Dwarf puffer help please

[ImACoolguy]

We have 10 tanks running right now, four brackish. They all get fed each morning, at least half of them get frozen foods. Salinity gets checked on all the brackish tanks.
My puffers all get shrimp that is fed by tongs initially, the remaining is thawed, chopped, and tossed in.
My Moray eels..I won't go into detail on them.
My Electric Catfish and Paddle-Tail Newt both get fed earthworms..
And all the benthic feeders have their own algae rocks grown in the window.

It's a bit of a chore lol. But I don't think anyone gets into the hobby because it's easy.

Definitely agree and that is some unique fish pics or links to pics wold be very interesting to look at. I'm always up for learning about new fish.


Caleb

~10g tiger barbs
~45g tetras/dojo loach/clown pleco
~75g going to be African cichlids

 

[lindenthaler.9]

One of my Morays, Gymnothorox Tile. Commonly known as the Freshwater Moray. (5 minutes of research will tell you they'll die in freshwater)
And my Electric Catfish. He's my baby soon to be tank buster.
Minimum of a foot in aquaria, a monster at 4ft in the wild. I apologize for the blurriness, I only have phone pictures of him currently and he's quite fast. Not looking forward to the day he shocks me trying to maintain his tank.

 

[lindenthaler.9]

Moray, Columbian Shark, my GSP..

They're worth it. Saying this a hobby is actually an understatement.

 

[lindenthaler.9]

Since I took that slightly off topic I'll bring it back a little.
This was my pea puffer, and a few Nanos I'm taking inspiration from on the my next build for these guys. On a slightly bigger scale. Perhaps a 20 long.

 

[ImACoolguy]

Moray, Columbian Shark, my GSP..

They're worth it. Saying this a hobby is actually an understatement.

Very beautiful!


Caleb

~10g tiger barbs
~45g tetras/dojo loach/clown pleco
~75g going to be African cichlids

 

[evil Nick]

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.

 

[lindenthaler.9]

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.

Is that your tank? It's stunning. I wish my 5g Marineland had that footprint. Actually I just wish mine was that tank. It looks acrylic?

 

[evil Nick]

Is that your tank? It's stunning. I wish my 5g Marineland had that footprint. Actually I just wish mine was that tank. It looks acrylic?

yeah thats BRAND NEW with no fish though. Looks different now lol.
The moss is HUGE and the driftwood has that bac growth on it.

I keep meaning to take a new pic. Maybe today at lunch.

Once its cleaned its great....... for two days.

I will say the filter system is WEAK! The stock cartridge sucks and gets clogged easily so I actually pulled it and just use a cut piece of filter foam without carbon now. I noticed one day there was barely ANY water in the back area.
I actually was almost thinking of breaking the filter containment wall out (its just a thin piece of plastic) and installing one of those small tetra 10 gallon hanging filters on it. I would make more space in the tank as well but i KNOW she wont let me.

 

[lindenthaler.9]

yeah thats BRAND NEW with no fish though. Looks different now lol.
The moss is HUGE and the driftwood has that bac growth on it.

I keep meaning to take a new pic. Maybe today at lunch.

Once its cleaned its great....... for two days.

I will say the filter system is WEAK! The stock cartridge sucks and gets clogged easily so I actually pulled it and just use a cut piece of filter foam without carbon now. I noticed one day there was barely ANY water in the back area.
I actually was almost thinking of breaking the filter containment wall out (its just a thin piece of plastic) and installing one of those small tetra 10 gallon hanging filters on it. I would make more space in the tank as well but i KNOW she wont let me.

I'd definitely look into different filtration. Maybe see what other nano filters there are out there, that come highly recommended.
I love my acrylic Marineland, 3 gallon.
It's a crescent, previous Betta tank. Right now it's working as a snail tank which is just destroying it's potential. I think I'm going to do a hard scape on it. Luckily my boyfriend understands my complete obsession.

 

[ImACoolguy]

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.

Thanks for the input although I have read that's it's best to have 1 puffer for every 5 gallons of water. This is for the future when they actually can be really aggressive. I already have frozen bloodworms for another tank so that works out good and I'm sure I can find some pond snails at LFS for free.

What did you mean about the ick though? The ick I have is in a completely different tank.


Caleb

~10g tiger barbs
~45g ick problems/loach and 5 tetras left.
~75g going to be African cichlids

 

[evil Nick]

Thanks for the input although I have read that's it's best to have 1 puffer for every 5 gallons of water. This is for the future when they actually can be really aggressive. I already have frozen bloodworms for another tank so that works out good and I'm sure I can find some pond snails at LFS for free.

What did you mean about the ick though? The ick I have is in a completely different tank.


