Puffers!

[BarkingPup]

I've been seriously considering getting a puffer (they sound adorable!) However, I am not willing to put up with a REALLY saltwater tank. And, before I do any serious info digging, I was hoping that the people here would be able to give me some hands on advice first.

1) How large of a tank will I need? (For the smallest puffer I can find)

2) What IS the smallest puffer*crazysmil

3) Can they live in slightly brackish water?

4) Do they need to be fed anything special or do they LIKE to be fed anything special?

5) can they be kept alone with no other fish? And CAN they live with other fish? if so, what kinds?

 

[cakelady204]

Get some dwarf puffers. They are completely freshwater. You need about 3 gallons of water per puffer. I have 3 in a ten gallon tank. Mine only eat tiny snails and frozen bloodworms. I have ghost shrimp in with them but they haven't touched the shrimp. I also have an otto living with them. They are adorable and fun to watch.

 

[BarkingPup]

Freshwater? Wow, THAT would certainly make taking care of the tank easier! hmmm...They eat snails? Any snails or just specific ones. (Anticipates getting revenge on the evil snails that unwantedly infested the 20 Gallon)

 

[Fishckabibble]

im with cakelady, i too am setting up a dwarf puffer tank, a 10 gallon with 3 puffers and 2 ottos. and it will also be my first real planted tank. I too hav been struck with the puffer sickness..... everytime i see them now i say.. I HAVE TO HAVE SOME!! lol good luck and have fun with them.

 

[BarkingPup]

I hope so! I want to try my hand with larger fish but certainly NOT goldfish (How about HUGE tank required!). I keep hearing the sweetest stories about Puffers and when I saw a few pictures I fell in love...

 

[BarkingPup]

Do puffers only eat snails and other live foods or can they also eat flake food? Also, the above questions I posted pretend they are about dwarf puffers...

 

[MOsborne05]

Dwarf puffers are not larger fish, they are definitely tiny fish. Dwarf puffers only get a max of 1.5". If your looking for something larger than that, I would suggest Figure 8 puffers. They get about 3" and require low brackish water. I have 3 of them in a 38 gallon tank with some dwarf platies and bb gobies, although tankmates are hit and miss. I started with 9 bb gobies, now I have 5. They don't seem to bother the platies at all though, but I found that regular platies and mollies are too fast and eat all of the food. My tank is planted and so far everything is going good.

As far as snails, figure 8's need snails as part of their diet to help keep their teeth worn down. Dwarf puffers don't necessarily need them, but they like them. The snails should be about the size of the puffers eye, and any will do except Malaysian Trumpet snails. Their shells are too hard and can break a puffers teeth. Whatever you decide, its much easier to breed your own snails than to run to the lfs every week. I set up a small 5.5 gallon with a heater and filter, and the snails breed pretty quickly. Just remember to keep the water warm, like 80 degrees, and overfeed.

I normally feed my figure 8's snails one day, ghost shrimp one day and mussles one day. The other days I feed a mixture of baby shrimp, plankton, blood worms, brine shrimp and flakes. Every once in a while I will throw in a jumbo shrimp.

Puffers are really messy though, so you have to make sure you are diligent about water changes and gravel vacs. Rotting snails/mussles etc. can foul the tank in a few days, so make sure you remove any uneaten food asap.

 

[Lotus]

Most dwarf puffers won't eat any dried/freeze-dried/flake foods. A mixed diet of small snails and bloodworms works well for them. Other foods include live daphnia, live grindal worms (when the puffers are small) and other small live or frozen foods.

A 10g tank works well for dwarf puffers, and you should allow 2 or 3 gallons per puffer when stocking. They need a heavily planted or decorated tanks to give a complex environment and break up the lines of sight. Tankmates include otos or shrimp, although not all puffers will accept them (but most will). Other tankmates are risky.

 

[BarkingPup]

Is it possible to have only one puffer in a tank? And how do you find all this fancy food? The only thing I have seen that is like that was some containers of freeze-dried shrimp at walmart...or maybe I wasn't looking hard enough...

 

[go_dawgs]

you can probabally get pond snails ( pest snails) free from the pet store and then breed them, i have a five gallon strictly for snail breeding... you just add snails and a plant and they start laying eggs a few days later. i get live blood worms from my lfs.

