Dwarf puffer tank

hunt

hunt

Active Member
I cought my friend trying to throw out his 10gallon tank so i offered to buy it and i think i want to do a freshwater dwarf puffer tank.
I have a few questions about this,
Dwarf Puffers are 100% freshwater, right?
What should i feed (live or prepaired)?
How many puffers could i put in the tank?
Do they have any wierd specific needs or habits that might make them hard to care for?
Its not set in stone yet, but its one of my favorite options
Thanks
Hunt
 
hunt

hunt

Active Member
well i think i found my answers on dwarfpuffers.com. It seems easy and cheap enough. Next step convincing mom and dad
 
beth

beth

Administrator
Staff member
If your friend was throwing out the tank, I think I would have asked him to give it you (rather than buying it from him).
 
hunt

hunt

Active Member
ive read that plants can help make the fish less aggresive twords others. Would any plants be ok with just a regular florescent tank light
 
mantisman51

mantisman51

Active Member
Yes. I keep Brazilian Swords and Malaysian ferns in 12000k double 24" standard flourescent lights for about 3 years now.
 
hunt

hunt

Active Member
i just looked at the light the light i thought was a regular florescent tank light and its actually a coralife 50/50 6000k/actinic from when we had a saltwater 10g clown tank.
Is that ok for freshwater plants/fish or do i need a freshwater bulb
EDIT- I think ill just get a freshwater bulb (its not a coralife fixture, just bulb. The fixture is one of those plastic ones that come with the tank.)
 
hunt

hunt

Active Member
This is what my setup will look like (or close to)
-10g tank
-im thinking three, maybe four puffers (1 male the rest female)
-small penguin biowheel filter
-light (could use suggestions as to what kind of bulb)
-plants (still deciding to get real of fake.)
-shrimp- i will start out with ghost shrimp for a while to see if the puffers wont hurt the shrimp or not. If not i will then get more decrative shrimp
-snails (which ones dont breed out of control like pnd snails)
-prabably a gravel bottom
-an Otocinclus or two.
I think thats about it, any suggestions please post em
 
stdreb27

stdreb27

Active Member
Originally Posted by Hunt
http:///forum/post/3291167
i just looked at the light the light i thought was a regular florescent tank light and its actually a coralife 50/50 6000k/actinic from when we had a saltwater 10g clown tank.
Is that ok for freshwater plants/fish or do i need a freshwater bulb
EDIT- I think ill just get a freshwater bulb (its not a coralife fixture, just bulb. The fixture is one of those plastic ones that come with the tank.)
Nah you'll be fine lighting wise. Personally I like the brighter whiter lights even for FW.
 
sepulatian

sepulatian

Moderator
Originally Posted by Hunt
http:///forum/post/3291271
This is what my setup will look like (or close to)
-10g tank
-im thinking three, maybe four puffers (1 male the rest female)
-small penguin biowheel filter
-light (could use suggestions as to what kind of bulb)
-plants (still deciding to get real of fake.)
-shrimp- i will start out with ghost shrimp for a while to see if the puffers wont hurt the shrimp or not. If not i will then get more decrative shrimp
-snails (which ones dont breed out of control like pnd snails)
-prabably a gravel bottom
-an Otocinclus or two.
I think thats about it, any suggestions please post em
What puffers are you planning on getting? Most "freshwater" puffers are not all freshwater. They are freshwater as fry and juveniles, but most, if not all (I can't think of a species that isn't) are brackish water fish. Three or four puffers is WAY too many in a ten gallon tank. I wouldn't keep a single puffer in a ten gallon.
I just checked out the site that you mentioned and I have to say that I am VERY skeptical of the information given. I have seen a lot of "FW" puffers and they all need to move into brackish water as they age and even the small guys reach 2+ ".
Maybe I am wrong. I have had them. Please at least do more research before you buy.
 
stdreb27

stdreb27

Active Member
Originally Posted by sepulatian
http:///forum/post/3291315
What puffers are you planning on getting? Most "freshwater" puffers are not all freshwater. They are freshwater as fry and juveniles, but most, if not all (I can't think of a species that isn't) are brackish water fish. Three or four puffers is WAY too many in a ten gallon tank. I wouldn't keep a single puffer in a ten gallon.
I just checked out the site that you mentioned and I have to say that I am VERY skeptical of the information given. I have seen a lot of "FW" puffers and they all need to move into brackish water as they age and even the small guys reach 2+ ".
Maybe I am wrong. I have had them. Please at least do more research before you buy.
There are a few you could do that are completely freshwater. Most wouldn't be good in a ten gallon, but the figure 8's or the green puffers (one of them is a fw puffer but I can't remember which at the moment). And even with a brackish fish, the setup can be the same as a fw tank, you just add a little salt. Plus they only get 2-3 inches. So 2 would be fine, 3-4 would be ok, I would think. (although my little puffer tank, we only put 2 in there). The real difficult part was keeping their beaks trimmed. We tried bloodworms, we even started feeding them on an oyster shell like I did for my dogface, and well, we just didn't have any luck.
 
hunt

hunt

Active Member
nother question, im planning pn getting an undergravel filter and i need a powerhead for it. I have one that was used in my first freshwater tank ans then my current saltwater tank but its encrusted with corraline algea and those little white spiral tube worms. Is that ok to put in freshwater, or do i need to get all that crap off
 
fishtaco

fishtaco

Active Member
Originally Posted by Hunt
http:///forum/post/3291586
nother question, im planning pn getting an undergravel filter and i need a powerhead for it. I have one that was used in my first freshwater tank ans then my current saltwater tank but its encrusted with corraline algea and those little white spiral tube worms. Is that ok to put in freshwater, or do i need to get all that crap off
If you have rooting plants, you really should not need an underground filter since the plants will do a great job of converting the waste for you. My planted FW tanks goes months on end without any maintenance except adding water and removing excess plant growth which I feed to my large silver dollars and always is clean and looks great. I'm using a single 18w compact and it grows plants like crazy.
Fishtaco
 
hunt

hunt

Active Member
if i get plants, do i need to add nutrients and stuff like that to the water/gravel, or will just the the light be enough
 
mproctor4

mproctor4

Member
My daughter has had Indian Dwarf puffers for several months now. She started with 3. We just could not get one to eat. The remaining two have done great! They are very entertaining. We have tried many different kinds of food--the only thing they will eat is frozen blood worm, live mosquito larve, live small ghost shrimp, and small snails. They almost starved to death until we found the right combo. They are 100% freshwater and need frequent water changes. They recommend one per ten gallons although she has 2 and they do fine together. We have noticed, they started coming out much more once she added several live plants, they seem to like them better.
 
hunt

hunt

Active Member
once again, i have a filter for the tank, but it was previously used in my 29g saltwater tank, and it has coralline on it. Can it be used for the puffer tank?
 
hunt

hunt

Active Member
well, i cant get the tank, my parents wont let me. but at least i have this for the future. Thanks for the help everyone (I hate being young .... NOT
)
 
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