Dwarf Puffer Advice

[WaterPond]

yes extremely intelligent, you can also tell how they feel, you can tell if they are depressed, or happy. They are evry interactive with each other aswell as you. Mine follows me around the room and stares at me(its kindof creepy actually). LOL

 

[coldmachineUK]

Yup, that's spot on. They are extremely personable. I had my figure eight puffer in my room where I work on my computer a lot and he'd always be watching what I was doing.
They even beg for food in a much more cunning way than other fish (mine used to 'bare' his beak as if to say "c'mon, I want somethin' in 'ere mister" (dont ask where the cockneye accent came from lol)).
I'll own up to saying that I actually cried when I lost him which I've never done with any other fish (inc. fish I've kept for far longer than him). Anyway, he began the obsession so I have him to thank for it!

 

[JDogg]

Yup, that's spot on. They are extremely personable. I had my figure eight puffer in my room where I work on my computer a lot and he'd always be watching what I was doing.
They even beg for food in a much more cunning way than other fish (mine used to 'bare' his beak as if to say "c'mon, I want somethin' in 'ere mister" (dont ask where the cockneye accent came from lol)).
I'll own up to saying that I actually cried when I lost him which I've never done with any other fish (inc. fish I've kept for far longer than him). Anyway, he began the obsession so I have him to thank for it!

i would imagine most "common" animals in the UK speak with a cockney accent... 8O LOL

 

[joannde]

ColdMachine - I love that photo ! Yesterday I was at the LFS and saw both a Green Spotted Puffer and Figure Eight Puffer. I've been wondering where I could fit those brackish tanks now ! LOL.
Its the EYES - when you look into those eyes you KNOW that there's something going on in that brain .....

 

[coldmachineUK]

ColdMachine - I love that photo ! Yesterday I was at the LFS and saw both a Green Spotted Puffer and Figure Eight Puffer. I've been wondering where I could fit those brackish tanks now ! LOL.
Its the EYES - when you look into those eyes you KNOW that there's something going on in that brain .....

They are incredible little things aren't they! The only downside is the size of the tank needed (30G for just one GSP!) for only one fish, and the fact that it's really hard to keep tankmates with them owing to puffer behaviour. People have housed mollies and gobies (e.g. BBGs) with them successfully for a year only for the puffer to turn around one day and decide to have them for dinner
Possibly the most interesting, cute, and intelligent fish though. I used to be obsessive about loaches (which I still think are extremely intelligent), but puffers are 'it' now!

They really do watch what's going on outside of the tank as well. Mine used to follow me from one side of his tank to wherever he could get the best view of what I was up to! I'd be typing away on this forum and turn to check him out only to see he was in the far corner watching the monitor!

They can be naughty little things too though lol. They are known jumpers, and whenever I cleaned the tank he would be fine UNLESS I was near his little rocky hideouts and even if he was on the other side of the tank if he saw me go near them to clean he'd bob up to the top as if to say "you mess with my home and I'm outta here!" lol.

The LFS where I shop used to keep a mbu puffer in a large display tank. He was about 2' long I believe, and called Tommy. The lady who kept him actually taught him how to smile (b/c she regularly grinned at him and talked to him, he just copied the expression) which freaked out customers no end! When she cleaned the tank she used to pat him and he'd go over to one side so she could clean the other, and then she'd pat him again and he'd move over so she could clean out the remainder!

All depends on personality though: like cichlids, a puffer is a puffer so they are prone to aggression, but you can have very peaceful sociable ones like the mbu and my F8, but others can be real moody characters!

It was originally believed that low water current suited them best, but a lot of people - myself included - have found they love playing in bubbles!
Great fish, everyone should keep one if they've got the right sized tank and have done their research: extremely rewarding pet. The only downside, like I say, is that you'll grow VERY attached to them in a VERY short space of time and losing them is devastating

 

[Satsumas]

That's pretty amazing about the mbu puffer at the LFS coldmachine!

I must admit i am interested in keeping some dwarf puffer's but i have nowhere for another tank!

