Dp's

[Kizz]

Well the fry in my fry tank are getting big and ready to go into main tank to grow before i take them back to LFS. I have a 35L 8gal i think tank sand substrate and a stingray filter. I'm going to plant it up with cuttings from my main tank and get some larger plants at lfs when i get the puffers.

Would i be best off just getting 2 at first ? or get 3 ? I'm wanting 2 females as don't really want the possibility of babies as that means another tank ! lol and i know they're pretty hard to sex while young

Is the stingray filter adequete for these wee fish ?

Is it just plants that they need for playing and hiding in i have a wee half pot in there at the momentbeen tryin to find a coconut to make cave's but no supermarket near me seems to sell them why pay £5 for one when you can buy a coconut and have the joy of making it yourself! and also a airpump i could stick in if it's needed

Got loads of diffrent frozen food and can get live food on a daily basis from a more local lfs

Am i forgetting anything ? and is everythign up there to standard ?

Oh what temp should tank be at ? i have sitting at 77-78F at the moment
Cheers

 

[bagu]

heya mate

i have 2 females in a 20 gallon, the rule is 1 dp to 5 gallons

so you can have 1 easily, but 2 might be a problem

They will need ALOT of plants and hiding places, i have 2 like i said and they will at times go out to kill each other lol, so add plants to break up their line of sight easily. You need to overfilter as puffers are messy fish, mine poo whilst they eat lol

If you can give live foods then great i feed frozen bloodworks, they love them

Just make it really interesting, keep us posted aswell!

Best of luck

Baguuuuuuuuu

 

[Truck]

in a 35 litre you can have 1 DP and the sting ray filter should be adequate. you will need loads of real plants. and coconut caves etc temp should be 24/25oC

they should not be fed on flakes frozen or live food only this includes:
snails
blood worms
black worms
dapnia
BS
micro worms etc

 

[bagu]

In my tank, they will go for bloodworms, dapnia snails and shrimp.

If they see a piece of dried food go in (which i did try) they will occasionally go for it (mine do, but i dont bother anymore).

So just go for what truck said

 

[Kizz]

cheers for the info ! Hate to argue as i did ask for info but there's so much conflicting info was reading the pinned article in the oddball forum and this is what it said

3g - Single Dwarf Puffer (if overfiltered and maintained religiously)
5g - Single Dwarf Puffer (if overfiltered and maintained religiously. Of course, you have a margin for error in this setup)
10g - A Pair of dwarf puffers, 3 ottos.

So you can keep effectivly 5 fish in a 10g but can't keep 2 dp's in and 8g? I'm religious about my w/c 25% every sunday .I know that i will have to keep a very close eye on water param's but is it do able ? The whole idea of having a tank for one tiny wee lone fish really doesn't appeal to me

 

[Truck]

its not the maintenance etc its the aggression, that rule below only really applys to tanks 60 litres + because they have space to swim out of the bullying, so stick with one or face the consequences

 

[bagu]

hey,

Don't worry bout argueing ^^

Like I said, keeping 2 in my 20gal is hell sometimes, but i think that 1 to 3 gallons isnt enough, they are extremely inquisitive, wen i look at the tank they will come out to see me, when i dip my finger in the water they observe it lol (so cute ^^) they will look at plants.... they are just superb! You can try keeping more than 2, see how they get on? suppose you can try, but if one kills the other then it could be a waste, or they could get on like a house on fire

I think keeping 1 DP, come shrimp and ottos would be good, but i was like you....

"1-2 DP's in my 20gal tank, ####, what the hell, gonna be boooring"

But after a day i was glued to my tank, such great characters

 

[jennybugs]

I work off the rule of 15L of clear water space per DP with a 20L tank for one puffer then a further 15L per puffer, so a 35L may be pushing it a little space wise, even though technically may be possible. I wouldn't chance it in a small tank like that, but do have 4 in a heavily planted and over filtered 60L tank.

Just because on paper something says it can be done, doesn't mean it will work. It all depends on the sex of the puffers as they reach maturity. Two males in a 35L tank won't necessarily kill each other straight away, but there would be battles for donimance and territory. If you have a male and a female it doesn't meain you will be overrun with babies in no time. Two females would be better, but they will still fight and argue for dominance and territory etc. They may look all eyes and smiling cuteness but they are still pufferfish at the end of the day.

If you have good filtration, perform 50% water changes each week and have the tank well planted to break up the line of sight, with caves for the fish to call their own then you have a slightly better chance of making it work, but I would recommend just the one in a 35L tank to make sure you don't have territory issues. Small tanks may have the statistics water wise, but there isn't the space for the fish to escape or hide from the other like there is in a slightly bigger tank imho.

One DP is just as cool/cute/interesting as 2

 

[iSnail]

One DP is just as cool/cute/interesting as 2

I agree

What happened to your fifth DP Jenny. Thought you had 5?

 

[Kizz]

What kind of shrimp could i add and how many ? Something with a bit of colour so i'm able to see them against the sand and plants .

I've Read about cherry shrimp ? do these still keep there colour as they mature? are they ok with dp's? could i add another species of shrimp with these? and how many can i keep ?

Sorry for all the questions

 

[bagu]

What kind of shrimp could i add and how many ? Something with a bit of colour so i'm able to see them against the sand and plants .

I've Read about cherry shrimp ? do these still keep there colour as they mature? are they ok with dp's? could i add another species of shrimp with these? and how many can i keep ?

Sorry for all the questions biggrin.gif

heya

cherry shrimp are attractive, but its hit and miss with adding shrimps, if you add shrimp 1st, then puffer it could turn out better.

could try amano shrimp/ghost shrimp.

they do keep colour

baguuuu

 

[jennybugs]

One DP is just as cool/cute/interesting as 2

I agree

What happened to your fifth DP Jenny. Thought you had 5?

A friend wanted one and couldn't find them anywhere, so I gave her one of mine She wanted two but I just couldn't part with more than one

 

[iSnail]

A friend wanted one and couldn't find them anywhere, so I gave her one of mine She wanted two but I just couldn't part with more than one

Trust me! I can totally feel your pain parting with a DP

 

[Ficious]

either add the shrimp first or at the same time as the dp...i have 6 with my 1 dp in a 5 gallon. all 6 are still there but they wont reproduce...im sure it has to do with the dp being there

 

[jennybugs]

What shrimp do you have? Amano shrimp will carry eggs but the lavae won't develop in fresh water