Planning a Dwarf Puffer Tank

Hi!
I am not completely new to fish keeping, but I've only used unplanted small tanks before.
I recently bought a 29 gallon tank, and plan to keep some dwarf puffers in it. I've had one DP before, so I know how to care/feed them. I mainly have questions about the tank set up.
I would like to have a heavily planted tank with dwarf puffers and snails.
I'm trying to keep costs relatively low without buying low quality things.

0.Cycling with just plants. Is it possible to do this. I read on another website that you can but I want to make sure.
1. What kind of filter do you guys recommend? I want to use a sponge filter, but I've never had one before so I'm a little lost.
2. What kind of heater recommended?
3. Substrate? I did some searching and I was thinking of a fluorite/sand mixture. DP's like sand, but I heard some plants cannot grow as easily in sand. That's why I'm thinking of mixing the sand with the fluorite. Unless someone knows of a substrate that's kind of between sand and gravel in size? I'm also open to organic soil?
4. Plants? I definitely want Java Moss and Java Fern. I heard Anubis is also pretty easy to grow? I am also thinking about carpeting the ground with some small/short plant (like glossostigma), but I'm worried the snails will be able to hide in the plant carpet and avoid being puffer food (I want the snails for puffer food).

• java moss + fern
• Anubis
• Glossostigma--how hard is it to grow?
• Water Lettuce? I like how they float at the top.

5.CO2 system? Do I need one? Especially since I plan on having lots of plants. Is it possible to make a small one on my own?
6.Will I need to fertilize my plants?
7. Tips for Growing algae? I don't suspect it will be too hard to do this in my tank, but I would like to maybe have some algae growth to feed the snails (which in turn feed my puffers).
8. Breeding DP. So I want to establish my tank first before even trying to do this. But if all goes well I want to try breeding the cute little puffers. What kind of plants should I choose to encourage breeding/laying in the future?

I think that's all my questions for now! Sorry there are so many, thank you!

 

Hello! Welcome to the Forum! I hope you enjoy your stay!

I haven't any experience with puffers but I can definitely share some of the information I've learned re: plant conditions recently!

0.Cycling with just plants. It is possible to have plants in the tank while cycling, however you will still need an ammonia source in order to make the beneficial bacteria in the Nitrogen Cycle grow. The plants will feed off whatever nitrates are produced so that's a good thing.

1. What kind of filter If there's an ideal one for Puffers, I don't know. Generally any filter that agitates that water surace provides oxygenation to the water. Other than that I can't help you there I'm afraid.

2. What kind of heater Whatever brand, you'll probably need 100-150 watts I'd say. wait for more input on this. (going by the watt/litre rule)

3. Substrate? Sand can sometimes choke out the roots of the plants. I don't know about the fluorite/sand mixture.. There's something like ADA Aquasoil you could consider too - that seems to be one of the other planting substrates! With the Java moss and Java Ferns, you won't be planting them but tying/weightinh them down, so you needn't worry about them. Anubias is the same!

4. Plants? From what I've been told, a carpet plant like glossostigma won't grow all that well in sand. About the snails: I would think to an extent you'll want a bit of cover and hiding space so the puffers won't wipe out the population, that or get some super quick breeders. Maybe something like Pond snails or something.


5.CO2 system? I've been told that dosing/running CO2 won't hurt. You can make your own fixtures. I don't know how but I feel like it involves yeast. Check out this video:

6.Will I need to fertilize my plants?
I've been told that yes, I should and either way it doesn't hurt to do so! I think it's either flourish or excel is a decent fert.

7. Tips for Growing algae?
8. Breeding DP. I'm sorry, I can't help you for the last two.


I hope this advice is ok! Others will tell you if they think otherwise! Good luck!

 

Welcome to Fishlore

For a planted tank, the first thing you want to look at (once you decide what plants you want) is your light. So let's start with the plants. Glosso is going to be a bit tough for a beginner planted tank person. I would suggest echinodorus tenellus for the foreground instead. It's one of the foreground plants that carpets in almost any conditions and is very easy to grow.

Water lettuce is not going to be feasible in an aquarium. It gets much too large and sticks up to 6" out of the water (assuming you mean dwarf water lettuce. regular water lettuce gets massive). So I would switch that out to Amazon Frogbit.

Anubias, Java moss and Java fern are all easy to grow, so you're good there. I would also add corkscrew val to the mix, as it's a really nice looking plant that is great for beginners. You can also look at Echinodorus angustifolia, water wisteria, rotala angustifolia, and cryptocoryne wendtiI for some really attractive, easy beginner plants.