Caleb

~10g tiger barbs
~45g ick problems/loach and 5 tetras left.
~75g going to be African cichlids

sorry i misread then. I thought you were transfering fish with ich out of the tank youre going to use for the puffers.
My bad

I think the 5 gallon per fish rule is pretty flexible as long as the water is clean and you have plenty of brush. Like I said my java moss is huge and the bigger rocks themselves make large enough little caves to hide and explore.
Should this change in the future Ill make transitions but to be honest I dont see it getting to a point where its detrimental. From most of my reading this fish's aggression comes from food competition. I think fish are savy enough to figure out that if there is enough food they dont need to expend energy to fight. They will eventually find territory, fight over it and stay there. Plus when the lumbering frog swims by it distracts them enough.

 

[ImACoolguy]

sorry i misread then. I thought you were transfering fish with ich out of the tank youre going to use for the puffers.

My bad



I think the 5 gallon per fish rule is pretty flexible as long as the water is clean and you have plenty of brush. Like I said my java moss is huge and the bigger rocks themselves make large enough little caves to hide and explore.

Should this change in the future Ill make transitions but to be honest I dont see it getting to a point where its detrimental. From most of my reading this fish's aggression comes from food competition. I think fish are savy enough to figure out that if there is enough food they dont need to expend energy to fight. They will eventually find territory, fight over it and stay there. Plus when the lumbering frog swims by it distracts them enough.

Awesome and that is a beautiful tank!
This is what they will be going in. As stated in rescaping it to sand and some live plants from my big tank. It's currently holding tiger barbs and my dojo loach and 3 Otocinclus. The loach is in there because it's home , my 45g, is the one with ick. He doesn't seem to have any after a week of treatment on the other tank so when the ick is cleaned out I'll be moving them all to the 45g besides the Oto's I heard puffers don't mind them.


Caleb

~10g tiger barbs
~45g ick problems/loach and 5 tetras left.
~75g going to be African cichlids

 

[evil Nick]

Awesome and that is a beautiful tank! View attachment 263270
This is what they will be going in. As stated in rescaping it to sand and some live plants from my big tank. It's currently holding tiger barbs and my dojo loach and 3 Otocinclus. The loach is in there because it's home , my 45g, is the one with ick. He doesn't seem to have any after a week of treatment on the other tank so when the ick is cleaned out I'll be moving them all to the 45g besides the Oto's I heard puffers don't mind them.


Caleb

~10g tiger barbs
~45g ick problems/loach and 5 tetras left.
~75g going to be African cichlids

nothing seems to mind ottos. I just picked up four for my tank and even my gourami who can get a little pecky with things literally ignores them. I think its really one of the symbiotic relationships of nature with those fish. Other fish know there is no competition for food and they serve a use. Like alligators or hippos with those stupid birds that peck food from their mouths.

Thanks on the compliment. I forgot to take a pic at lunch, ran home, worked out and came back to work.

Its pretty much looks the same just lived in now.

The more room Im sure the more the fish will appreciate it but they are SOOOOOOOOOOO tiny it will be a miracle if you see them in there. I think people think they are messy eaters because they over feed them or give them the wrong stuff.

These puffers dont have the beak and dont need hard shell snails. Pond snails are fine and will leave much less mess. People throw in hard shell snails causing the puffers to tear and shake the snail out and thats where the mess comes from (to me).
You also really only need a couple of decent sized blood worms in there to feed them not an entire cube. For BOTH my tanks I use a 1/2 cube daily (in all not a piece). I have gobies in my 30 gallon i feed worms to with the turkey baster but always have to give some to the rest too and still end up with left overs.
The frog I give a couple to but mainly feed her my pellets I used for my Angel fish. Good to have food thats diverse so I dont have 50 bottles of stuff lying around.
Whats good is you can really scape a tank like that NICELY. The one thing I dont like with my tank is the lack of room. That wood piece is basically the MAX size I can put in there and feel they have enough room.
throw in some shrimps and your a go.
I might stop and get some ghost shrimps tonight....

On a side note my 2 amano shrimp in my main tank have disappeared. Hoping they didnt pass, as they were full grown and just awesome

the LFS has more but they are just babies and wont last in my tank

 

[Nils]

I had a Dwarf Puffer before this for 3 years, I fed him with some small tweezers and bloodworms. He was real brave and would follow me in the room and come staring at me when I sat down. There are actually two types of Dwarf Puffer, an dI believe I got the other species this time. That might explain why my new one doesn't eat from tweezers like Gupta did (R.I.P Gupta) I fed him small frozen bloodworms, and he loved those little things! Be sure to add Java Moss in there, mine loves weaving in and out of the little tunnels!

