# Dwarf Puffer Setup



## SlimStretch (Jan 4, 2011)

So i've turned my attention away from a shrimp tank, Right now I just don't think it would be something I would get into, cause I read about the worm issues and well I don't like worms lol.

Anyway I've been focusing on my puffer fish setup and I've come across some plants, wanted to know your opinion on them.

Cryptocoryne wendtii
Cryptocoryne willisii
Cryptocoryne walkeri var. lutea
Aponogeton crispus
Aponogeton rigidifolius
Limnophila aquatica
Cryptocoryne lucens
Microsorium pteropus (Java Fern)
Vesicularia dubyana (Java Moss)

But what are these big leafed plants in the back right? http://www.dwarfpuffers.com/images/5gal.jpg

I think I'm going to go with the Seachem's Flourite Red.
What would be a good way to make hiding places for the DPs other than the plants? Caves? Large Rocks? Driftwood? Which would be more accurate with the biotope?

Would you recommend using a C02 system?

The only thing I couldn't find where floating plants from the Sri Lanka area?

Do you have a link that could help explain what kind of lighting I would need?
What would be your recommendation on lighting?

Thanks in Advance!!

This is a 10 gallon tank.

Are there any bottom feeders like the otto that originates from the Sri Lanka Area?


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## M1ster Stanl3y (Dec 10, 2010)

Don't wanna be a spoiler but wont that puffer our grow a 10g.? Everyone I've seen has been 12 plus full grown. No tank mates as well...and kinda buck toothed. Even some that have needed their teeth trimmed.


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## SlimStretch (Jan 4, 2011)

M1ster Stanl3y said:


> Don't wanna be a spoiler but wont that puffer our grow a 10g.? Everyone I've seen has been 12 plus full grown. No tank mates as well...and kinda buck toothed. Even some that have needed their teeth trimmed.


No it's a dwarf puffer, the smallest of all puffers, gets to about the size of a dime.
And the only tank mate i could put in with it is a oto, which is not from the sri lanka area. Unless there is another kind of dwarf bottom feeder from that area, which is what i'm looking for, i could possibly get away with some shrimp but that could work for a day, a month, a year, 4. Just depends on the attitude of the DPs i get i guess.


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## corE3105 (Jan 26, 2011)

i have a south american puffer in my biotype community tank...even for dwarfs, i would suggest at least a 20 gallon tank...puffers are very curious fish and will want a lot of room to swim...make sure you have hiding places for any bottom feeders you have in your tank...it took a while before my puffer stopped wanting to nip at my pleco, and with puffers a nip can be fatal...also, shrimp and any other invertebrates are a bad idea to keep with a puffer...in the wild, they eat invertebrates to naturally trim their teeth, which youll most likely have to do yourself with cuticle cutters


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## SlimStretch (Jan 4, 2011)

Appreciate the input, I've done my research on the DPs, many people have had a lot of luck with them and shrimp, its not relevant anyway because I don't plan on getting shrimp. Dwarf Puffers need 2-3 inch a piece, i'm getting two and could get away with a third, some people have 4 comfortably, They are an inch big, so a well planted 10 gallon will be heaven to them, IMO DPs shouldnt be in anything much bigger maybe a 20. For one you are very very limited with tank mates, and two they don't even like to be with a lot of their own kind, so since they are so small you would loose them in a bigger tank. I would never put them in a community tank personally, I have heard stories of it working out and I have heard stories that didn't end as happily, so I guess to each it's own.

I'm more interested in the aquascaping and planting of the tank at this point. I thought there would be more people that had experience with the DPs.


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## James0816 (Jun 19, 2009)

SlimStretch said:


> So i've turned my attention away from a shrimp tank, Right now I just don't think it would be something I would get into, cause I read about the worm issues and well I don't like worms lol.


I'm curious about this "worm" thing you mentioned regarding shrimp. Do tell.

Anyway...Puffers...Awesome little guys...and fiesty at that.

I would recommend more stem plants than the Crypts and Apons you listed.

Shrimp and Puffers are no-no. Lunch meat. Then again. almost any other fish wouldn't be good either due to their aggressive behavoir. Species only tank is what I would do with puffers.

Housing a couple in 10g would be fine. It's not the size factor. Again, it's their aggressiveness. Housing more than one, you need space and plants. I definately wouldn't recommend any more than two in a 10g.


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## SlimStretch (Jan 4, 2011)

James0816 said:


> I'm curious about this "worm" thing you mentioned regarding shrimp. Do tell.
> 
> Anyway...Puffers...Awesome little guys...and fiesty at that.
> 
> ...



Yes it will be a heavily planted tank with lots of Line-of-site breaks.
Some people have successfully kept shrimp though, for anyone that wants to try it use cheap ghost shrimp, and contact me and I will give you advice on adding them to the tank, there is a process that has worked for many. Like I said not my forte but it can be done for those that are interested.

You mentioned Stemmed plants, do you know of any from the Sri Lanka?

Also the worm thing, I just started doing research in to shrimp and doing so I found out that a lot of tanks get worms, they are called planaria. I'm pretty sure you only run into these with a shrimp only tank, because if you have fish in there they would eat the worms, but to introduce a fish into a shrimp specific tank you are taking a risk of you shrimpetts getting eaten as well as your shrimp. 

And if keeping a shrimp tank it is something that you might get really into and spend a good amount of money are better grade shrimp. If your really interested in know more about shrimping than check out ShrimpNow, it's a shrimp forum, If you have a community with shrimp, I would worry about it.


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## James0816 (Jun 19, 2009)

Ahhhhh....got ya!

Planaria are common in all tanks. Not just shrimp tanks. And yes, if you have fishies in the tanks, they will eat them. However, you still can have Planaria in a fishy tank. Them and Detrius worms are very common. For a second there I thought you may have been referring to something else.

BTW...I am shrimp keeper. ;o)

I can say that the dwarf shrimp won't last long with Puffers.

As for the plants (not sure of origins), some good ones to look for are Hygro species. Ludwigia Repens makes a good choice. And for a non-stem plant, Ceratopteris Thalictroides is a very nice choice from them. The only thing with this particular plant, it can grow rather large.


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## SlimStretch (Jan 4, 2011)

BTW...I am shrimp keeper. ;o)





~How did I do on my uneducated information of shrimp keeping, *w3

Like I said i just briefly looked into it, I think I was accurate though 

Thanks for the info though, Much help. What causes the worms? That's freaking gross how do they get in there?

~I heard someone had basically trained their puffers to live peacefully with shrimp and other fish, now maybe it works now and maybe it will continue but one day they may come home to a massacre. 

I'll see if I can't find the poster later today, the idea is interesting I guess.


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