So I've been reading up on dwarf puffers and they are just adorable. I have 1 LFS that even sells a puffer and they are dwarf species. I've got all water parameters written down and in check.
I plan on only having 1 puffer, to not cause territorial issues.
He will be in an already established tank that is 10g by himself, It currently has large gravel, and fake plants with barbs and Otocinclus. This will be entirely rescaped to sand and some live plants. The barbs will be rehomed to a 45g tank that if the ick does not clear up on the fish left, will be empty(I am treating the fish in there, it's white skirt tetras, 5 of them, and doing the heat treatment)
The only problem I'm having is I've heard they need tons of filtration, and I've heard they are very picky with food.
So recap:
Tank: 10 gallons-will be rescaped to sand and live plants.
Filtration- Nat. Geo. filter for 10g aquariums, I'd rather not replace it because it's established.
MarineLand Heater-up to 12 gallons I believe. Never had problems out of them.
Tank is cycled and clean.
So...
1. Do I need more filtration?
2. Best thing to start feeding them with?
Caleb
~10g tiger barbs
~45g tetras/dojo loach/clown pleco
~75g going to be African cichlids
OKAY, was waiting for one of these threads lol
Just recently started my dwarf tank.
5 gallon marine land all in one setup.
I got two puffers and honestly should have gotten 3 but we opted to get a dwarf frog.
I think either Ive gotten really lucky or these things are NOT as bad as people say.
The instant I put them in the tank they went at each other a bit but honestly it was tame. That eventually wore off and now they both hunt around together. I know eventually this may end when they get older but in even a small 5 gallon 90% of the time they honestly avoid each other.
I have snails colonizing the tank (pond and MTS) and I know they are eating SOMETHING because they still look nice and fat and are always pecking and darting at small things I cant see. My guess is they are going after newborn pond snails.
They are pretty hardy. I actually had my cycle crash on me. I seeded the new tank with media from my old tank and it worked out fine but some reason about a week in I took levels and had an ammonia spike. perhaps the frog was too much. I ended up doing 50% water change and adding more media from my existing tank and its fine again now. These fish seem bothered by NOTHING. I have my hands in there cleaning and ripping things out and they could care less. The spike did not make them act any different and honestly I prob would have never know if I didnt randomly check. They could honestly care less about the frog as well and the stupid frog is a bumbling fool. Its funny watching them inspect everything with their crazy junkie eyes.
I would say get some snails in the tank that breed like pond snails before you get them in there. I also supplement with frozen bloodworms. My smaller of the two within TWO feeding already correlated the turkey baster with food and comes right up loving the worms. The bigger of the two could care less about worms but is not getting skinny which either means
1) hes eating them afterwards
2) he not hungry because hes filling up on snails
Heres the kicker as well.
My GF was a little bleck after we got the puffers because right now they are SOOOO small so we got a pretty guppy for the tank. I KNOW I KNOW, the bioload and the nipping, but she really wanted something she could see swimming around. We plan on rehoming him when they get bigger. Prob to my planted 30 as long as my gourami wont bother it.
Well I do a 50% WC every friday and no issues right now. They also could care less about the guppy and have never nipped it. Probably because its too fast honestly.
I think these fish are a little exaggerated. I could have probably put them in my planted 30 gallon community fine. I have read they can instantly change demeanor though overnight.
to sum up your questions from what I am now experiencing
your filtration should be fine for now. Start testing the levels and when you see they are stable your good. As they start to get bigger test again to make sure they are not causing spikes with decaying leftover snails. I keep meaning to plop in a couple ghost shrimp to try and eat leftover food to. Water Changes are better than filtration on smaller tanks I think (from reading). Dont over feed as well.
They will always eat snails, and will eat blood worms ( i actually keep meaning to buy some live worms as a treat for all my fish as well). Dont bother with flakes no matter what the LFS says. For food get a pond snail breed going. They wont bother with bogger ones. Mine ignore them since theyre almost the size of the puffers themselve and they know there are babies around to eat. I saw mine nip a bigger MTS once but instantly gave up and moved along.
they like a heat around 75 to 80. Mine has a 50 watt heater and its stable around 75 and everything in there is happy.
For tank mates.... as long as the tank has some good hiding spots, plenty of food to hunt and clean water I think theyre fine with whatever.
I would deal with that ich before anything tho. Im pretty sur these are scaleless fish and ich will wreck them if they get it.
Id actually break the tank down or just nuke it with copper meds first honestly.