DP

[Sean_Buckley]

Could I keep some Dwarf Puffers in a 5-10 gallon? How many? And do they need sand? Or would really fine gravel work? How big a filter (gallons per hour)? Could they quite happily eat frozen blood worms, brine shrimp, snails and the occasional shrimp?
Sean

 

[LittlePuff]

Two in a 5gal (make sure you don't get 2 males)
Up to five in a 10gal, less would be better (make sure only 2 are males)
Fine gravel will be perfect.
Diet sounds great.
Not into filtration #'s I've got a Penguin mini on my 10gal
5gal was a hex from marineland (had it's own )


Kim

 

[GP]

Two in a 5gal (make sure you don't get 2 males)
Up to five in a 10gal, less would be better (make sure only 2 are males)
Fine gravel will be perfect.
Diet sounds great.
Not into filtration #'s I've got a Penguin mini on my 10gal
5gal was a hex from marineland (had it's own )


Kim

no, I'd say 3 in a ten gallon. 2 in a 5 is really pushing it, even two in a six. It's 3 gallons per DP.

 

[Rusty_S]

I take it that's 3 US gallons? I was planning on keeping 5 DPs in a 16 UK gallon tank (UK gallons being bigger than US gallons) this would be ok wouldn't it?

EDIT: Was just doing my maths, and 3 x 5 is 15 anyway so it wouldn't even be a problem if my tank was in US gallons...duh

 

[LittlePuff]

The Dwarf Puffer's website says 2gal per DP. I tend to believe they know what they're talking about. Pufferpunk,jread,RTR,Linearchaos are there. They've kept them for many (over 20yrs.in Pufferpunk's case) years. Oh well. Everyone will believe what they want t o.

Kim

 

[FrankSlapperinni]

Dwarf puffers are very messy and require excellent filtrations, at least 10 times the tank volume per hour (in a 5 gallon, at least 50gph). Keeping puffers in such a small tank is realy risking it, as they are major polluters and also sensitive fish, just a little rise in ammonia could be bad. you should at least spring for the ten gallon, and make sure to have lots of decorations breaking the line of sight between puffers so aggression can be lessened. With a 100gph filter on that tank you could keep 3-4 DP.

 

[SirMinion]

As with any fish, keeping them has as much to do with 'keeping water' as it has to do with 'keeping fish'.
Larger volumes of water are considerably easier to keep stable than small ones, and for this reason, and for reasons of territory, messy and territorial fish like puffers a larger tank is always the best option.

 

[TorPeteO]

The Dwarf Puffer's website says 2gal per DP. I tend to believe they know what they're talking about. Pufferpunk,jread,RTR,Linearchaos are there. They've kept them for many (over 20yrs.in Pufferpunk's case) years. Oh well. Everyone will believe what they want t o.

Kim

There's no disputing the experience of the names you mentioned. That said, there's no disputing the experience of others, as well.

In my experience, 5 gallons is too small for two puffers to be housed comfortably. Mine are both female, and have been in a tank together for three months. They didn't get along, and so now one is in a hospital tent so I can nurse it back to fll health.

If you're getting them, get them so there's no doubts about their comfort and happiness. In the wild, I doubt 5 of them will stay in an area of 10 gallons. Get three; trust me, they'll provide you with plenty of entertainment even with only three of them. If you want to be an even better keeper, get two of them.

While some puffers are sure to be friendlier in terms of territoriality than others, there's no way you'll know how they can react until they do. It's always better to be proactive than to be reactive, so be modest with how many you get.