💧 Water Parameters & Tank Setup
Replicating their natural African river habitat ensures your puffers stay active, colorful, and stress-free.
Temperature: Keep the tank stable between 24°C – 26°C.pH Levels: Aim for a neutral to slightly acidic range of 6.5 – 7.5.Water Hardness: 5 – 12 dGH is ideal.Filtration: Puffers are messy eaters. Heavy filtration (like an oversized external canister filter) is highly recommended, but keep the current moderate, as they prefer calm swimming areas.Aquascaping: Provide a heavily planted tank with plenty of dark driftwood, caves, and visual breaks. A soft, sandy substrate is essential, as they love to hover close to the bottom and hunt.
🦐 Diet & Essential Dental Care
Spotted Congo Puffers are strict carnivores. To maintain their health and naturally grind down their continuously growing teeth, a varied, shell-on diet is non-negotiable.
Daily Staple Foods: Live or frozen bloodworms, Tubifex chopped mussels, Crucial Crunch (Tooth Maintenance): Feed live ramshorn snails, bladder snails, or small cockles in shell at least 2–3 times a week."Tough Love" Dental Care: If your puffer ignores snails and their teeth overgrow to the point where they cannot open their mouth to eat, you will need to manually trim them using an anesthetic like MS-222 (Finquel). Preventing this through proper crunchy foods is always the best approach!
🐠 Temperament & Tank Mates
While many puffers must be kept strictly alone, Tetraodon schoutedeni is a rare exception.
Keeping them in Groups: They are highly social with their own kind. They thrive best when kept in a species-specific group of 3 or more, provided the tank is large enough (minimum 90L for a trio).Community Tank Mates: They can be kept with fast-moving, peaceful community fish like tetras, rasboras, and peaceful catfish. Avoid long-finned or slow-moving fish (like guppies or angelfish), as curiosity can sometimes lead to accidental fin-nipping.
💡 Ready to reserve yours? We breed and raise these incredible fish right here in our facility. Check out our Livestock page to see current availability, and remember you can secure your group today with a flexible 20% deposit payment plan!