 

[joannde]

[quote="coldmachineUK] The LFS where I shop used to keep a mbu puffer in a large display tank. He was about 2' long I believe, and called Tommy. The lady who kept him actually taught him how to smile (b/c she regularly grinned at him and talked to him, he just copied the expression) which freaked out customers no end! When she cleaned the tank she used to pat him and he'd go over to one side so she could clean the other, and then she'd pat him again and he'd move over so she could clean out the remainder! [/quote]

ROFL - amazing. And I believe it. One of my DPs didn't get her share of food, so I pointed to it and off she went, right to where I was pointing. There's no way she saw that bloodworm on her own - it was obsured from her vision by the jungle of plants in the way.
OMG - I can't get the vision of her patting the fish out of my mind - cute story, thanks for sharing. I'll probably have a dream that incorporates that into it tonight.

 

[JDogg]

well picked up my puffers...
i know they are dwarfs, and i know they are small....

but right now they are about 2-3 mm... they are smaller then the snails i have:?

i picked up some frozen bloodworms i hope they eat them!

this is the best pre-release picture i could get :?

since they are so tinny right now does anyone have any feeding advice?

i have a couple of ramshorn snails in the tank, but they are bigger then the puffers :?

there are snail eggs on the glass though so hopefully there will be bite size snails in a few days

 

[dapellegrini]

BTW, JDogg, you stirred some fond memories of my old puffers and I ended up dropping 5 DPs in my 72g community... We'll see how it goes. I posted a bit about it in my monster post here:

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/viewtopic.php?t=88786&start=25

(Have to scroll down to my latest update on that thread)

They immediately took to eating all of the mini MTS (I have 1,000's), though they don't seem very interested in much else... I have tried frozen brine shrimp, blood worms, flakes, wafers, etc...

Good luck!

 

[joannde]

Dan - MTS are dangerous to keep with DPs - they can break their beaks on them. Also, they're not really community fish; generally they are kept in a species tank. Maybe it'll work for you - keep us posted. Your tank is GORGEOUS by the way - all I can say is WOW !!!!!!!

JDogg - if you have any small snails they'll eat them. If all the snails are large you can crush them and toss them into the tank. Be sure to remove any "leftovers" - dead snails can pollute a tank quickly. If you can find black worms they might work also.

 

[dapellegrini]

Thanks for the heads up joannde... I am aware of the issues with puffers in general, though I hadn't heard the bit about breaking their beaks on small MTS.... These ones never get bigger than say 1/8 inch in size:

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/viewtopic.php?p=720797&highlight=#720797

I don't want to hi-jack jdoggs thread here... I am interested to hear what they start eating in the 10g jdogg.

 

[JDogg]

JDogg - if you have any small snails they'll eat them. If all the snails are large you can crush them and toss them into the tank. Be sure to remove any "leftovers" - dead snails can pollute a tank quickly. If you can find black worms they might work also.

i have like 2-3 ramshorns in there that are too big for the puffers, but they have already layed some eggs on the glass, who knows where else :?

i would think when the babies hatch they will not last long

 

[GlitcH]

My dwarf puffers will eat any size snail.......as long as it's alive.

If it's a large snail they just bite off the heads and move on to the next one.

 

[JDogg]

i had a scare tonight when i got home from work, one of my puffers was stuck in my filter intake

i quickly pulled the plug and he swam out, i hope he is ok, i have not idea how long he was stuck like that. i did not check on them this morning because it was dark and my time is set to come on at 10 am. he might have been stuck like that since last night!?

he is swimming ok right now, i hope he makes it. i did put a sponge pre-filter over the intake now...

 

[dapellegrini]

Umphhhh.... My guess is you should know by tomorrow morning (or evening since your light some on late) if he made it through the ordeal ok...

I have noticed my DP eat the ends off of the small MTS... They slowly circle and watch one and then BANG... snap it up and eat off the front end. They don't even try to eat the whole thing. I also saw one eating a blood worm today!!! Hurray... Seems they will try bloodworms if they get hungry enough

 

[JDogg]

i did see him swimming around late last night, my fingers are crossed

EDIT:
look good tonight

 

[JDogg]

FYI puffer that was stuck in filter is still looking good

 

[coldmachineUK]

Good to hear! Hopefully he won't try that trick again! They don't half get themselves in to funny situations do puffers. Curiosity + the puffer etc. lol

How are they feeding up?

 

[JDogg]

Good to hear! Hopefully he won't try that trick again! They don't half get themselves in to funny situations do puffers. Curiosity + the puffer etc. lol

How are they feeding up?

frozen blood worms are going good, and my snail eggs have hatched... it is fun to watch them pick tinny tinny snails off of the plant leaves (so small i can barely see them!)