Nils

 

[lindenthaler.9]

nothing seems to mind ottos. I just picked up four for my tank and even my gourami who can get a little pecky with things literally ignores them. I think its really one of the symbiotic relationships of nature with those fish. Other fish know there is no competition for food and they serve a use. Like alligators or hippos with those stupid birds that peck food from their mouths.

Thanks on the compliment. I forgot to take a pic at lunch, ran home, worked out and came back to work.

Its pretty much looks the same just lived in now.

The more room Im sure the more the fish will appreciate it but they are SOOOOOOOOOOO tiny it will be a miracle if you see them in there. I think people think they are messy eaters because they over feed them or give them the wrong stuff.

These puffers dont have the beak and dont need hard shell snails. Pond snails are fine and will leave much less mess. People throw in hard shell snails causing the puffers to tear and shake the snail out and thats where the mess comes from (to me).
You also really only need a couple of decent sized blood worms in there to feed them not an entire cube. For BOTH my tanks I use a 1/2 cube daily (in all not a piece). I have gobies in my 30 gallon i feed worms to with the turkey baster but always have to give some to the rest too and still end up with left overs.
The frog I give a couple to but mainly feed her my pellets I used for my Angel fish. Good to have food thats diverse so I dont have 50 bottles of stuff lying around.
Whats good is you can really scape a tank like that NICELY. The one thing I dont like with my tank is the lack of room. That wood piece is basically the MAX size I can put in there and feel they have enough room.
throw in some shrimps and your a go.
I might stop and get some ghost shrimps tonight....

On a side note my 2 amano shrimp in my main tank have disappeared. Hoping they didnt pass, as they were full grown and just awesome

the LFS has more but they are just babies and wont last in my tank

It's not necessarily that they're messy eaters. (Although my Figure 8s certainly are, bits of shrimp everywhere)

They produce a lot of waste. For someone not familiar with them they could be compared to Oscars. For someone that isn't familiar with Oscars or other large Cichlids.. Oscars produce a lot of waste, require heavy filtration, and lots of water changes. Poor water quality for them leads to HITH. Conclusion.. they're very sensitive to deteriorating water conditions. It's the same thing for puffers, minus HITH.

This doesn't apply as much to the dwarf puffers though. They're just so small.
Personally I think standard filtration is good for an individual or small group of these.

(And to clarify, this isn't aimed at you, but to anyone reading this that isn't familiar with them.)

 

[ImACoolguy]

Yeah I wanted an Oscar till I realized how much water I would need to change a week, bit too much for me right now. This is just a 10 gallon so that doesn't bother me. Thanks for all the stories and feedback I think my only worry is finding the food he really likes.


Caleb

~10g tiger barbs
~45g ick problems/loach and 5 tetras left.
~75g going to be African cichlids

 

[lindenthaler.9]

I don't remember if I mentioned this previously or not, but you'll want to treat your puffer for parasites when you get him. They're probably wild caught unless you buy them from a breeder and they almost always carry worms which are deadly to them.
I got lucky with my Dwarf, I wasn't aware than they should be treated, but it's better to be safe.
I just thought of this because someone else in one of my FB groups is currently battling them. If you don't treat but notice that he's getting really skinny, not eating, belly sunken in.. I'd start treatment than. It's a definite sign of worms.

 

[evil Nick]

I don't remember if I mentioned this previously or not, but you'll want to treat your puffer for parasites when you get him. They're probably wild caught unless you buy them from a breeder and they almost always carry worms which are deadly to them.
I got lucky with my Dwarf, I wasn't aware than they should be treated, but it's better to be safe.
I just thought of this because someone else in one of my FB groups is currently battling them. If you don't treat but notice that he's getting really skinny, not eating, belly sunken in.. I'd start treatment than. It's a definite sign of worms.

liquid treatment for worms?
I have food but there is no way mine would eat flakes.
For futures just in case how would you treat puffers? I believe mine are bred.

 

[lindenthaler.9]

liquid treatment for worms?
I have food but there is no way mine would eat flakes.
For futures just in case how would you treat puffers? I believe mine are bred.

http://www.thepufferforum.com/forum/library/hospital/internal-parasites-prevention-and-treatment/

They give a lot of information on parasites and options for treating them. And how to do it.

http://www.marinedepot.com/Seachem_..._Medications-Seachem-SC08010-FIMEPSIN-vi.html

And this is a SeaChem treatment (Metronidazole) which I they mention. This seems to come highly recommended.

 

[FWmom]

I have a 3gal tank with just black sand it already had, Java moss, Java fern and anubia in a bundle right under the filter flow. Free snails from pet shop and some pebbles & clam shells for calcium and to balance water parameters. This is my feeder tank for Spotted Puffers. Your dwarf puffers will eat every snail they see, if you only keep them together. Then you won't benefit from reproducing your own snails.