the shell. I think the trumpet shells are too hard for it too crush as it does with other snails.

 

Thanks for the advice guys but I decided not to go the puffer route anymore seems finding the correct (true freshwater) dwarf puffer is going to be a mission and a half and the brackish versions just get way to big.

 

True freshwater puffers shouldn't be too hard to get your hands on - I've seen at least 2 sponsers on the forum who've had them avaliable (maight be worth a try to ask them about whether they're avaliable). Besides that, if you can take a picture along with you when you go puffer-hunting at LFS's, you should be able to identify the puffer you're looking for.

The majority of the dwarf puffers are freshwater anyway, so no matter which one you come across it shouldn't really be an issue.

 

Well I have been hunting for them today and visited a total of 6 LFS in Pretoria alone and the only species they were selling was the figure 8 and the spotted which both get insanely big. And some of the LFS owners said that its rare for them to import the fresh waters species as there is just no market for them so they end up having to sell them at a loss. So I decided to go the community route (small one)

 

Hi there, not 100percent sure, but think the one in the pic is actually a female not a male, mature males have a more yellow belly with a dark stripe running down it, also has eye "wrinkles" whereas the females will have a lighter belly wich is more rounded than the male with random spots on the body, hence my guess that its a female