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I have decided that I would like to make my 15 gallon tank, which is currently housing my Crowntail Betta, into a Dwarf Puffer tank. I will of course remove the Crowntail before adding any other fish.

My question is, how many could I keep in a 15 gallon tank? I have heard up to 5, if I keep the ratio of male/female 1:4, but I'm not sure. I have heard that the males will have a brown stripe, and that sexing isn't too difficult. Is this true?

Also, I don't want this to be a species tank. I would like to include some tankmates that won't bother them, and won't be bothered by them. I have heard that Bumblebee Gobies make good tankmates for them. I am aware of their feeding requirements, but not much else. I read some threads on here that suggest they need brackish conditions, and some on this site and others that say they do fine in freshwater. Would they be okay in freshwater?

Last question, what snail would be best to feed the Puffers? Just pest snails? Would any snail be okay? I know they aren't supposed to be much bigger than the eye of the Puffer, so they eat the shell and don't just suck it out. Thank you in advance, you have all proved to very helpful to me and my fish.

Have a look at my log - aside from the discus tank I also have a 10G dwarf puffer tank

Dwarf puffer are strictly fresh water fish, do not expose them to brackish conditions! They are fairly easily sexed, I say fairly as these fish are tiny and the ones that you get in stores are usually less than 1/2 inch and the sexual dimorphism is not very developed. Right now I have 4 of them, two boys, 2 girls who get along without any problems. The males have a stripe reaching from the belly to the tail fin, while females have dots. In young fish this can be a challenge, I wanted 3 girls and one boy ...
It is important to provide them with a lot of plants to hide and also to inhibit constant eye contact. I feed them currently with live brine shrimp (no fun, I have to get them from the store) and small ramshorn snails. Those are perfect and a must as they have to work down their teeth (otherwise you will have to become a fish dentist). Do NOT give them the Malaysian trumpet snails as their shells are too tough for the puffers and they might severely injure the beak! Supposedly they can be weaned to accept bloodworms.
As for tank mates: they are really not such bad companions
and a quick swimmer will not be a target for these fish, keep in mind how small they are. On the bottom BNs work well, so do bigger cories. I'd say you can easily keep 4 - 7 of the little buggers in a 15G dependeing on other fish t obe housed in this tank and provided that you have a lot of plants and probably some 'hardware' like driftwood or rocks. I've read that dwarf puffer like to 'nap' on the substrate and a softer one is beneficial (same as for cories but different reason).

Hope this helps

I have 4 DPs in my 10 gallon tank--they are 2 years old now--I love the little guys--they eat mainly Bloodworms and mysis shrimp. Mine do eat trumpet snails, they suck the snail right out of the shell!They don't try to bite the shell.

I've never kept FW dwarf puffers so I'm not much help to you with personal experiences, but if you haven't already seen it, THIS site looks like it could be useful.

I would also love to get some but I believe they are on the Australian "do not import" list or something. (If any of the Aussie members know different and where to source some please let me know)

G_T

Never be afraid to try something new. Remember that a lone amateur built the Ark. A large group of professionals built the Titanic.

^^^that is the BEST DP website--I was gonna recommend it, but he beat me to it! I am a member there also......

I am not to familiar with Dwarf Puffers but a friend of mine put one in a ten gal. tank and it terrorized everything in the thank. It shredded all fins it could get a hold of. Aside from that they are very nice looking fish.

DPs need to be with DPs or solo period.

Calmly: a quick swimmer will be no target for them. Aside from the size, they are called DWARF puffer for a reason (1 inch = 2.54 cm) maximum size. For comparison: the much appreciated cardinal tetra grows to giant 2 inches (5.08 cm).

Right now I'm leaning toward a stock of 4 or 5 DP's, only 1 male the rest females, and 3 or 4 Bumblebee Gobies. I would like to keep some kind of surface dwelling fish, but I don't think I have any room. What do you think?

Does this sound like a good stocking list for this tank? I still have plenty of time to revise the list, so I'm trying to get it right.

EvilE, DP's are commonly kept with other fish.

My concern is the bumblebee goby which is a fish doing much better in brackish water, while the DP is a true freshwater fish. On the other hand there are penty of reports from people you kept them successfully in freshwater. Do not expect much action in this tank as the goby tends to hang around in the corners of the tank with some occasional hopping around. Aside from that plese post picctures of or set up with fish!

I have also heard of people keeping them successfully in both fresh and brackish conditions. I have been thinking about turning my 20 gallon tank brackish because my female Molly seems to always have something. First it was ich, and after I got rid of that, popeye. I have heard they don't get it as much in brackish, so I thought about keeping Mollies and male Guppies in there, and maybe the Bumblebee Gobies if they don't do good in the freshwater tank.

I currently have my Crowntail Betta in the 15 gallon, so I won't be getting the Puffers until probably January, when I move the Crowntail. I will get you pictures as soon as I get the Puffers. Thanks for all your help. Have a Merry Christmas.

Truestar--DPs are fin nippers, and they are quite slow, so if you keep them with other fish, they may starve to death because they are being outdone for food by the faster swimmers....

I know. If I do keep anything besides the Gobies with them I'll make sure they still get their share of food. I was just wondering if there was some other fish that would swim in the middle-surface of the tank I could keep with them. I'll probably just try some bigger shrimp instead of a fish though.