None of the plants I've suggested will require injected cO2. Your best bet for a first planted tank is to go as low tech as possible, while you learn the ropes.

Now, since we have an idea of the plants, you can start looking into lighting. The basic thing you need is a full spectrum daylight temp light for your tank. I personally really like the Fluval EcoBright series and have grown all of these plants and more, and it did the job beautifully. If you prefer a fluorescent light, get a T5 fixture and bulb. If you want to know more about it, start looking into PAR ratings and what they mean (if you figure out a way to explain it, please tell me, because while I understand it pretty well, I find it difficult to articulate haha). Basically PAR is a reading of how much light actually reaches your substrate. Then knowing what kind of bulb you have, you can guesstimate how much of that light is usable by the plants.

So, about substrate and fertilization: The best way to go about this in my opinion would be to have a dirted tank with gravel cap (do not use sand unless you can have MTS, and in this tank you can't have MTS because the DPs can hurt themselves on the too-hard shells). I doubt it will matter to the DPs what their substrate is capped with. The next best bet would be a plant substrate. Fluval makes several. I have used Caribsea's EcoComplete in many tanks and love it, so that would be another option. Using either soil or a plant substrate, you would not need to fertilize the plants for a long time.

You don't want to grow algae. Trust me, growing it on purpose will cause you tons of problems with your plants, and to boot, the snails you're going to be keeping hardly eat any algae. They prefer decaying plant matter and fish waste and eat algae when there's not enough of that. So just add them to the tank. If you find they aren't breeding enough, start dropping in sinking pellets of some kind every few days, and the population will kick right back up.

With regards to breeding DP, they lay their eggs in java moss, so having tons of java moss and more than enough blackworms, bloodworms, shrimp, and snails will be your best bet for getting them to breed. They will need a varied diet if you want them to be strong enough for breeding, so be sure to have all of these handy regularly.

If you plant the tank heavily enough, particularly with the faster growing plants I mentioned like water wisteria and amazon frogbit, there will be no need for a cycle. Since dwarf puffers eat only live food, their bioload is comparatively low for their size, and the plants will use all of the ammonia before it can even be cycled by bacteria. However it would be a good idea to get the tank set up and the snails in and breeding for a week or two before adding the puffers.

And last but not least, filtration. I suggest an HOB filter at least for puffers, as they are very sensitive about water quality. Stuff it with purigen and filter floss for mechanical and chemical filtration, to remove dissolved waste and any bi-products that do happen to be in the water (it's unlikely that you'll see any parameter spikes in a properly stocked, heavily planted tank though). You can place a fine grade pre-filter sponge over the intake if you like. However if they do spawn, you'll probably want to remove the eggs and raise the fry separately anyway.

Just a side note on puffers - you're going to want to deworm them, heavily, with metronidazole and then a second round with either fenbendazole or levamisole. You'll have to find a way to get this to them in some food (one user here was injecting live blackworms with dewormers, so that's one idea). They are usually wild caught and extremely prone to internal parasites. I would suggest getting a few kritter keepers, a big air pump, sponge filters for each keeper and a gang valve to allow you to run all the tanks on one pump. Keep them in there for a while until you're certain everyone is healthy before you put them in the main tank together.

I know that may seem extreme, but it is MUCH more difficult to successfully deworm these fish in a display tank, and being wild caught they often come in with the worst worm ever, camallanus worms. Hence the big meds, levamisole and fenbendazole.

 

I don't have much to add to the above. I'm just curious if it is possible to keep a breeding population of snails in with the dwarf puffers. I have a population of pond snails in one of my 20 gallon community tanks I use to feed my dp. That little guy will keep eating until he is ready to explode so I limit him to 3 or 4 snails a day. I would imagine a group of them would wipe out all the snails in my community tank in a day or so.

 

Oh wow! So much info, thanks you guys I'll read it over and Google everything later today.

Thanks for the info on the Amazon frogbit, I think that's the plant I actually meant. I saw it at a fish store before but didn't know the name so I just tried a quick google, but I guess I got it wrong haha.

If I know for sure that the dwarf puffers are captive bred, will I still need to do a deworming? I don't like to buy wild caught animals so I'll definitely be asking the fish store first.

Also how do you guys prepare your water? even a 25% water change will mean having to store 7 gallons of water somewhere, or do you prepare it on the spot and just use it after de chlorinating. With my smaller tanks I would de chlorinate and then leave the water at room temp for days before using it. But how do I store and change 7 gallons of water? @_@

 

I'm not saying it is recommended but I use a Python type device (homemade) to do all my water changes including my puffer tank. The only exception is my African cichlid tank where I premix rift lake salt and buffers but that is only minutes before it goes in the tank. As for your puffer I don't think there is any need to let the water sit as long as you are using dechlorinator.

