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We are (at some point in the future) getting a larger tank (about 3') for my Corys to grow into. This means that i'd have an empty 15 gallon to play around with. I would love to do dwarf puffers. The tank is infested with small snails, so they should love that. I also regularly get brine shrimp, and i would start getting other foods as well. Do they like lots of plants/decoration? It's planted with a dwarf amazon sword, and a other plant, and lots of cuttings from that. It also has a large peice of bogwood and a teracotta pot. I would like to know how many dwarf puffers i could keep in there (i was thinking about 3 - 1m2f?????) and would they require any extra care/maintenance/surroundings? Thanks in advance, BNF

Dwarf puffers like pretty heavily planted tanks. It is best that it is heavily planted to obstruct their line of sight. That will make sure they leave each other alone and won't chase each other all the time.

There is some more info on them in this thread. Make sure you read Sham's post at the bottom....it is very informative.

I think 3 would be good for a 15g....1m/2f like you said.

I have always wanted to keep dwarf puffers..maybe someday I'll get some!

*Kristin*

Watch Out they are incredibly vicous towards other fishes fins. They made all my fish look a lot worse. Bad Move...

Chris

I also want DP i was just wondering if 1 would be ok for a 5gallon?

10gallon: 8neons 5gallon: 1betta
1oto
2platys

They will do great in a planted 15 gallon. Just do not house them with any slow fish or fish with extravagant finnage.

Mine have done well for a very long time in a planted community. I also have not experienced much violence at the store with them, either.

I would do a species tank and wouldn't risk putting any other fish with them. Some people have success putting them with ottos. I would only do that if you had the tank heavily planted.

linkinpark: I don't think you should have just one. They are social, even though they can torment each other. I think one would get lonely. The minimum tank size I would put them in would be a 10g. I think you could have 3 in a 10g.

Here is a link about puffers. This site says 2-3 gallons per fish, but it also says you should have 2-3 females per male. If you were to put any in a 5g, it would have to be heavily planted and you would have to make sure you got 2 females and no males. The more you crowd in a smaller space, the more problems you will have.

*Kristin*

Puffers eventually pick on their tankmates. The cories would probably avoid them for quite awhile but even cories sleep sometimes and puffers hunt off and on day and night. Eventually they go after their tankmates fins. They might be fine for 2 years and then one day you find a dead fish. I've never heard of anyone keeping a puffer with other fish for it's whole lifespan and never having it attack one. The risk isn't so great I would say never ever keep puffers with other fish but I will never keep puffers with any fish you can't stand to lose and never keep them with fish that are likely targets. Faster or large fish like plecos are less likely to suffer damage. The problem with faster tankmates is that puffers are slow moving and they are slow to eat so it's hard to feed them in a community tank of fast fish. Surprisingly they also tend to ignore otos and they are a preferred tankmate on the dwarf puffer forum but you still hear of otos being lost to puffer attacks fairly frequently.

Puffers prefer company and don't eat as well alone. Sometimes a lone puffer will never come around to eating frozen food. My first one had that problem and I found a 5g is usually too small for 2. If you could gurantee you have a male and female it might work but a 10-15g with 1 male to at least 2 females is best. It's also hard to sex baby puffers in the store if you don't have alot of experience doing it.

I have 3 DPs in a 55 gallon community. They are in with neons, peppered corys, a school of glass cats, a zebra loach, a Dwarf gourami, a BN, 6 ottos, and peacock gobies. I even bought 4 ghost shrimp for the tank before Christmas, and I saw two at the same time on Monday. The tank is heavily planted.

The DP's have been in the tank in @ 2 years.

This is one of those issues that comes up time and again. Sometimes Dwarf Puffers eat bits of their cagemates, sometimes killing them, and sometimes they dont. You include them into a community entirely at your own (and your other fish's) risk.

Puffers are individuals and unless you can read a puffer's mind there is no way to be sure and no amount of personal testimonies will convince me its entirely safe. They can and do eat other fish, snails and shrimp.

For the record, mine de-tailed two neon tetras and killed an ottocinclus, but it did take them 2 years to get round to it. You can never tell if, or when its going to happen.

My LFS just started to stock some dwarf puffers. All of the ones I've seen so far are tiny...1/4 to 1/2 inch. How big would a mature specimen grow to be?

A little over an inch so around 3times the size they are now.

I have kept c imitator for a long, long time in various short-finned community tanks throughout the years. I've never had a bullying problem. Transies, however, are a different story altogether.

Sorry-maybe i didn't phrase myself right. I was going to move ALL of my current fish into the larger tank, and have a species tank for the 3 DP. I an also would have to do mostly fake plants as mine is only 1wpg. Would that be OK for them?

Just out of curiosity, but what is the absolute minimum size tank for a dwarf puffer to be kept in???

I have read that the minimum is 3 gallons per fish, but I was just checking since I might be interested in buying a dwarf puffer if my LFS sells them.

kj fishy-finn <*)))><
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A 5g will hold one puffer but chances are they'll fight if you add 2 plus they are messy and they do much much better with at least 2. It's best to have at least a 10g and keep 2-3 puffers depending if the tank is actually planted or not, what gender ratio you have, and on their individual personalities. They don't share space wonderfully but they aren't too agressive and provided you don't have 2 males fighting over 1 female or over a tiny 5g they get along pretty well. 3-5g per puffer is about right but I would say with a minimum requirement of a 10g tank so you can keep at least 2 and you do have to take other things into account like the actual tank setup(how decorated or planted it is) and the gender ratio you have.

So then would 1 dwarf puffer be fine in a 5 gallon that is planted???

kj fishy-finn <*)))><
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From my experience 2 dp's would probably work in a heavily planted 5 gallon, but one would be real safe.

I don't think you should just keep one. I haven't been able to find proof that they shouldn't be kept alone, but I think one would get lonely. I think if you made sure you got 2 females, it would be ok to keep 2 in a 5g. Make sure its heavily planted though, to be safe.

I agree with Sham...that a 10g is best for a minimum tank size.

I have never kept them, but I did alot of research about a year ago because I was going to get some.


*Kristin*

Do you know of anyone that has kept one by itself??? In the meantime I will look around and do some web surfing.

kj fishy-finn <*)))><
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I had one by itself and it never took to frozen food until I got another. Unfortunately shortly after I lost both and had to start over. Several other people on puffer forums have told me they often won't eat by themselves and just look really bored. They are more likely to go after other fish in the tank or tear things up if kept alone and especially if kept alone in small tanks. It's rarely suggested by good puffer keepers that you keep just one dwarf puffer. You might be able to get by with 2 in a 5g but it depends on the individual and unless you use lots of real plants and do water changes frequently you could have a water quality issue. They are very messy eaters and they also love exploring their surroundings. A 10g really is the best choice for such a curious, active, and messy fish.