Dwarf Puffer questions

[Betta132]

Hi! I've just been getting my daily 'cute fix' from YouTube videos of dwarf puffers, and now I really want to get one. Some questions, though:
1: My best bet for getting a puffer and not having all my fish bitten is to find a semi-attractive way to section off a portion of a larger tank. How much swimming space does a puffer need? Since they're teeny, I was thinking 10" X 10" would be enough.
2: I know they have to have their teeth worn down/trimmed, will feeding them pest snails keep the teeth worn down?
3: How picky are they? Do they usually accept frozen food?
4: Do they jump at all?
5: Anything else I should know? Don't feed them after midnight, that sort of thing?

[StraightAddicted]

The easiest way to maintain a puffer fish would actually for it to have its own aquarium. A dwarf puffer should be kept in brackish water for it to maintain a healthier living. So sectioning off your aquarium still will not give this fish the salinity it really needs. So a nice 10g planted with sand and snails would be great for a dwarf puffer.

[FlyingHellFish]

Well the first thing you should do is get a deworming or parasite medicine because a lot of them come infected. When I had them, it was a nightmare to get the trio to eat. One died not long afterwards and I had only 2 females. Keep in mind I had them in a big 12 gallon with only amano and cherry shrimps and it was well planted.

One end up fighting and injuring the other and she died. I gave the last lone survivor away. They are cute, they are smart and they do beg for food. The problem lies in the fact that they prefer live food. So unless you're ok with wiggling some blood worms in their face till they eat, I suggest you stay away.

Now, my story is pretty much the worst case, you might end up with a really social puffer and he might even take dead blood worms. Just be prepare for the worst. When they do beg for food, unless you unload the entire blood worm tray in the tank, you will most likely need to wiggle the food with some tweezers. Any uneaten food will have to be remove right away.

I really really wish they had some puffers that ate flakes or something other than live snails and blood worms.

[accordztech]

I havent fed my puffers. They seem to snack on the snails all day.

[ngrubich]

1. You want to stock them in groups, but not to overstock. Keep the tank planted (living or fake) to break up line-of-sight and territories. You need to have at least 5 gallons per fish unless you have tons of plants, then you can slightly overstock the tank but watch out for increased aggression.
2. Yes, you can usually get the trumpet snails from Petsmart for free when they clean their tanks
3. in my experience, they don't accept frozen foods or flakes. My puffers destroyed live blackworms and snails
4. I've never had any jump; I don't see that they would be able to all that well anyways
5. They've got tons of personality. I kept 8 in my 20L heavily-planted tank and they were always very active/never had any issues with aggression.

[chunkychun]

First look at this site: dwarfpuffers.com. They are FRESHWATER not brackish. Most will take frozen bloodworms but you may need to train them. Live food as ngrubich said is great. agree mine have never jumped, just cruise the bottom and plants looking for snails. They also don't have to wear down their teeth like other puffers.

I highly recommend them but I recommend their own tank, lots of plants and consider live food. general rule is 1 per 5 gallon.

[OVT]

They can and do jump, as one of the 4 I had in a 60P with the waterline 2" below the rim decided to prove.

[toksyn]

I will also confirm that they jump, and are quite good at it. I had a male that would panic whenever someone entered the room and he would sometimes jump. For what it's worth, he was kept alone. Everytime thereafter I kept them either with a few tankmates or in a species group and haven't had anymore jumpers. I also feed exclusively live food, and keep them in freshwater.

They are absolute terrors to snails.

[Sethjohnson30]

What does one do about algae control while keeping dwarf puffers?

[Sake]

Originally Posted by Sethjohnson30

What does one do about algae control while keeping dwarf puffers?

From what I read you can house them with otto's also proper tank maintenance should help.

[Sethjohnson30]

Originally Posted by Sake

From what I read you can house them with otto's also proper tank maintenance should help.

Obviously proper tank maintenance would be the best....in my case I'm juggling 9 tanks and am trying to keep things somewhat simple as it is I spend about an hour a day testing,dosing, and feeding. I just like to have a back up algae eater for when life gets in the way. I will have to do more research on the Ottos. I used to keep bw gsp's but I got rid of them because I was tired of scraping algae and mixing saltwater, but I really miss having puffers they have so much personality!

[Mex330]

You can keep some shrimp but it varies puffer to puffer. Some allow them to be wit them and others think of them as food. I have 2 males that have been together since April and haven't had any problems with them. They have 1 cherry shrimp, 5 ghost shrimp living I the same tank atm

[Calmia22]

I have had two dwarf puffers for almost a year now. A male and a female. I actually move them from tank to tank for snail control. Their man tank however is my Fluval flora tank, 7.9g. They live pretty peacefully in there with 1 pygmy cory, 3 scarlet badis and a bunch of cherry shrimp. I feed them frozen blood worms 2x a week, and the rest of the time they snack on snails. They don't go into my other puffers tank, but they do go into my 75 for snail control, and only end up spending a day or 2 in that tank as they really do a good job. They used to be quite skittish. but now they like to watch me wash dishes lol

They are really easy to take care of, although I think they are a bit fragile when they are little. They are very intelligent, and need a lot to look at, so a rather densely planted tank is good for them.

[eeng168]

I have 4 in a planted 2.5 gallon.

A friend of mine has 6 of them in a 5.5 gallon, WITH about 20 something other fishes....gobies, rams, serbai corys, etc.!!!! He has no problems so far...

You can check out his tank in the NYC thread...it's under the discussion of "general discussion, talk about anything"

[Calmia22]

Originally Posted by eeng168

I have 4 in a planted 2.5 gallon.

A friend of mine has 6 of them in a 5.5 gallon, WITH about 20 something other fishes....gobies, rams, serbai corys, etc.!!!! He has no problems so far...

You can check out his tank in the NYC thread...it's under the discussion of "general discussion, talk about anything"

No offense to your friend, but seriously, no one should ever do that to fish.