Hopeing to do a ten gallon puff tank

[vantgE]

So i have a ten gallon, that my africans will be moveing out of i could do another african cichlid tank but i thought that i'd look into keeping puffers
So any links or general info would be great
Here is some more specific questions if you can help or give me links to

So my understanding is I can only keep dwarf puffers in a tank that size right?
How many?
What kind of waters best ph and hard or soft?
Do they like hidey places or open water?
Snails, how often are they needed? can you breed them?
Really messy fish? could a UGF work as the only filter?
anything i should be warned about
Probally just a species tank, but i think haveing an algae eater would be neat never had any, so might get otos too

thanks

 

[crazywolf]

Well I have a 10g puffer tank. Currently it has 5 Zebra Danios 2 Dp's and 2 ottos.

It works out well I've heard 2-3 gallons per dwarf puffer. Lots of decorations/caves so they don't see each other much or they will go after each other. I ended up with a male and female and they actually hangout all the time. I normally drop 2 snails in every few days. You can really see how full they are so I just watch to see if they start getting thin. You will really enjoy the fish I love mine. I ended up getting a 5g snail tank that someone was neglecting. However they don't really grow fast enough so I supplement with free snails from the LFS but i prefer mine because I know they are healthy.

My Puffer tank

I've added some flower pots for caves but they have not started using them.


Oh my water parm's are ph 7.0 nitrite's 0 nitrates 20ppm ammonia 0

 

[tear-scar]

The afore mentioned zebra danios are pretty fast and should be fine, but the puffers can do a real bad nip-job on slower species.

 

[vantgE]

what do you use for filtration, crazywolf?
thanks

 

[MAM]

i have four dwarf puffers and two fw bumblebee gobies in a 10 gal. i use an aquaclear 150 for filtration. i have tons of plants, three caves, and some rocks to make lean to caves, so that everyone has plenty of places to hide and room to set up their own territories.

 

[longhorn13]

i've been thinking about using one of my 10Gs as a dwarf puffer tank- do you really have to trim their beakk/teeth (whatever they are called) every now and then?

 

[diVer]

Not if you regularly feed them snails. SA puffers teeth grow so fast they still require beak trimming.

I have 3 dwarf puffers, 6 otos, and a rubbernose pleco in a 10. There are lots of rocks for caves so that each can have its own territory. I feed them snails about 1 time a week. You could breed them but not in the same tank as the puffers, who will eat them before they get a chance. I get the snails for free anyway so it doesn't matter. There is a site with really good info on dwarf puffers but I think the url is blocked here. (It's really, really obvious what it is if you want info on dwarf puffers)

 

[vantgE]

Are dwarfs the only kind that will fit in a tengallon

 

[diVer]

You could put a South American in a 10 gallon. But I wouldn't add any more than 1 because of their larger size.

 

[GP]

I have two GSP's in a 5 gallon, but only for a year or so... When they start to get bigger, I'm going to put them in a 50 gallon tank... What an upgrade.

 

[crazywolf]

I have a penguin mini on that tank. It works really well I test every couple of days and do water changes about once a week and my param's all read excellent. I saw some full grown GSP's in a new LFS I have started going to. They were huge like 2-3 inches long and 1.5-2 inches in diameter. Really cool.

I hope you enjoy your puffer's I really enjoy mine. I'll watch this thread but you can also PM me with any questions. I'm still learning about them too they are amazing to watch.