[pufferdude]

Species Name: Colomesus asellus

Common Name: South American Puffer

Size: 3"

pH: 7.8-8.0 but can be kept in a wide range of ph

Minimum Recommended Tank Size: 10 gallons for single specimen

Native Location: Venezuela, Peru, Guyana, and Brazil

Temperature: 80-82F

Diet: Frozen bloodworms, snails, ghost shrimp, frozen brine shrimp, prawns, mussels, cockles, crayfish, etc.

Breeding: Rarely breeds in aquaria.

Aggression: This is one of the less aggressive puffers.

Notes: The south American puffer is a FW (freshwater) puffer species.

Your tank should be fully cycled before adding puffers. Puffers are very sensitive to water conditions.

South American puffers are relatively peaceful for puffers. Therefore they can be kept with cichlids that can hold their ground but that wont be too aggressive for the puffer.

South American puffers teeth grow faster than any other known puffer species. Therefore their diet should consist mainly of snails. I would feed snails every other day and mix the other foods listed above in. If not fed mainly snails you will need to trim their teeth or they will get too big and prevent the puffer from eating. If not fed mainly snails their teeth will usually need to be trimmed every 6 months.[/quote]