Yay! I finally got my dwarf puffers!!

[Chikadee]

Yay!! I am really excited! These little guys are so cute and sooooo tiny! I got 12 of them in anticipation of some fighting and possible casualties. I will take the ones that don't get along back the lfs, right now they're in there with 3 tiger barbs, 3 giant danios, 2 otos, 1 rubberlip pleco. I'm planning on taking the danios back to the lfs tomorrow though. I am kind of concerned for the puffers' health because they are soooo little, my tiger barbs keep chasing them around! I thought it was supposed to be the other way around?? Also, they are really really shy, and are all hiding right now. Will they get more bold as they adjust to the tank? I also picked up a variety of frozen foods, how can I be sure that the puffers are eating and not the other fish?

 

[Allivymar]

Congrats Chik ) What cute lil buggers they are!

I do have an important question tho; did you QT them?? It doesn't sound like it; if you didn't 40 lashes with a wet noodle! And be careful; those tiger barbs may stress the heck out of em since they are so small and haven't set up territory yet. You may want to move them into a QT tank until you are sure they are healthy.

 

[dogartist]

where did you get such little ones
..All I see is med to pretty big of that type here..I love them ..like little green bumble bee......

 

[Furious George]

Don't puffers require brackish water?

 

[Furious George]

Don't puffers require brackish water?

 

[Allivymar]

Depends on the puffers George; there are freshwater dwarf puffers.

 

[Chikadee]

Oh no! I didn't think to QT them since I just started my tank and it's primarily for the puffies. I took the danios back to the store, so that's less to worry about. The tiger barbs don't seem to care much about them anymore, there's lots of little hiding spots for the puffies that the barbs can't fit into. I do have another 10gal that I could stick them in, but it's not fully cycled yet (nitrites are pretty high) and I think the transition would also be pretty stressful... But I could move them, what do you guys think? Right now I can't even tell there are puffers in my tank cuz they're so little and all hiding. Will they eventually be more personable? I sure hope they come out more!! They're sooooo CUTE! When should I first feed them? Do young puffers only eat every other day like adults?

Oh, and I got them at petsmart. I couldn't find them anywhere around here and I had to make a drive to get them, but they were worth it! So cute and only 1.99 each!

 

[Allivymar]

I saw FW puffers at my local Petsmart too; took all I had NOT to buy em LOL I just have no room; my QT has my poor betta in it (he was in the planted tank with the dwarf gouramis over the holidays; I waited too long to bring him back to work and they tore his fins to shreds!), and while I have an empty 10g, its for the angelfish or ram fry which I should have in the next month.

Its really important to QT fish if there are other fish in the tank they will be living in! When I bought my recent rams, they went straight into the main tank they would live in, but spent 3 weeks alone in there to be sure they were healthy (my mated angelfish pair moved in their tonite). One really is taking a chance when not QTing new fish, especially when they come from a lfs that have a community filter system; means even if the fish in one tank is looks healthy, its been exposed to whats in other tanks as well.

Most of us keep our QT tanks empty, and start them up when we need em. Keeping some extra filter media in the main tank, and using it in the QT filter means its instantly cycled; no worries bout ammonia or nitrite (although testing is still very important). I wouldn't move the new guys in if the nitrites are really high in your QT tank; besides they are already in the main tank. If they are carrying anything they've given it to the others by now.

Keep a REALLY close eye on them; dwarf puffers are known ich magnets. And hopefully madasafish will pop in; he bought a bunch recently and may have some advice/tips/suggestions.

 

[Pufferpunk]

Make sure your tank is heavily decorated w/plants & rocks & stuff. Your puffs will feel more comfortable knowing there is somewhere safe to go if needed. Then the barbs can't harass them as much. Also, it may be hard to feed your puffers enough if the faster moving fish get all the food. How big is the tank?

 

[Chikadee]

There are lots of lava rocks, driftwood, plants in the tank, and they have tons of hiding places, so I am not worried about that. I fed them frozen bloodworms this morning, and most of them ate it. I'm not sure if all of them ate because some didn't seem very interested. I fed the tiger barbs flake first, so they weren't too hungry. The tank is a 30 long. I am not planning on adding any more fish, right now there are 12 dwarf puffers, 1 rubberlip pleco, 2 otos and 3 tiger barbs. The fish all look active and happy. However, I haven't been able to count all 12 puffers since I put them in, I think some are hiding, but I will take apart the decorations when I do a water change, just so I can get an accurate head count. I hope they're ok! I feel like such a dummy for not thinking to QT them first.

As far as feeding goes, how often should I initially feed them? I want to make sure that they're all eating, but I don't want to overfeed. The puffers that ate this morning have nice rounded bellies, but there are also some that don't, but there are still some bloodworms floating around that they can eat if the want. Also, I didn't know how much a cube of frozen food would equal when thawed (I now know it's a lot!) so I have a lot of thawed bloodworms that are sitting in a container, will they go bad? Or can I feed them later??

Thanks for all the wonderful advice!!

 

[Pufferpunk]

There's a lot of competition in that tank for food. I might suggest feeding live worms (well rinsed in a brine shrimp net) & put them in a cone worm feeder. It's less messy & they last longer. Your fish will get to know that's where to go to get food. When the more bold ones are full, the shyer ones can get some. I think you should either get more tiger barbs, so there is a real school (a school consists of 6 or more), which may get them to stay together & not chase other fish, or get rid of them all together. Puffers are best in a species only tank anyway.