10 gallon dwarf puffer

[SpaceFish42]

As the title says, I have decided to turn my old 10 gallon into a dwarf puffer tank. At the moment, it has a manzanita branch, lots of water sprite, and some rotala. Would DBT be a good plant for this setup? Also, how many puffers should there be in the tank, and would shrimp make good tankmates? Thank you in advance.

 

[Reygan2]

Many say you can have more than 1 DP in a 10 gallon. I tried it, and in my experience one always chased and bullied the other.
Shrimp would be dinner.

 

[SpaceFish42]

Many say you can have more than 1 DP in a 10 gallon. I tried it, and in my experience one always chased and bullied the other.
Shrimp would be dinner.

Thanks. I read somewhere that DPs can be kept together if there are enough plants to break up the tank, but I will trust a real person's experience much more than an unknown source.

 

[azmodan]

Dwarf baby tears is a good plant for high light high tech set ups. Can you tell us a little more about your set up? Lighting, co2, ferts, etc.

 

[sinibotia]

In a heavily planted tank, 2 puffers should be good. I had two in a heavily planted 10 and they couldn't keep track of each other long enough for any bullying to get serious.

 

[SpaceFish42]

Dwarf baby tears is a good plant for high light high tech set ups. Can you tell us a little more about your set up? Lighting, co2, ferts, etc.

I have substandard lighting, but I am going to get better lights as soon as possible. I will also use co2 and/or ferts if needed.

 

[SpaceFish42]

What other types of plants do DPs like?

 

[evil Nick]

java moss, lots of it

 

[Nils]

My puff loves just a whole mess of plants, especially peacock and java moss all in one clump. Get some taller swords because at night these guys like to lay down o some kind of leaf to sleep, and mine always chooses the swords over anything else. Anything really leafy with lots of things to weave through should be fine. I would love to try a crypt because I know that the puffer would love that. Right now he is the only one in a 5.5 and I think I will keep it that way, but in a 10 gallon you could easily do 2 or 3 with a very, very heavily planted tank. The hardest part about these little guys is feeding. Some, like mine, will only accept live food, like blackworms, which aren't hard to have at all. If I were you, I would just buy tons of plants and keep the hardscape minimal, because I have not seen mine even go near it. To keep algae under control in the tank, you should use oto's because those are ones of the only fish that they get along with. I have my puffer in the 5.5 with a Dwarf Blue Crayfish. In a 10 I would put 2 crayfish max, if you want to try them. I would try and get a pair or a male and female to make sure there aren't too many territorial issues, and chances are you will get some baby crayfish which you can sell for a LOT of money. As far as water quality goes, it doesn't need to be as "pristine" as people say it needs to be. I do a 50% water change once a week and that is all they need. Sure, the water needs to be good and I would say 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite and nothing over 5 nitrates. And with all the plants you are going to have in there they will serve as a nitrate sponge too. These guys aren't as hard as people say they are to keep as long as you're willing to go the extra mile and have to do some extra work for them. But they are really cool fish and are definitely worth it

(P.S: This is all in Italics because I clicked on Italic and it wouldn't let me go back to normal text

 

[ImACoolguy]

First thing I would do is find some PraziPro and treat him as soon as you get him. Many are wild caught and can carry worms or parasites.

^^^i didn't treat mine for a few weeks because I didn't know that and it ended up killing mine^^^ it's a precaution that can go a long way.

I had a 2.5g tank full of pond snail colonies as well. I just had a Java Fern in there and in less than a week there was eggs covering the leaves. In the main tank it was the same, so much in fact now that I have no puffer I have like 500 miniscule pond snails living in there.

See if you can train him to frozen if you don't want to do live cultures though.

Plants? Your DBT are a high lighting, heavy fertilizer, and co2 plant. It's not an easy plant to keep thriving.

Mine loved the big Java Fern in his tank. He would play around in the big leaves. I also had a piece of cholla wood he loved to hide in and swim through.


Caleb

 

[Nils]

I agree with Caleb on medicating for parasites. They can go a long way. I know that Sinibotia got his puffers from a seller on Aquabid that bred the him/herself. You might want to send Sinibotia a PM about it. I haven't had any problems with parasites yet, and I hope I never will. But if they are wild caught they probably have them.

 

[SpaceFish42]

Thank you!!! I have some java ferns and java moss now, but no more DBT idea. It will be VERY heavily planted, so it will probably have two DPs. I gave my brother the job of "breeding" pond snails (keeping them in a jar in his room), and I'll probably feed them a mix of live and frozen food. As for algae control, I have some trusty nerites to do that. I may or may not get the crayfish.

 

[ImACoolguy]

Thank you!!! I have some java ferns and java moss now, but no more DBT idea. It will be VERY heavily planted, so it will probably have two DPs. I gave my brother the job of "breeding" pond snails (keeping them in a jar in his room), and I'll probably feed them a mix of live and frozen food. As for algae control, I have some trusty nerites to do that. I may or may not get the crayfish.

Those nerites will be food....


Caleb

 

[SpaceFish42]

Those nerites will be food....


Caleb

Yeah... I just realized that after I wrote it.

 

[ImACoolguy]

Yeah... I just realized that after I wrote it.

From what I have heard they will leave Otocinclus alone though.


Caleb

 

[SpaceFish42]

From what I have heard they will leave Otocinclus alone though.


Caleb

I don't feel like 6 or more otos would be especially happy in the 10 gallon...

 

[ImACoolguy]

I don't feel like 6 or more otos would be especially happy in the 10 gallon...

Honestly..

IMO..

I don't see a need for otos to be in a school. I've had 2 in my 75g that are fat and happy as can be. Been in there for months.


Caleb

 

[azmodan]

I do notice a pretty decent difference in otos when they're in big groups, as they seem much more active and almost playful when they're in larger numbers. But I can't really comment as I'm guilty of having a pair of otos in a ten gal for the past few years.

 

[SpaceFish42]

Okay. I'm getting otos for my 20 gallon soon, so maybe I can put a few of them in the 10 gallon to see how it works out. If they seem unhappy, I'll just regime them to the 20 gallon instead.

 

[SpaceFish42]

Could ADFs go with DPs? I know someone who doesn't want their three frogs anymore because the frogs aren't very interesting.