Little Cherry Barb

I'm getting a 12 gallon tank soon, and I'm deciding on future inhabitants. I thought that I'd make this decision before I fill and cycle the tank. Dwarf puffers seem fascinating, but I have a few questions.

A) I read that dwarf puffers should never puff air. Will they ever accidently do this at the top of the water, or bubbles from an air stone? Is air the only thing they can puff? Exactly how do they puff, and what does it look like?

B) I also read that dwarf puffers should have sand because their skin is delicate and could be shredded by gravel if they try to bury themselves, or eat pieces of gravel. Is this a huge concern? Is sand necessary for dwarf puffers? How do you clean sand? Is there any specific concerns between sand and gravel? Does sand cloud your tank or damage your filter after cleaning?

C) Is the live food (bloodworms and snails) difficult to obtain? On my ventures to the fish store I haven't exactly been looking for it. Is it expensive?

D) I was just thinking of having one dwarf puffer for the whole 12 gallons. Should I try to have more? As in, maybe 2 females? Or would one appreciate all the space?

Cherry barbs are plan B, female beta is plan C. Which is best?

lilsoccakid

A) I'm not completly sure, but i think the biggest concern is taking them out of the tank with a net. If they have to be moved, their skin can never touch air.

B) Sand would be the best way to go for them, and is easy to maintain. Just gravel vac the top of the sand and only the junk will get picked up, not the sand.

C) These are at most local fish stores. You could easily make a snail farm (search snail farm on this site and you should find some hits.)

D) I'm not totally sure on this. Sorry

hope this helps!

MissMTS

I think a dwarf puffer tank would be great. The one fish that you can put with them is otos. You could do 5 otos and a dwarf puffer in your tank. The tank should have a lot of plants for your puffer to zoom around in or he/she will get bored

A) You can keep puffers from puffing air by catching them with a plastic cup or bowl instead of a net (you scoop them as well as the water into the bowl so that they never have a chance to gulp air). They will never do this on their own at the surface of the tank or anything like that. When they puff their spines push outward and a lot of times it is fatal to the puffer.

B) You do need sand for dwarf puffers. I would get the finest grain sand you can find. You can clean the sand with a regular siphon/gravel vacuum by holding it an inch or so above the sand. It will suck the debris off of the surface of the sand. It does not damage your filter or cloud your tank.

C) Live foods are not hard to come by. I always fed my dwarf puffer frozen bloodworms. Though they are a little more expensive than flake food, the bloodworms will last a long time because your puffer will on eat about 2 worms twice a day. Most LFS's sell frozen bloodworms.

D) I would not risk putting more than one dwarf puffer together. Like I said above, I would go with 5 otos. They will keep your tank really clean, but their diet of algae needs to be suplimented with daily algae wafers.

Little Cherry Barb

Thanks for your help! I think if I go puffer I'm going to try the snail farm.

Thanks for the good information! Otos sound good. This sounds like it would be a good set-up.

It sounds like sand isn't as complicated as I thought. Also, if the puffers can't touch air, when you are acclimating them, how can you place them in the tank without getting any bag water in it?

Little Cherry Barb

UPDATE: Oh dear.

I went to 3 different pets store today to get my new tank, look for some sand, and get a whole bunch of plants. I was also looking to see a dwarf puffer in real life (which I did! I think I'm in love).

Here is what they told me:

Local Store - "You can only keep fish that like a high pH with sand. Sand raises your pH, and it won't go down."

Petco - "Dwarf puffers are brackish fish. They need salt in their tanks."

Petsmart - "We don't have dwarf puffers because you need to acclimate them to saltwater. They start out freshwater but they eventually turn saltwater."

I know the things said about the dwarf puffers are wrong but the things about sand are confusing me.

Devon

Everything you are told at a place like PetCo or Petsmart should be taken as highly suspect.

jdhef

I thought that puffers were brackish fish.

lilsoccakid

if it helps at all, the sand changing the PH is false

Little Cherry Barb

I'm not sure about other puffers, but dwarf puffers are freshwater.

MissMTS

Sand will not alter your pH. It only does that if you use crushed coral (this is often used with African cichlids). Regular sand is fine. Dwarf puffers are freshwater fish. There are also brackish and marine puffers, but dwarf puffers are not Most of the time the LFS and Petco will give you false information. Check out the thread that talks about the worst things people have been told by LFS employees and you will see what I mean, lol. That is why I like this website so much. It is such a good resource

Blub

Sand shouldn't alter your pH.

