Sabi

Hi there.

My Dad saw some puffers at a pet store and asked me couldnt we get some as he liked them. I've been doing reading on them and find some are brackish. (he doesnt know what the ones he saw were) Can anyone give me some names that are fw puffers? I believe some of the brackish ones can live in fw? Thanks for any info!

COBettaCouple

the dwarf puffers are small, green and get to about an inch. they live in freshwater and are the only puffers i've seen in the chain stores.

Radcliffe

Yes, dwarf puffers are what you would be looking for, They are very small but have great big personalities. Mine watch me at the edge of the glass when I work at my office computer- like they are puppies saying hi!

--R

Sabi

Thanks for the reply we're going there tomro hopefully, i'll check them out!!

COBettaCouple

i also hear from armadillo that they leave monstrous poo!

Sabi

Eh? Thats bad, I'm trying to keep as much low wasters as possible.
How about keeping 1? I'll read properly on them tonight. I'll be going on wednesday now, AFTER i go to dentist! AGH!

Radcliffe

Well, my green spotted puffers were messy, but they were also larger, aggressive and needed brackish water.

The dwarf puffers are so little that they don't produce much waste. I have 2 dwarf puffers and 2 bumblebee gobies and I never even see poo on the bottom of their tank when I clean it.

--R

Sabi

Thanks.

Armadillo have you any tips/ suggestions you can give me? Like the behavior to tank mates etc?

COBettaCouple

ow.. i hope the fish don't think you're making faces at them.

Sabi

Theyd better not 'cause i'll be making worse faces if i went before!!lol!

armadillo

OK, sorry if it's really thin but I really dont' know much about them. Here's all my remarks on my experience with them thrown in.

1/ They're really really really messy eaters. They'll leave half the stuff to rot, spit the rest out and poop it like there's no tomorrow. In short, a nitrate nightmare. Definitely more than 1 gallone per one inch of THESE fish.
2/ Talking of poop. Theirs is, well, like human poo. Nothing like the usual stringy fish poop. More like this big blob. Yummy.
3/ I'd definitely advise you to get either only one, or a school of 1 male to 4 females or something. Our trio was starting to show aggression, which is getting all the worst since our male died of complete mysterious reasons
4/ Have a back-up plan for all tank mates. We've only just now witnessed aggression to our kuhli loaches. They seem to pretty much ignore the otos and amano shrimps (so far)
5/ Ours are not the sharpest tools in the box, but maybe we were just unlucky. They take ages to understand that something is food.
6/ Ours are not that interactive, despite the hours and hours that Thijs used to spend next to the tank, talking to them and trying to entertain them with various tricks. Again, maybe we were unlucky?
7/ They're still MASSIVELY cute with their eyes that move indepently from each other
8/ They'll change colour at the drop of a hat. Slight change of light conditions, mood of the fish and bang! Really quick, dramatic changes in colour.
9/ Do give them plenty of cover (tall and heavily planted part in middle of tank in particular). This should relax them slightly.
10/ Think of the live food thing in advance. We suspect ours got internal parasites (supposedly really common with DP's) from their live food from the shop. I'd set up a live food farm before getting them. I'd also get some pest snails for free off your LFS, and start a snail farm too.
11/ As they're such messy eaters, I'd consider having very little substrate, so you can easily keep up with your cleaning duties.

's about it for now. Can't think of any more. I'll post more if I think of any.

Sabi

Thanks arma!
I bought 1. And i'm seriously doubting his a dwarf. The ppl there were unhelpful and the had a label "puffer catfish" thats all! And most of them were bitten up or had some disease, ugh! (the fish not the ppl, lol) he was the only one that looked fine apart from a slightly nipped tail. Had to take care not to let that water get into my tank!
And yes, its so funny, he watches me whenever i come to the tank! His eyes moving! I hope he doesnt mess my tank and REALLY hope he doesnt give me a nitrate headache.

armadillo

That could be a big issue (the fact that you don't have a 100% ID). Problem is if he's not a DP, he may be brackish, or saltwater. Better get your textbooks out before he grows too much, as apparently they loose their abililty to resist salt shortage in their water as they grow older.

staindskin

have alook on www.thepufferforum.com to i.d. the little guy