dwarf puffer

[justrelax]

??????? fill me in about these critters please. your experiences, advice, whatever.... i have a 10gallon that's currently holding some guppies, but i'm going to give them to a buddy tonight so i can make room for dwarf puffers. i know they take salt, and i know that they're viscious. i'm planning on 1 male and 2 females.... lfs says 10gallons is enough room, what do you all think?

 

[DPirateRoberts]

I've owned puffers before. A ten gallon tank is good for three of them. But beware that they do nip at fins of other fish. I had a pair that nipped at each other.
Good luck.

 

[justrelax]

i'm aware of their nipping habit, thanx! i wasn't planning on putting anything else in the tank, unless someone has a suggestion for a cleanup crew? i hear blood worms are their staple diet. is that what you used dread? were they hard to clean up after? tia

 

[rich311k]

Actually dwarf puffers are freshwater no salt needed. You are correct on the rest. Not sure if three will fit or not.

 

[HannahJ]

They do need brackish water, so make sure you look up the exact amount of salt they need per gallon. As far as other things go, they are territorial fish, so give them some little caves they can stay in and "guard". Having a lot of other decorations (like fake plants) to busy up the tank will help them stay comfortable with each other, too. Just make sure you watch them when they first go in the tank, too mae sure you don't have one that's just too aggressive to be with others, and you should be fine. Good luck!

 

[justrelax]

no salt at all?! i've read they don't need actual BRACKISH but that 1 tsp per gallon is good for them. i'm sensing that this is a debated matter... or a matter of the lfs conspiracy to get us all to spend more money.. :0

 

[rich311k]

Here is a great sight to help you out. They are freshwater fish.

 

[HannahJ]

Dwarf puffers aren't brackish? Well, call me a monkey's uncle. Sorry for mis-advising that, that's all I had ever heard from everyone, including a friend who kept them. Apologies for the bad info.

 

[DPirateRoberts]

I fed them flake food and bloodworms.
They are really cool looking fish. They are also very curious about everything.

 

[justrelax]

hannah, you're a monkey's uncle... lol thanx for the effort, no worries! thanx for the link rich, i can't believe that didn't come up when i was googling.. good stuff! thanx for the quick responses guys, hopefully i'll have some puffer pics to share soon.

 

[Hrafnkel]

I always had luck with bloodworms when feeding them, but most meaty foods like that should do well. They relish snails but I'd make sure they're small ones. 3 in a 10 gallon SHOULD be fine, but that depends on the individual fish. And though it's already been settled, yes, they're freshies.

 

[Puriti]

I have a dwarf puffer...they don't need brackish water! lol Squeaker loves to nip at my betta fish fins (along with anyone else he can harass)>.< I currently isolated him in my 10 gallon tank but he will only really eat frozen bloodworms but he will pick at snails though. ^__^ HTH

 

[Hrafnkel]

Why on earth would you put him in with a betta? Just out of curiosity.

 

[kaz]

check out amazon puffers or south america puffers they are the most peacful of its kind

 

[Dragonchild85]

I recently purchased some dwarf puffers too, so we can learn together!

I have noticed that mine LOVE to hunt snails...I'm actually trying to find information on breeding the hitch-hiker snails because Puffy is going through them like crazy. She also loves brine shrimp (which is what the LFS was feeding them), but aside from that, she's ignored flakes, pellets and bloodworms. Haven't tried tubefix worms yet.

Puffy has been attacking Amiyui though...but Amiyui won't move to the other side of the tank! (Puffy has claimed the right side as hers, but Amiyui won't move to the left side, where she'd be safe!)

But if they are the Pygmy puffer (dwarf puffer) they don't need salt!! Salt actually hurts them. The figure 8 and green spotted 'dwarf' puffers do need brackish water though.

Here's a link that's helped me alot.

www.dwarfpuffers.com

HTH!

 

[DocOc]

So, along the lines of brackish or not, what if you buy a fish that has been kept in brackish conditions? What is a good way to acclimate it to freshwater?

 

[Puriti]

Why on earth would you put him in with a betta? Just out of curiosity.

Because I didn't know he'd pick at them and he didn't do it til like 3 months after I got him >.< lol

 

[Guest]

Wow...You learn something new every day. I never owned these, however the LFS has them labeled as Brackish and I never looked into it, however they also have them labeled "tropical community," so just another lesson to always do your own research