Starting up for a dwarf puffer

[Mcgolg76]

Finally got my community tank cycled and running and now I am ready for my next tank. I decided to get a dwarf puffer. Read up on them and saw a video and totally think they are the fish for me. Do have a few questions.


Should i get one or a pair?

If I only get one is a 5 galleon tank enough?

Read that they need better filtration. Any filter recommendations?

Gonna have a low light tank. What type of live plants?

How hard are they to feed?

What type of tank mates to keep tank clean. I know they prefer species only. Will ghost or cherry shrimp be too big to eat?

 

[Fishninja]

Dwarf puffers teeth will constantly grow and need food like brine shrimp or crunchy foods. shrimp won't work most likely (every fish is different) and they are best kept in species only tanks. Hope this helps

 

[Mcgolg76]

Got plenty of lil pest snails in my community tank. So will have a ready source of food.

 

[Fishninja]

Great so now u will need a species only tank and shrimp at your own risk

 

[Mcgolg76]

Any feedback on filter type and number of puffers

 

[Fishninja]

Not sure on that

 

[aquandrew]

in a 5 gallon, only one. in a ten you can do three, if there are enough plants to break their line of sight. they aren't too picky for foods they accept most frozen foods. are you going to run a HOB? an aqueon whisper 10 will work fine and is cheap.

 

[Mcgolg76]

What is a hob? Still don't know all the lingo

 

[aquandrew]

HOB=Hang on Back filter

 

[Mcgolg76]

Yes probably a hob

 

[Pezzep]

Are you sure dwarf puffers teeth grow to where they can't eat like other puffers? Cause to my understanding they don't even crush the shells of snails when eating them, they suck them out of the shell. Snails are their staple diet in the wild I do believe. I'm getting two eventually for my 8gal heavily planted, currently breeding rcs and snails for live food and have frozen blood worms.

 

[Mcgolg76]

Heard from some sources that teeth grow and others they don't. Either way got plenty of snails.

 

[aquandrew]

dwarf puffers are not like larger puffers, their teeth do not keep growing

 

[Pezzep]

As for plants I dunno what's high tech and what's low tech. But for my tanks I have 2watts per gallon, seachem excel, root tabs which I don't find that to be high tech and I've been able to grow all my plants quite well, they include. Crypt petchii, jungle val, java fern, Christmas moss, red tiger lotus, water sprite, hygrophila, and random plants from my cottage lake including emerssed mosses. The only plant I've had trouble with is micro sword, it grew, but very very slow.

 

[Terrance]

In a 5g, only get one. 5g per tank mainly has to do with territory issues with another DP. Let me see your proposed 5g and I'll recommend a filter for you. Good filtration is nice, but weekly water changes are more important. Weekly water changes also eliminates the need to "keep tank clean". You can try keeping a dwarf shrimp like a ghost or cherry shrimp, but its a hit or miss.

If low light tank, I'm assuming you don't want fertilizer or CO2. I think Java Moss will make a good exploration area. Then you can add other plants later.

Feeding is easy if you can teach your puffer to eat dead food like blood worms, or easily takes live food like pest snails.

edit: its true that DP teeth do not get overgrown

 

[Mcgolg76]

Thanks for the info. Think I am just gonna go for one a 5g. Def going to go 5g and have a single puffer.

 

[Mcgolg76]

Was looking to get java moss today but none at petsmart. Gonna have to hit the speciality store Tommorow.

 

[Mcgolg76]

Ran around all day looking for a 5g. Only found ones in starter kits, so one I bought had a horrible filter that goes on the inside of tank and takes up a lot of space. So need to buy another filter now. Hopefully can find the good aquem one but other filter suggestions that are easy to find would help.

 

[Pezzep]

Aquaclear 20 might work, it's a HOB filter has adjustable outflow since dwarf puffers live in slow moving areas and it has a box for the media where you can have three different types like mechanical, carbon and biological. I read that most people usually get alot of filtration for their puffers cause they are messy.

 

[Mcgolg76]

Would I use all three types of media? Gonna have live plants