dwarf puffers

[slroo]

Can any type of bottom-dweller or algae-eater be kept with dwarf puffers? i've heard they are snippy little guys.

 

[tbonem91]

I'd imagine, from no experience at all that most bottom dwellers would be fine as well as barbs - just avoid long finned and fancy-ish looking fish.

Im sure better advice will be coming soon...

 

[slroo]

Thanks. I thought I had read somewhere that they should be kept in species-only tanks, but wasn't sure about what to do about algae control.

 

[tbonem91]

well I'd wait for more experienced advice till you buy something I'm just going off tidbits I've read... and I know there are dwarf puffer owners in here that can better answer... I'd kinda like to know for myself as well cause when I upgrade my 20 planted to a 75ish, I'd like to make my 20 a dwarf puffer tank

 

[penpitt]

Dwarf puffers do best in a species only tank. Some people have reported success at keeping otos with them but that is the extent of any success stories I have heard. It is always a gamble to keep any fish with puffers since the puffers will harrass fish much larger then themselves. One time at a chain pet store a pictus cat managed to get into a tank with DPs and the pictus cat was severly mauled, missing its barbels and most of its fins as well as having open sores on its body. I told the employess to move the cat out although it was probably to late to save it.

 

[toddnbecka]

Best idea I can come up with, just have a well-planted tank, and let some ramshorn snails run amok for a couple months before adding the puffers. The snails will be too well-established for the puffers to eat them all, and the live plants will soak up the nutrients, leaving little for algae to grow on. Java ferns in particular are nitrate sponges.