monkeyfish

i am thinking of getting a dwarf puffer for my 10g (still cycling). i've researched a little on teh interwebs, but i still have some questions and would like to get some answers from fellow fishlorians. i'll try to keep this short:

1. substrate: sand, gravel, or both?
2. plants: which ones are easy to keep and which do dp's prefer? i have 3wpg
3. tankmates: otos? shrimp? others? what works/doesn't work?
4. temperature: i've read on some sites that it should be no more than 80F, on others that it should be about 80F, and on other sites that it should be no lower than 80F. what is the correct temp?
5. food: live or frozen? what kind? how do i make a snail farm?

that's it for now. thanks for taking the time to help.

Sam Livingston

Sand is best for puffers, they have no scales so the softer the substrate the better as they can get injured on sharp objects including gravel. In my opinion puffers aren't too picky when it comes to plants. If only keeping one puffer shouldn't matter, if keeping two then will want thick plants that can break line of vision between the two just in case they don't get along. Not very many tank mates for these guys, they will eat the shrimp, but they will love you forever if you feed them shrimp! I have heard khuli loaches can go with them, but I never took the risk I just kept 2 dwarves on their own. Though their size is tiny there attitude makes up for it as the dwarves are one of the most aggressive puffers. I'm not sure the exact temperature but I had always kept mine at a constant 75 degrees F and never had any problems. Food wise they are picky at times. Flakes are out of the question. Mine enjoyed brine shrimp and blood worms (both frozen and freeze dried). They have to have either (I prefer both) snails or frozen krill to keep their teeth filed. If teeth overgrow they are done for unless you clip their teeth, and I would have no idea how to clip their teeth. Snail farm is simpler than you can possibly think. Get a snail and rest is done. For a dwarf puffer small pond snails and/or ramshorn snails are your best choice. Get some and they will do the rest. They are a-sexual so they can reproduce on their own and they will also mate with other snails. Put them in a tank by their selves feed them well (algae wafers, shrimp pellets work great) and they will do the rest. Hope this helps.

monkeyfish

great thanks! would a dp like a java moss wall as one of the sides of the tank? just another idea...

Sam Livingston

Yea I don't think they would mind that at all. There not to picky when comes to plants.

Aro

Look at this web site>>http://www.dwarfpuffers.com/

Aro

BTW I'm planing on geting a 20g dwarf puffer tank with sand and java moss.
Some tankmates i know of that i didnt see any one listed is bumblebee goby.
Oh. its not that hard to breed some pond snails for food(im doing that in a 1g)

monkeyfish

ya, i saw that site before, but thanks for the link. that site has a lot of info, and what you guys say sounds about the same, so it just confirms some of the answers to my Q's.

SkyCrystal

Not anymore your not gettting a 20g! Aro's planning on getting a 29 gallon! All you have to do is wait for the guy to reply (purchasing off of craigslist). Finally! You've been non-stop talking about this. It's starting to get annoying... you say the same thing every time.

pinkfloydpuffer

Ooh, a 29 gallon! That warms my heart. The puffs will love all the room

SkyCrystal

Yeah, lol! We're picking it up later today.

pinkfloydpuffer

Ooh, how many dwarves are you gonna put in it?

SkyCrystal

Well, we got the tank, but it has a lot of cleaning up we need to do. Aro can't really make up his mind on how many he'll be getting, but probably around 5 or 6? I don't know.

Aro

I have no idea. When i was planing for a 20g i was going to get 4 puffers. now i dont know what to do. I planing on having Dwarf puffers,Otto,Tiger barbs(school) and maybe more...

SkyCrystal

Aren't DPs more messy? Personally, I don't think you should get more than 6... but it's up to you. I think you need to start thinking a little more realistic. Dwarf Puffers are aggresive and very territorial. I think they would be happiest in fewer numbers. Oh, and I don't think the Tiger Barbs would be such a good idea. Otos would be fine, but other than that, you should have a species-only tank. Ask PFP... she knows her puffers!

pinkfloydpuffer

thanks skycrystal. I do what I can.