 

Oh wow! So much info, thanks you guys I'll read it over and Google everything later today.

Thanks for the info on the Amazon frogbit, I think that's the plant I actually meant. I saw it at a fish store before but didn't know the name so I just tried a quick google, but I guess I got it wrong haha.

If I know for sure that the dwarf puffers are captive bred, will I still need to do a deworming? I don't like to buy wild caught animals so I'll definitely be asking the fish store first.

Also how do you guys prepare your water? even a 25% water change will mean having to store 7 gallons of water somewhere, or do you prepare it on the spot and just use it after de chlorinating. With my smaller tanks I would de chlorinate and then leave the water at room temp for days before using it. But how do I store and change 7 gallons of water? @_@

Even if the DPs are captive bred, I would deworm them. They are just insanely prone to parasites. But it will be very hard to find captive bred DPs, particularly in a store. You might be able to get some online, though.

For water changes in my fishroom, I plan to have a big sterilite tub of tap water aging every week. You could do similar with a smaller tub and use a pump to feed water into the tank. I would recommend larger water changes for the puffers though, as they are very sensitive to dissolved organic waste so it's best to be absolutely sure the levels are low.

As for keeping a breeding colony of snails in the tank with puffers, it's very doable. That's how most folks I've read about do it. Just be sure there's plenty of moss and hides and the snails will continue to reproduce.

 

Hi, I did not deworm my Dwarf Puffers, maybe I am just lucky. They have been in their display tank for about 6 months and appear super healthy.
If it helps, I bought them on line from Bobs Tropical Plants.
They appear very healthy and perhaps he had already treated them Chris99.
Here is a shot of their tank blubudgie and I do not use any fertilizers or CO2.

 

claireputput Bob breeds them himself. Excellent choice in retailer haha.

 

claireputput Bob breeds them himself. Excellent choice in retailer haha.

Do you recommend a specific brand of HOB filter? Maybe one that's not too expensive but still works well. Do I just pour the purigen in or should I put it in a mesh bag? I've never used it before o:

 

Hi, I did not deworm my Dwarf Puffers, maybe I am just lucky. They have been in their display tank for about 6 months and appear super healthy.
If it helps, I bought them on line from Bobs Tropical Plants.
They appear very healthy and perhaps he had already treated them Chris99.
Here is a shot of their tank blubudgie and I do not use any fertilizers or CO2.
View attachment 158105

Oh wow! What is that yellow plant in the corner? I Want to have some color in my tank so it's not just a sea of green. Especially since the puffers are greenish too...lol

 

congrats on taking on an army of DPs, they are amazing little fish right?! Wow, a 29G pea puffer tank would be great. If everyone gets along, I will demand you show us a video of this...please.

As everything has really been answered, I just want to wish you luck breeding them. You will have to post about the progress as I would love to try this down the road as well.

 

Hi, that one is in the back and it is a fake silk plant. I have a mixture of live and artificial in this tank although most are live.

 

Do you recommend a specific brand of HOB filter? Maybe one that's not too expensive but still works well. Do I just pour the purigen in or should I put it in a mesh bag? I've never used it before o:

You need a very fine mesh filter media bag for purigen. However it comes in a bag in some sizes, you may just want to start with that and see if you continue to need it after that.

With regards to the filter, I really like the Fluval C-series. That's what I used on my puffer tank the short while it was set up, before everyone died of camallanus worms They have adjustable flow rate, but when you lower the flow rate, it increases the hold time in the filter, so the water is very efficiently polished and cleaned if you have the right media. For the puffers I would get whichever model has a slightly higher GPH than you need at max capacity, then turn it down a bit to get the added benefits of filtration.

 

Okay so for the heater I was thinking about going for a 100 or 150W Aqueon Pro?
Either Fluval C3 Filter ($$) or a Marineland Emperor/Penguin Filter ($)?
And then Lighting: T5HO 6000K Lamp?

 

You would want the 150 watt heater. I've heard the Aqueon Pro series is good. I personally really like Eheims and oddly enough, the cheap-o adjustable heaters sold on ebay's eshopps section. I use both on lots of different tanks and have no problems with them.

I would go with the Fluval filter. I have one and absolutely love it. You can probably find a great deal on one online.

That light will be fine You may want to add some floating plants to dilute it a bit, as it'll be quite bright.

 

My hood has a piece of glass covering the hole that the lamp would be shining through. Is this a problem? Will the glass filter away some of the light?
Not sure how to take it off since its glued on there pretty well

 

Nah, you'll be fine. Most of us with glass tanks have glass lids covering them.