New 10 gal. DP aquarium...

[EdgarMedina1010]

Im thinking of buying another 10 gal. for some DP's, I was also thinking of stocking it with 2-3 otos, i would feed them Blackworms, freeze dried bloodworms, small ramshorn snails from my other 10 gal. tank., the tank will be planted...i was just wondering how often should they be feed snails and how many DP's and how many otos would be good?..also how would i do it as far as female-male ratio? i read this in a magazine article ""Most people will keep 2-3 females to every 1 male since the males will be less aggressive this way. Male Dwarf Puffers have been known to fight each other to the death, especially during mating season."" but could I do all females?... thanks in advace.

 

[WaterPond]

Yay!!! i love dwarf puffers, i have one.

*They will not accept freeze dried food, only frozen or live.*

they need snails to keep their teeth small, i feed mine one or two every other day, and bloodworms on weekends. DO NOT FEED YOUR DP MTS, THEY CAN BREAK THEIR TINY TEETH

Ok, first, i would go with three DPs, preferably one male two females, but if it is heavily planted then you could even keep all males. There is a possibilty of breeding if you do keep male and female though. Although the fry almost never live ebcause they need microscopic food.

For otos, go with 3 or four. They are neat creatures and will help with algea, and the will school if you keep at least three.

Might i suggest shrimp too, i have founf these to be very valuable in my DP tank, they eat all the shards of food left over my my monster's feeding time.

cant wait to see pics! (BTW, WE NEED PICS!!)

 

[joannde]

I agree - you're gonna LOVE having DPs. Theres just so much personality packed into those tiny little guys
I'd do a max of 3 DPs. I have 3 in my tank and even tho they are still young I do see aggression, which I'm assuming will only get worse as they get older.
Most of the DPs sold are too small to sex so I wouldn't count on your "females" really being females
My personal preference was to skip the otos, but 2 DPs and 3 otos would work nicely.
I think the ghost shrimp idea was great. They eat the bits of leftover bloodworm as well as doing a decent job of cleaning out snail shells (the DPs tend to just bite off the heads leaving the body in the shells).

ps - I just turned around to look at the DP tank. They sleep resting against the plant leaves - its pretty amazing. One of them is practically vertical since "his spot" is a sword leaf that is growing up the side of the tank. Too cute.

 

[EdgarMedina1010]

First, i want to thank you guys for the info...ok, I will go with 3 Dp's (1 male,2 females) and 3 otos, also i will try to get some ghost shrimp , i think ive seen some at petsmart, (or hopefully they will have some by the time its time to get everyone in their new homes), so will most likely be feeding live blackworms and i will also give them ramhorn snails every other day, http://www.dwarfpuffers.com/care1.htm after reading this i will give freeze dried food and flakes a shot... so in you guy's opinion what should be the Main meal (and how often shoul i feed)?thanks again.

 

[joannde]

If you try the freeze dried make sure you soak it first. I hope you're one of the lucky ones that gets them to eat it ! Mine won't even LOOK at it LOL
If you give them ramshorn snails you'll probably end up with a lot of half filled shells - if you can find some small pond snails from your other tank that may be better. I'm actually RAISING pond snails now LOL. Its really simple and I know I'll always have a food supply.
I feed mine bloodworms 2x a day. I have "San Francisco Bay" brand. I first bought the kind that comes in little premeasured cubes and that worked well. Then I bought a "sheet" (to save money) but found that the bloodworms were larger in the sheet - the DPs seemed to struggle with them - so I went back to the cube (and the fish in the 35G now get the sheet stuff). My DPs are pretty small - about 1/2" and eat about 1 bloodworm per meal; the largest eats maybe 1/2 of a second one.
I "taught" mine to eat from an eye dropper. I had to treat them for intestinal parasites by soaking the bloodworms in GelTek Ultra PX before feeding for a few weeks (the smallest DP would not eat a THING for quite some time). The eyedropper "forced" them to ingest some of the meds as they attacked the worm in the dropper. Now its just an easy way to make sure they get some food before the ghost shrimp gobble it all up LOL
When you buy your DPs make sure they have round little bellies and don't have a "jelly bean" shape to them (which may mean intestinal parasites).
you're gonna LOVE these guys - they are extremely curious and when you watch their eyes moving here and there as they hunt its a thrill.

 

[EdgarMedina1010]

Yeah, i will try to get them to eat the freeze dried (i figure it couldnt hurt,since i already feed them to my neons and dwarf gourami)... and actually i got a betta bowl filled with pond snails, so i guess i will also feed them pond snails, as for the bloodworms will this do? http://www.drsfostersmith.com/Produ...n_Page-_-Foods&ref=3969&subref=AA&N=2004+6120 (sorry for the huge link) ..Also i wanted to ask about this i read from a website ""A dwarf puffer setup will require a sand substrate, preferably a dark sand substrate; otherwise your puffers will cut themselves to shreds.""... heres the whole page thanks again http://www.aquarticles.com/articles/breeding/McKane_Dwarf_Puffers.html

 

[joannde]

Those bloodworms are fine although I'm not familiar with the brand.

Someone recently asked the same exact question on the substrate on www.dwarfpuffers.com and the response was that gravel is fine - DPs don't burrow.

 

[EdgarMedina1010]

ok I called my LFS and they do have san francisco bay- frozen bloodworms ,and as for the gravel , i was originally thinking of using eco-complete...Thanks