Check out this article: http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/sand.php

Little Cherry Barb

Thanks for all the sand info! I think I'm going to try to find some pool sand.

angelfish220

Puffers can be kept in hard or soft water, it dosent matter, as long as you acclimated them and dont try to change pH which causes catostrophic changes in the tank and WILL kill your puffer. Just keep your water the way it is.

Nope sorry, not brackish. They are 100% freshwater.

They can COPE with salt or brackish water, but for a dwarf puffer to be happy, it needs fresh.

sirdarksol

As was said a couple of times, dwarf puffers are freshwater.

I would be very leery of keeping otos in a dwarf puffer tank. I think that they can survive only because they're a bit faster than the puffer, but if he ever gets his little beak on them, they'll be in a world of hurt.
Otos (and maybe kuhlis) are the only fish that I can think of that even stand a chance of surviving a dwarf puffer, though.

Again, as has been said above, sand is neutral. True sand (as opposed to crush shells or coral) is silica, which cannot leach into the water and cannot change the pH.
I wouldn't trust any fish store's info until you've had a chance to test them. When you go, periodically ask them questions you know the answer to. You don't have to try to correct them if they're wrong, just nod like you just learned something. Some fish store owners have been keeping fish since the 80's or earlier and haven't bothered to update their practices, so most of their info is based on false concepts (we've come a long way in the past two decades ).

Little Cherry Barb

Thanks. That makes sense. The pet store people I talk to seem to think the only thing that matters in an aquarium is the pH.

Hm. I didn't think that the only reason otos were okay is because they are fast swimmers! Wouldn't constently being hunted by the dwarf puffer be stressful for the otos? Should I just get the dwarf puffer and introduce otos later? Or not get otos at all?

I guess I'm going with sand. I called the pool supply store, and they had a 50lb bag for 8.99. I don't know what I'm going to do with 50lbs, but thats the only size they have. :P

Maybe I'll finally get started on cycling today!

angelfish220

have a REALLY planted tank. Introduce the ottos first (which normally is not wanted, but if you introduce them last the puffer will already have its territory)

As long as you feed your puffer well ( and I have not doubt that you wont) and the ottos have plenty of cover you can try it. But its like adding ottos with a betta, always have a backup plan, just incase.

Little Cherry Barb

Thanks for the advice. I actually really wanted a planted tank, but I feel pretty overwhelmed that I won't do it right. I saw some java moss, and that looks pretty easy, but what else?

angelfish220

Java moss, Horn Wart, Watersprite, Anibius, and some swords are great for low light planted tanks (and they are forgiving to beginners )

If you dont want to do the whole planted tank thing, you CAN do plastic. But you have to buy enough plastic plants to create what you think of when you think of a live planted tank. there HAS to be enough cover for the ottos to stay hidden. And for the puffer to not get bored.

Blub

Very funny.... Plastic plants!

Alright, lets get you started:
Java moss. Great plant, get lots of it - and spread it thin over pieces of wood/rock. Tie it on with fishling line or string. You'll be glad you did!
Java fern, Anubias and Africa fern. Tie them down to wood/rock, and with Anubias you can also plant in the substrate as long as the rhizome is above the substrate.
Hornwort: Let is float, or plant it. It's a good plant - but if you start getting into aquascaping you'll want to get rid of it because it can look so bad compared to other plants.
Anacharis: Similar to Hornwort in that it's not easy to incorporate into a nice aquascape, but a really fast grower if you plant it!
Cryptocorynes. One of my favourite plant groups, you can get a crypt for every tank with a flourecant bulb above it! There are big ones (60cm +!) and little ones (less than 10cm). Grassy ones, (C.Spiralis) or ruffled ones (C.wendtii 'Tropica')... And they are all really hardy!
Dwarf hairgrass: Good for a carpet plant - it will spread like crazy so make sure you are ready to get pruning!
Hygrohpila: A really cool plant - you can get some really fancy varietys (Hygrophila polysperma 'Rosanervig') or plain old ones. All are hardy, fast growing and great begginers plants!
Amazon sword/other Echinodorus: These are big, fancy centrepiece plants. They are rosette plants, and there are a few kinds for low light tanks, do your homework (www.Tropica.com) and you will get a really, really good plant.

GOOD LUCK!