 

[go_dawgs]

o and i also have a filter and a heater in my snail breeder to keep conditions good

 

[BarkingPup]

Yeah. I had an unwanted snail outbreak in my 20 a while ago. They didn't even need plants! Can I keep the snails with the puffers or would it be best to have them in seperate tanks so I don't overfeed.

 

[MOsborne05]

Yes, you can keep only 1 puffer in a tank. You shouldn't keep 2 though, because one would pick on the other. I've got three and I think that's a good number.

You would need to keep the snails seperate because the puffers would definitely overeat and/or pester the snails to death. I recently got some olive nerite snails to help with algae, and the puffers don't bother them anymore. The first couple days the puffs pestered the snails, but now they leave them alone and I've got a brackish algae eater

Is this for the 36 gallon tank in your sig? Are you looking for mainly puffers or one puffer with some other tankmates? Let us know what you are looking for and then we can try to help figure out a set-up for you that would/should work. I really like my dwarf platies because they add just enough color to the tank.

Check out www.pufferlist.com to get an idea of what the puffers look like and what care they require. Let us know which ones strike your fancy

 

[Big Vine]

I'd keep snails for breeding separately, if you wanna go the "snail-breeding route." Otherwise I'd be a bit nervous of the puffers over-eating. Mine seem to eat as many frozen bloodworms as I put in front of them, and their bellies get really full...I'm afraid they'd explode if I overfed them.

Who knows, it may work out though...especially if the tank is densely planted, as it should be, which will give the snails plenty of hiding room to breed, etc.

I'm not sure about Walmart, but I know that places like Petsmart and Petco have freezers where they keep all kinds of different frozen fish foods...check there. I got my frozen bloodworms at a place called Petland.

And by the way, my kuhli loaches are turning out to be excellent tankmates with the puffers. They really clean up the mess of food that is often left on the bottom by the puffers.

Big Vine

 

[MOsborne05]

Sorry, forgot about the food. Most local fish stores have freeze dried food, I think Wal-mart even has the baby shrimp. The baby shrimp, jumbo shrimp, ocean plankton, krill and brine shrimp that I feed is all freeze dried and I got it at Petco or Pet Supplies Plus. I bought some mussles from the grocery store to feed once a week, right before a water change. And I normally pick up 10 ghost shrimp when I'm at the lfs, which is almost every weekend

 

[BarkingPup]

We have WalMart, Norwolf, Petcetera, and Total Pet here. I'll ask the employees if they have any.

I'm planning on converting the 36 into a rat tank and buying a 30+ for Mollies. If I do get a puffer (it will probably only be one) it shall be in it's own tank MAYBE with one tankmate like an otto.

Can shrimp and snails live together? I'm thinking maybe I should breed the snails and the shrimp together...or maybe just snails.....Hmm, I'll have to think that out.

I'm considering dwarf puffers becuase they are tiny AND freshwater. As I mentioned i don't want to worry too much about salinity, one slightly brackish is enough for me

 

[mandercrazy]

I have one puffer in with 4 guppies, and its completly freshwater. Is it true that puffers prefer brackish water to bred? And do puffers eat fish? like guppy babies?

 

[Big Vine]

I have one puffer in with 4 guppies, and its completly freshwater. Is it true that puffers prefer brackish water to bred? And do puffers eat fish? like guppy babies?

If it is a dwarf puffer, then it is a freshwater fish. If it is a different type of puffer (e.g. GSP, F8) then it is a brackishwater fish.

So, the question is...what type of puffer is it that you have in your tank?
And what size of a tank is it?

Dwarf puffers can be quite aggressive, and it's quite probable that your guppies will get nipped at by the puffer. If it is a different type of puffer, then the guppies will probably be toast.

It's really hard to answer your questions without knowing what type of puffer you have.

Welcome to the forum, by the way.
Big Vine

 

[mandercrazy]

lets get into more detail then...

I have the green dwarf puffers, but when I was looking at a website they mentioned that they prefer brackish water to breed, Not that im interested in anything else breeding in my house, but if so that maybe I could prevent that problem.

And thank you.

 

[mandercrazy]

oh and its only a 10 gal, i have previously had problems with fish living for more than a week.