With the dwarf puffers, you will need a heavily planted tank so that they will not attack each other. There are very few fish I'd suggest keeping with tiger barbs, and puffers are not one of them. They are both very aggressive, and I wouldn't be surprised if you ended up with many dead fish there. For tigers, I'd suggest a school of 6 in a 10 gal. If you want 6 puffers, then I'd suggest them being the only fish in there. Puffers are very messy. With the dwarves, I'd never go under 5 gal per fish. And with a 29 gal, I'd probably suggest no more than 5, since adding gravel, heavy plants, etc. will lessen the water volume. I've never seen how puffers react to ottos. But any way you choose to go, be prepared to have to remove some fish if they can't get along. All fish have different personalities, and if any of your puffers are like my mollie Janis, then you're gonna be in big trouble. Personally, I'd try to understock as much as possible. There are many combinations you can do with a 29 gallon. You could get one puffer and try a few ottos with them (remembering that I've never seen them together, and don't know if they'd get along at all), or maybe less than 5 puffers. Understocking is always much better than overstocking Let me know how things progress for ya!

SkyCrystal

Is there any question that you CAN'T answer on puffers?

Aro, based on what PFP suggested, I'm guessing you should get 4, maybe 5 dwarves, and go ahead and try for the Otto(s). If it doesn't work out, I'll put them it/them in my 46g. But really, I don't think you'll have any problems with them. If so, they're welcome to my community tank!

EDIT: I wanted to add without posting again that I think we're going to get my water tested tomorrow. While we're there, you can get the Bio-Spira and anything else you need. Just letting you know. I'm to lazy to get up and tell you in person.

pinkfloydpuffer

[quote=SkyCrystal;437426]Is there any question that you CAN'T answer on puffers?
[quote]

Lol. I've got too much time on my hands

Oh wait, I thought of one...
How to get gsps to breed in the aquarium, lol

Aro

Hmm... Are you sure that DPs would not be ok with tiger barbs?(Iv seen this done more then once) and i think i may need some evil fish to fight of the puffers fin-nip attacks. Otto's Should be fine(what iv heard) i was thinking 5 or 6 puffers i think ill start with 4 DPs and 2 Otto and move up if i can. Im planing on a vary heavily planted tank with mostly (if not all) live plants.

pinkfloydpuffer

Let's just say that from what I've heard about them, I wouldn't ever do it. Tiger barbs will need to school, and 6 of them would take up about half of your available stocking space. I don't think that they would be able to fend off the puffers. Puffers have hard beaks, which can bite through pretty much any other fish like butter. And again, I'd definitely go on the understocking side with puffers. But it is your aquarium after all Just be prepared if something goes awry to take immediate action or lose your fish. And the more heavily stocked, the more maintenance.

SkyCrystal

Don't you think 5 puffers are enough Aro?

Like PFP said, Tiger Barbs would take up about half of your stocking space! Why do you want them so badly anyways? I thought you were going for a puffer tank. Tiger barbs really wouldn't be comfortable. And plus I wouldn't be willing to take in my 46g... you're almost guaranteed to have problems. Remember, less is more!

pinkfloydpuffer

Oh, and tiger barbs like lots of swimming room, which won't happen if it's heavily planted.

Aro

oh i see... well ill think about it. thanks for the info.

pinkfloydpuffer

Of course
It's a good thing to give a new aquarium lots of thought and put lots of planning into it. The more prepared you are, the better your aquarium will turn out

SkyCrystal

Local pet stores don't have them in stock, so we're going to have to order them. Where's a good place to buy Dwarf Puffers online?

cichlidlover

I might try liveaquaria.com. they have everything there. bit expensive I here though, because shipping is a little pricey

SkyCrystal

We'll check it out. Thanks!

lilFishyfish

Hi!!! I have 4 Dwarf puffers. (I got them at petsmart) one I've had over a yr and the other 3 about a yr. From what I've learned, they are aggressive at times BUT over all they usually are always looking for food on plants and rocks. They do nip fins of slower fish. Mine all get along very well with each other! I had to move my slower fish out though (I originally had them with female bettas, which are semi aggressive, but Slow). Right now I have mine in with 2 peacock eels, african dwarf frog, lots of G shrimp and Malaysian trumpet snails and a flag fish and everyone seems to get along great. I use sand for their tank, mostly for the eels since they like to stay under it most of the time and also the snails help clean it since they stay under it during the day and come out to clean at night (the puffers would try to eat them if they came out during the day so its a good thing they do not) Mine will ONLY eat frozen blood worms, small snails, and TINY shrimp (they weren't supposed to eat), they also will go around eating things (very small aquarium worms etc) that we can't see since they are so tiny but are on the rocks etc sometimes. I have never been able to get them to eat any dry foods so be prepared to buy a lot of frozen food, it can get expensive, I end up feeding it to all my other fish as well though!! I hope you can find some, they are really neat fish, so cute too!!!!!!!!!! They get excited when they see me cause they think FOOOOOOOD, heh!!!!!

coyoteoverdose

try www.petsolutions.com