puffer questions

[c_paan]

I have a broad range of questions that can be about any puffers you may have kept or keep. I am wondering what kind of puffer would be good in a 10 or 5g aquarium. Ive read about the green spotted puffer and think its a cool looking fish. Would one of those be fine in a tank of these sizes? Or would I be better off with dwarf puffers?

I geuss with this thread I really just want to hear peoples experiences with the two.

 

[phOOey]

i think dwarf puffers for the 5 gal but in the 10 u could get something a little bigger. green puffers get to like 4 inch, right? so i guess one would be fine in a 10g. i would also recommend the figure 8 puffer for ur ten gallon as these also look very stunning.

 

[c_paan]

Ive read it both ways so im not sure, can you have more then one dwarf puffer in an aquarium? Are they peaceful towards eachother?

 

[420Loach]

the recommended size tank for a full grown gs puffer is 20gal, but they grow excruciatingly slowly. i have my gs pufferin a 10 gal right now, but im getting a 20 for him soon. a 5 or 10 would be good permanent housing for dwarf puffers.

 

[Igor The Cat]

and fig 8 need at least a 20 too

-Java

 

[c_paan]

Im thinkin three dwarf puffers and an otto, maybe a snail one that will bredd heavily to help with the puffers having to grind there teeth or beak. Apeaice of drift wood some plants. Will this be an alright tank? of course filter air stone heater, all that jaz.

 

[420Loach]

that would be good for the ten gallon. id set up a seperate small tank for breeding snails though, any snails in the tank with the puffers would usually get eaten.(at least in my tank hehehe)

 

[Brockway]

I've got a 1 gallon snail colony going right now, I started with 4 pond snails, they layed tons of eggs, I fed all but 1 to my puffer, the eggs hatched, and now I have about 30 snails about the size of a pin head, and they are laying eggs now too...

 

[Zoidfarb]

Just in case there is more than one species commonly called the dwarf puffer, remember that the Indian dwarf (Tetraodon travancoricus), is unlike most puffers being a true freshwater fish that needs no salt. I don't know if brackish water is harmful to this species or not.
Does anyone (420Loach, perhaps)know how many dwarfs can be kept together? Will two or more females fight?
I like puffers, but I need to learn much more about them, so I'm glad to see some experienced puffer people out there!

 

[GrImLoCk]

you can usually keep more than 1 females together w/ no problems but i have heard some circumstances that some females can be very cranky (i guess pms) but i have 3 dwarf puffers in a 10 gallon tank 1 male and 2 females w/ a oto, apple snail, and just aded 2 cories. at 1st the male puffer would play chase all the fish around the tank but after a few days he stop. at 1 time i had like almost 20 of these suckers (not in 1 tank of of course) i love them to death overall my favorite fish you won't be disappointed w/ their antics good luck


ps i had my dwarf puffers for close to a year and feel their need to grind teeth isn't a high priority compared to other puffers....the problem is `1st finding snails small enough and 2nd they always seem to suck the snails out of the shell rather than tear into it...i usually feed them bloodworms and krill switching between the 2 i believe the krill can be a alternative to the to the snail

 

[420Loach]

it depends on how big your tank is. grimlocks right about the numbers, id keep 3 puffers and a "pufferproof" bottomfeeder in a 10 gal. plecos are also good puffer tankmates, how big is the tank you want to set up?

here a couple good sites about puffers:

http://puffernet.tripod.com/main.html

http://www.rr.iij4u.or.jp/~kohda/en/en-dwarfpuffer.htm

 

[ScubaSteve]

What are ideal tankmates for puffers. Can they go with barbs ?

 

[420Loach]

yes, barbs are good tankmates for puffers. im not sure about dwarf puffers, but fig8's and green spotted puffers can go with them. the first link i posted has more info on tankmates for puffers.

 

[GrImLoCk]

my friend has 7 tiger barbs and 3 dwarf puffers in his 29 gallon and not once have the barbs chase the puffers...of course we couldn't say much for the puffers some barbs fins were nip but nothing to big so i say they should be okay w/ enough hiding spaces

 

[Zoidfarb]

I'm glad to hear that people have had success mixing puffers with other fish. I eventually do want to get dwarf puffers, but I'm paranoid about aggression, so I was never plnning to put anything with them. Based on group member experiences and recommendations, though, I'm willing to try it. Maybe two dwarf puffers and a small school of Odessa barbs in a 30 gallon!

 

[c_paan]

Im glad to see there are other puffer enthusiasts out there, asking all these questions that i wanted to or just didnt even think of. I want to know all i need to know before I go get some.

 

[CoNMaN]

how did i miss this thread! ::shakes head in disapointment::