Dwarf Puffer tank

[Mighty Prawn]

I've been looking into it, my wife love love loves little dwarf puffers, and she'd like a small tank with them. So we're gonna set up my 10 gallon for her. From what I understand dwarf puffers are the only freshwater puffer, and need 2-3 gallons per puffer, they need a heavily planted tank, and more females than males.

So we're gonna go with 1 male and 3 females.

I also read they like a very heavily planted tank, tons of hiding places and 50% water changes.

Now I also read they are not good community fish, but the one exception to add to the tank are Otocinclus. Now is this true, or should we just keep it a puffer only tank? We'd like some Oto due to difficulty in cleaning gravel in a heavily planted tank, so they can help with the algae control in places I can't get with the gravel vac.

Does that all sound alright, or do I have some mis-information?

-Hideo

[rodsboys]

Check out this site.Lots of knowledge and info there.

http://www.dwarfpuffers.com/

[Moogled]

Hideo, you can keep like 5 pea puffers in a 10 gallon tank. Place several pieces of large rock in the tank along with 2 or 3 plants. Your puffers will spend most of their time swimming along the glass, so don't worry about trying to make a grand tank out of it.

50% water changes every week is recommended because you're keeping them in a small tank. Feed them everyday. For your information, Otocinclus do well, but they're fragile.

Keep the tank simple and your gravel cleaning will be easy.

[Moogled]

Also, I just want to mention that Big Al's has pea puffers at the moment. None of the other fish stores have any, so if you're serious about buying them you should do so soon.

I will post a picture of my puffer tank. I keep 2 South American puffers in there with them.

[Mighty Prawn]

Petland in Coventry/Country Hills right now has some, but they're labelling them as "pea puffers".

We'd like to go get some now, but we don't have a 10 gallon tank with cycled water in it yet.

-Hideo

[Moogled]

You wouldn't want to buy Pea Puffers at a Petland, trust me.

Big Al's is where you should go.

[fatpuffer]

I think I would go for a min. of one puff per 3 gallon on this one...they are messy eaters and they get fairly "big" even the dwarfs...they are not only one inch long, but also one inch a round.

Just to be in the safe side...I would go with 3 gallon per puff. From experience and pufferforum.

Jonah

[windeindoiel]

I agree with what was said about the just keep 3 puffers in there... although if you get hooked like I did you may have to upgrade the tank to fit more in.

Anyways, really they just need things to break up their line of sight. Petsmart has fairly cheap nice looking fake plants. Or if you want real plants those are pretty cheap there too. If they spend lots of time swimming along the glass they're probably bored. :P It's really cute to watch them explore their tank lol.

Tankmates really depends on the personality of your fish. Mine are pretty passive, although for awhile I bought some gibbled looking ones from Pisces and they were kind of mean. Anyways mine leave my otos alone. I also have amano shrimp in there to clean up uneaten food and they also get left alone. At first the puffers seemed kind of interested but the shrimp waved their tiny claws at them and now the puffers leave them alone. I've also had filter shrimp in there before, which are pretty defenseless, and they got left alone too. Although maybe their size intimidated the puffers lol.

[Moogled]

...Actually, if you know how to feed the puffers properly, you can easily minimize detritus and leftover food. Personally, I just net some bloodworms and let them pick at it and move from tank to tank after I've seen that the puffers have gotten their fill.

In regards to waste, 50% water changes every week is an earmark, so it waste buildup is not a concern, unless you neglect the tank. Most puffers are territorial, but you can keep a number of them without them hurting each other. Pea Puffers might be fast little buggers, but only when they "sprint". They don't chase other puffers around the tank.

Most people caution you to keep one Pea Puffer per 3 gallons of water because they don't want to be held responsible for any mishaps that might occur, so they go with the safest number. Being cautious is good, but it doesn't necessarily mean if you go over that number, that there will be madness.

Also, windeindoiel makes a point about passive tankmates, this is also the same with Pea Puffers. I keep 8 Pea Puffers with 2 South American Puffers in a 20 Gallon, and most of the time they stick to the right side of the tank. There's been no aggression between them, although there are hints of a pecking order.

Live life on the wild side, buy a couple more puffers, there will be no problems if you do everything right.

[Dave]

If ottociniclus are out of the question, consider amano shrimp, or cherry red shrimp. Both clean up leftover waste and do an excellent job of keeping the algae in check. I'd suggest maybe trying 1 and if the puffers leave them alone, then get another one.

My 6 dwarfs in my 40g have 5 amano shrimp tankmates. They coexist very well.