dwarf puffers in "palm aquariums"

[chacal]

I've been thinking about getting a small aquarium to put on my desk at work. I don't think that even a 3 gallon eclipse would fly, it might be too big..so I'm looking at smaller aquariums. I've seen these aquariums:

http/www.zzoounlimited.com/palm1.html

or

http/www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod...cfm?pcatid=8125

They seem to be around a gallon. I've seen pictures of them planted (i think even on this site) with a neon tetra or two in them.

and they make a small filter for it:

http/www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod...cfm?pcatid=9821

and a light:

http/www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod...cfm?pcatid=8154

The temperature in the office is very constant, I imagine that light would do a pretty good job of adding a few degrees of temperature. Here are my questions: 1) Would one of these aquariums be too small for a single dwarf puffer? 2) Would I have to worry about a puffer (or any other fish, for that matter) leaping out of the top, which seems to not have a cover?

It seems like you could put a couple of small plants into one of these and have a decent home for a tiny fish, but I don't want to do it if it wouldn't be good for the fish.

 

[ste2k3]

firstly hi and welcome to the forum.

to be honest with you, I think that these type of "aquariums" should be banned. they do not have filters! the water chemestry would be all over and water quality would soon suffer. any fish you put in them is going to suffer. even if you changed some water every day, there will still be ammonia in the water and the water chemestry would not stabilize. I would not even recamend keeping a guppy in one of these, nevermind a puffer. If you want to keep fish, then do it properly, get a 5 gallon or bigger and get a filter heater etc and you will enjoy it much more and none of the fish will suffer.

 

[MAM]

for dwarf puffers, not these wouldn't work. even the ones with filters and lights. the filters just are strong enough to handle the mess of a puffer (most eat live or frozen foods, plus you need snails to keep their beaks filed down, and snails add to the bioload), plus they need a heater and there isn't room for one in there. if you found a two gal with a good filter and room for a heater, you MIGHT be able to do ONE dwarf puffer, but really something bigger is better. i keep two in a five gallon.

 

[chacal]

Fair enough..that makes sense. I'll save the puffers for when I can get a decent sized 2nd tank for home.

 

[ryansfish5g]

I think this tank would be awesome for work:
link to buy it
info link, marinelandlabs

It is about 2 gallons, has filtration and even a bio-wheel!

I think 1 dwarf puffer would be happy in it.

I would also consider not putting gravel in it, as it would be easier to clean.

Oh, and start it with BIO-Spira! Worked for my eclipse hex 5 tank with bio-wheel, cycled it in 12 days.

The only problem is it doesn't have a light, but you can probably rig something up.

 

[dixaisy930]

IMO, i think dwarf puffers need atleast a 5 gallon to be happy. I think they need the room to swim and what not. But I could be wrong...it's happened before.

 

[ryansfish5g]

Actually, I used this aquarium calculator:
volume calculator

and it's about 2.6 gallons. (not counting the bow front)

Also, on the marinelandlabs website it says it filters 35 GPH, that means it cycles the whole tank volume 13 times per hour. That should be good for the dwarf puffer.

About heating, with that small of a volume, the surface area of the tank is sufficient enough to keep the tank pretty close to room temperature. So as long as it stays steady at work, it would be okay without a heater. Although, some places let the temp fluctuate at night, so maybe you should get a small heater just in case.

 

[ryansfish5g]

IMO, i think dwarf puffers need atleast a 5 gallon to be happy. I think they need the room to swim and what not. But I could be wrong...it's happened before.

point taken, room to swim is nice.

Buuuuuut, I think if someone put dwarf puffers in a 5 gallon they would put in 2-4. That would end up in some of them getting picked on a bunch. It even happens in my 10 gallon. So, I think having just 1 puffer in a 2.6 gallon, could potentially result in that puffer being much happier. No competition for food, no competition for territory.

However, yes I agree, 1 puff in a 5 gallon by itself would be happier.

Also, don't get me wrong; I am against the idea of palm sized aquariums. Those definitely don't give enough room to swim and no filtration....are you kidding.
The 2.6 gallon however is no where near palm sized, and it has a modern filtration system with a bio-wheel.

 

[White Whale]

If worse comes to worse, and you really want a fish for your office, you can get a betta and place him in a Marina Betta Kit.

 

[ryansfish5g]

or you could go crazy, and build the smallest nano reef tank ever, like this guy did:
crazy link