Hello all,
I know that this is a hotly debated topic, so I wanted to weigh in and give my opinions. This is in no way concrete or universal, just MY observations from MY tank. To begin, it is widely thought that there are no community suited dwarf puffers; I have found this to be untrue. I have a 29 gallon tank with 4 Irrubesco puffers (2m,2f), 10 ghost shrimp, 8 Kuhli loaches, 6 pygmy corydoras, and 1 honeycomb catfish. To date, I have lost 2 of the petsmart ghost shrimp to old age (who were then subsequently eaten as a snack). Every other fish is healthy, happy, and thriving. The puffers mind their own business, occasionally chase each other, and watch their tankmates with vague interest. I feed the puffers frozen bloodworms and frozen spirulina brine brine shrimp. The honeycomb catfish gets floating pellets after dark. Everything else gets sinking food. Occasionally, a puffer will eat at the floor with the shrimp. I found Irrubescos to be some of the more peaceful fish i've kept, and being able to keep puffers with species that will help clean up after them works wonders. I highly recommend keeping Irrubescos if you want to try to have a community puffer that is smaller and cheaper than a Congo Spotted and 100x less work than an Amazon. Obviously personalities will very, but I have found that time progresses, all 4 puffers are mellowing out even more, and are able to eat from the same tweezers in a group without fighting. 10/10 Recommend