Dwarf Puffers?

[youngfisher]

Ok I was wondering if I could keep a DP in a 40l tank.
I have been wanting one for a while now, just never got round to getting one.
Or maybe I could get a pair?

 

[AdAndrews]

Ok I was wondering if I could keep a DP in a 40l tank.
I have been wanting one for a while now, just never got round to getting one.
Or maybe I could get a pair?

yea, you could have one easily in that size, maybe 2 if you provided lots of cover and plants to spread out aggression

they are lovely little things, only wish they could be that little bit bigger

 

[youngfisher]

I know you can feed them live food etc.
And I heard you can breed your own live food?

How easy is it to do, and approx. how much would it cost me to do?

 

[bagu]

I know you can feed them live food etc.
And I heard you can breed your own live food?

How easy is it to do, and approx. how much would it cost me to do?

cant be too expensive to do

i think bloodworms come from rotting waste matter if im right.
But... i have had a pack of 16 frozen cubes with bloodworms and daphnia and shrimp in them, i think without feeding the other fish, i feed the puffer every other day, with around 4 bloodworms, that pack has lasted me around 4 months now!

i feed mine frozen

you could get a pair! that would be very nice

 

[BigTom]

Yep a pair should be ok in 40L, just make sure it's well planted. A pack of frozen bloodoworm will last those 2 for months, of course they'll appreciate any live foods you supplement it with greatly (if you've got pest snails in any other tanks they'll be perfect).

 

[youngfisher]

I have two peices of filter sponge in my African Cichlid tank, im just wondering once I get the other tank if I could put abit of the sponge in to the smaller tank? - I know this is possible but the only thing that worrys me is I have alot of oceon rock in my cichlid tank so the ph is fairly high would this just affect the tank or the filter sponge? As I know DP's like soft water.

 

[AdAndrews]

I have two peices of filter sponge in my African Cichlid tank, im just wondering once I get the other tank if I could put abit of the sponge in to the smaller tank? - I know this is possible but the only thing that worrys me is I have alot of oceon rock in my cichlid tank so the ph is fairly high would this just affect the tank or the filter sponge? As I know DP's like soft water.

i dont think it would effect it, i wouldnt bother with live food, mine's happy with bloodworm every other day(frozen) and then 1-2 snails each week.. snails being live.

if you didnt have snails in any of your other tanks then you could get a small plastic hamster box, and use that, just a little bit of gravel, put some cambomba in it and leave it on the windowsill. you would have to do w/c every week though.

plus, what i did when i first got my dp was treated him against parisites.. being a wild caught fish, they can come in with parisites, i used wormer plus, not only handy for that, when i got it, a few days later i noticed some creepy crawlies in another tank, so i dosed it up, and killed the lot

good luck.. any more questions just ask

 

[CherryDanio]

There is an article in this months practical fish keeping about dwarf puffers that suggested 10L per puffer. We have less than that in ours (5 puffers in 85L) but then we have a bristlenose in too so it's going to get pretty messy in there. Frozen bloodworm doesn't work out that expensive either. I think breeding your own snails is a must though as every LFS we know is sick of us asking for some. We have dumped them all in a 15L tank with a sponge filter and a couple of plants on a window will (no heater and no light - they are on a windowsill) and everytime I blink I see more. We have only had ours 1 day and already I'm in love so I totally reccomend them

 

[youngfisher]

Can you keep the tanks (snail) in a shed outside, with no filter? or do they need a filter?

 

[CherryDanio]

The guy who sold us the puffers was suprised when we asked for a filter so I'd imagine that means you could keep them without one. You'd need to keep up with the water changes more often though as snails do produce waste too.

 

[youngfisher]

Thats no proble

Could you give me an estimate on how much you think the snail tank would cost me to get, all together?

Also - I have known some puffers to only eat live food, Hopefully I don't have this problem!

I think I would feed them 1 cube of frozen bloodworm a day then say on friday night i would give them 2 snails (one each )

that sound good or..?

 

[AdAndrews]

Thats no proble

Could you give me an estimate on how much you think the snail tank would cost me to get, all together?

Also - I have known some puffers to only eat live food, Hopefully I don't have this problem!

I think I would feed them 1 cube of frozen bloodworm a day then say on friday night i would give them 2 snails (one each )

that sound good or..?

you should be fine with thouse types of foods, just one cuba of bloodworm would be enough to fill the tank, mine only eats about 3 whole worms, and thats if im feeling generous, you have to remember these are tiny little fish, 1inch max, that means when you get him he should only be 0.5 inch, might only need 1 whole bloodworm a day

i dont think the snail tank would cost you much, i mean if i was doing it, its just a plastic box, some cambomba i already have, and then a bunch from the shop- so far all that comes to around £6, then its just gravel, i know i have some left over, and then i would put in a little rock or wood, again i have that, wop it on the window sill and bobs your uncle

 

[youngfisher]

Would they need to be in daylight? As Im thinking them of siting them in a shed, although it will get fairly warm in there.

And are you able to seperate the worms when they arnt frozen then?

Im glad I have you people here lol.

 

[AdAndrews]

Would they need to be in daylight? As Im thinking them of siting them in a shed, although it will get fairly warm in there.

And are you able to seperate the worms when they arnt frozen then?

Im glad I have you people here lol.

well it would need some sort of light, light= algae and thats what snails feed on
what i do with the worms is get a left over plastic container, like a shallow thin one, then defrost the cuba on the heat, then spread it shallowly on the base of the new container, freeze it, and then break it up into chunks, my dp just starts hacking at the frozen block lol, but i teese him sometimes by dragging it along the surface, they are truley great things to watch

 

[CherryDanio]

We put a cube of bloodworn in a shot glass of tank water to melt then use tweesers to distribute the bloodworm around all our tanks. Most of our fish appreciate bloodworm from time to time though take care not to feed too often to some species.