armadillo

Hi guys/gals. How many of you have dwarf puffers. I'd like to totally quiz you about the ins and outs of these fish so I can take good care of our one (if we decide to get it). We're short-listing candidates for a 10G tank that's coming free in about 3 weeks, and he's definitely the strongest contender. I totally fell under the charm.

griffin

totally awesome fish! i'll be glad to answer any questions you have

armadillo

Cool, thanks, Griffin. You don't know what you're letting yourself in for. I am the queeeen of the million questions. OK. Let's start:

- how many have you got?
- do they get on?
- what other fish do they live with in your tanks?
- how long have you had them for?
- have you found that finding them food they like is a huuuuge pain?
- what do you feed them (snail, artemia, ?)

COBettaCouple

and 3 answers.. yes,no,irrelevant. actually i'm curious to know the same since we do plan at some point to get puffers.

Luniyn

Armadillo if you haven't already, check out this site. It will answer a lot of your questions... with photos too

lolagurl

no to me its easy to feed them as long as its frozen bloodworms mines awims up as soon as it hits the water!

griffin

currently, zero, i used to have one.
they got along with all the fish in that tank. oh wait, they were the ONLY fish in the tank. (my focus was a planted tank, so the puffer was more just for fun. i did have some shrimp in there, but the puffer decided it wanted a shrimp dinner (or a few of them).
in my tanks, they lived by themselves
i had it for a year or so, but i got it when it was already full grown. i think they live to be 3-5 years or so.
hehe, not really. i fed mine live snails and live blackworms. i also used some frozen bloodworms, but it didn't like those as much.
refer to above

armadillo

Thanks Lunyin. I had checked it and it's a great site. Definitely a great reference if we do decide to get them.

armadillo

Thanks for all the answers, Griffin. Basically, would you do it again (getting puffers)?

This feeding live snails makes me wonder if it's not too much hard work. Did it not cause you a lot of bother to have a snail tank too?

armadillo

Mmmm, seems that puffers are like bettas: completely different from fish to fish when it comes to getting on with tankmates or being fussy with food. Would be good if ours didn't mind the frozen stuff.

griffin

i would definately do it again. the only reason i don't currently have a puffer is because i got some neons after the puffer died, and i'm already over the limit as far as tanks and size allowed here. (shhh - don't tell anyone!) everytime i go to the petstore, i make sure to check them out though!

sick-lid boy

I had 3 Dwarf Puffers for a few weeks. They came with my Discus tank. They lived with the discus for about 2 or 3 weeks before I gave them away to a friend. I did quite a bit of research on them while I had them (which is why I got rid of them). But I really liked those little guys. I am seriously considering getting a 10 or 15 gallon Dwarf Puffer sanctuary in the very near future. I have a nice unused surface in my bedroom that would be PERFECT for a small tank. Mine ate freeze-dried bloodworms like they were going out of style.

armadillo

So what in your research made you get rid of them? Was it the compatibility with the fish you had?

sick-lid boy

Exactly. The only tank I had room for more fish was the Discus tank... after learning about their inability to play nice with other fish, the decision was to either get rid of the 8 Discus fish or keep the 3 Dwarf Puffers in the 80 gallon tank. Obviously the puffers had to go.

COBettaCouple

and you didn't give them to us? we would've taken them -- oh the tremendous rage at being slighted.. i don't know if i'll ever get over it! and from a FF fan too! where have all the heroes gone?! :P

sick-lid boy

I actually offered them to the members of this board on the fish for sale/trade topic before I gave them away. I still got a 5" Bala Shark and a 7" Asian Upside-Down Catfish that need adopting....

COBettaCouple

yea, just messin' with ya.. we'd not have a proper home for them.