Arsenal

I've been browsing and reading a lot of nice information in this forum. All of these fish tanks are so desirable! I would love to have a huge fish tank someday..but at the moment, I will keep it small. I've been wanting to upgrade my current fish tank, though. I currently have a 5 gallon hexagon with two catfish in it! One is an adorable little spotted rafael catfish and the other one is a bigger striped rafael cat. I work at a petstore (lucky me) so I get a lot of discounts on the fish and stuff I buy! I've been wanting to order Figure 8 puffers because I just felt so inlove with those cute little monsters! So question is..I've been decided between a 23 gallon flat back hexagon..and a 14 gallon hexagon. As much as I would love nearly double the amount of gallons..and despite my discounts..I just can't spend that much money at the moment! How sad.. So I was wondering if I could still keep my two catfish with puffers since they hide most of the time and they have such a tough exterior. And if I can, how many can I keep in a 14 gallon and in a 23 gallon tank?

Butterfly

welcome to FishLore!
Raphael catfish can get to 8.5 inches and will need a 29G just for them selves. You might want to provide for them before buying any more fish.
Do the puffers your looking at need brackish water? or are they totally freshwater/ Maybe you could set up a tank just for them. check out our puffer board
Carol

Arsenal

Well, I find so many different information I just don't know what to follow! I actually read on some website that rafael catfish get to be only 4 inches. I can't really provide that amount of space for my catfish at the moment..As much as i love them, i don't want to keep them in a tiny amount of space. I guess I will take them back for someone else to provide a better enviroment for them. And there seems to be some huge debate about Figure 8 puffers not exactly belonging in brackish water. I'll check out the puffer area. Thank you!

Butterfly

Here is what I found about spotted Raphael catfish (Agamyxis pectinifrons) gets 5 inches
http://www.planetcatfish.com/catelog...species_id=313
This what I found about striped Raphael Catfish (Platydoras costatus) gets 6 inches
http://www.planetcatfish.com/catelog...species_id=166
I withdraw the 8.5 inches. I would trust www.planetcatfish.com before anybody else. I would still go with the biggest tank I could afford. 5G isn't alot of room.
Carol

COBettaCouple

welcome to fishlore!

Moving those cats out of the 5g, you could go with the 14g and add 1 dwarf puffer to it or go with the 23g and add a few of them. I think the figure 8's need brackish water and wouldn't be compatible with cats, but you'll get a more certain answer on that in the puffers forum.

You could move the cats to the 14g and put the puffer in the 5g too.