How Many Dwarf Puffers

[crackmonkey]

My tank is 180 Litre and I was wondering how many Dwarf Puffers I could fairly fit into my tank? I heard you should Keep 2-3 females to 1 male so would 8 be okay, 2 males and 6 females?

 

[PeterM]

Good advice for dwarf puffers is that you should only ever keep up to about three in one tank. In my experience they are an incredibly aggressive species of puffer and will not tolerate eachothers company as soon as maturity hits. Your tank is lovely and would suit a larger species of puffer much better. I understand why you would want to keep lots of Dwarfs though, theyre great But you should never fully stock a tank with Dwarf Puffers, for your sake as much as theirs. Understocking = good, because the puffers will not only kill eachother (bad for them) but you will have wasted, if nothing else, the money on buying them (bad for you).

Tank Tools!

Using this rather fancy set of tools (programmed by yours truly ), you have about 48 US Gallons there, and using the one Dwarf Puffer per five gallon rule you technically can keep nine dwarf puffers in there. However, they will be very happy in infancy together, but expect many of them to die when they mature. Since all fish mature at different rates, you will probably find yourself with one very dominant male in there who will not tolerate even young females.

I wouldnt say that you could keep more than four females and one male in a tank like that, and only fish that grow together too, of around the same level of maturity. Thats why I think youd be better off keeping different puffer species, perhaps three or four South American puffers. These guys are larger and much more tolerant of eachother, and as theyre puffers, equally entertaining!

 

[crackmonkey]

Good advice for dwarf puffers is that you should only ever keep up to about three in one tank. In my experience they are an incredibly aggressive species of puffer and will not tolerate eachothers company as soon as maturity hits. Your tank is lovely and would suit a larger species of puffer much better. I understand why you would want to keep lots of Dwarfs though, theyre great But you should never fully stock a tank with Dwarf Puffers, for your sake as much as theirs. Understocking = good, because the puffers will not only kill eachother (bad for them) but you will have wasted, if nothing else, the money on buying them (bad for you).

Tank Tools!

Using this rather fancy set of tools (programmed by yours truly ), you have about 48 US Gallons there, and using the one Dwarf Puffer per five gallon rule you technically can keep nine dwarf puffers in there. However, they will be very happy in infancy together, but expect many of them to die when they mature. Since all fish mature at different rates, you will probably find yourself with one very dominant male in there who will not tolerate even young females.

I wouldnt say that you could keep more than four females and one male in a tank like that, and only fish that grow together too, of around the same level of maturity. Thats why I think youd be better off keeping different puffer species, perhaps three or four South American puffers. These guys are larger and much more tolerant of eachother, and as theyre puffers, equally entertaining!

[snapback]922058[/snapback]​

The tank in my pic is not the tank for the puffers, I have a new one for them Juwel 180 Litre. I was thinking about South American Puffers but its said that you have to feed them snails everyday or their teeth will grow too much, im guessing its hard to have a daily supply of snails. But if I did go for them how many would go into 180 Liters. Was also thinking about Red-tailed Red Eye Puffers but can you only have two, one female and one male?

 

[TigerMan]

Good advice for dwarf puffers is that you should only ever keep up to about three in one tank. In my experience they are an incredibly aggressive species of puffer and will not tolerate eachothers company as soon as maturity hits. Your tank is lovely and would suit a larger species of puffer much better. I understand why you would want to keep lots of Dwarfs though, theyre great But you should never fully stock a tank with Dwarf Puffers, for your sake as much as theirs. Understocking = good, because the puffers will not only kill eachother (bad for them) but you will have wasted, if nothing else, the money on buying them (bad for you).

Tank Tools!

Using this rather fancy set of tools (programmed by yours truly ), you have about 48 US Gallons there, and using the one Dwarf Puffer per five gallon rule you technically can keep nine dwarf puffers in there. However, they will be very happy in infancy together, but expect many of them to die when they mature. Since all fish mature at different rates, you will probably find yourself with one very dominant male in there who will not tolerate even young females.

I wouldnt say that you could keep more than four females and one male in a tank like that, and only fish that grow together too, of around the same level of maturity. Thats why I think youd be better off keeping different puffer species, perhaps three or four South American puffers. These guys are larger and much more tolerant of eachother, and as theyre puffers, equally entertaining!

[snapback]922058[/snapback]​

The tank in my pic is not the tank for the puffers, I have a new one for them Juwel 180 Litre. I was thinking about South American Puffers but its said that you have to feed them snails everyday or their teeth will grow too much, im guessing its hard to have a daily supply of snails. But if I did go for them how many would go into 180 Liters. Was also thinking about Red-tailed Red Eye Puffers but can you only have two, one female and one male?

[snapback]922345[/snapback]​

 

[pica_nuttalli]

Tigerman, ?

if you think feeding SAPs a snail a day is too much to deal with, don't even bother with DPs. i strongly suggest that you search through the many, many posts in this forum along the lines of "how to get my dwarf puffer to eat?". dwarves need regular snails just like SAPs and many of them won't eat anything that doesn't move. i've not heard of anyone who's had success with processed foods and many people have trouble feeding frozen food.

puffers are work. you may need to rethink your plan if a snail a day is too much trouble.

 

[crackmonkey]

Tigerman, ?

if you think feeding SAPs a snail a day is too much to deal with, don't even bother with DPs. i strongly suggest that you search through the many, many posts in this forum along the lines of "how to get my dwarf puffer to eat?". dwarves need regular snails just like SAPs and many of them won't eat anything that doesn't move. i've not heard of anyone who's had success with processed foods and many people have trouble feeding frozen food.

puffers are work. you may need to rethink your plan if a snail a day is too much trouble.

[snapback]922452[/snapback]​

A snail a day isnt bad, I thought they would need a #### load

 

[mattbeau]

The tank in my pic is not the tank for the puffers, I have a new one for them Juwel 180 Litre. I was thinking about South American Puffers but its said that you have to feed them snails everyday or their teeth will grow too much, im guessing its hard to have a daily supply of snails. But if I did go for them how many would go into 180 Liters. Was also thinking about Red-tailed Red Eye Puffers but can you only have two, one female and one male?

[snapback]922345[/snapback]​

well keeping a steady supply of snails isnt that dificult, I have a snail factory set up

a little six gallon with filter and air stone


I just dump food in there and they have no problem breeding

beware, dont set up a community tank as your snail factory

I'm still trying to combat the snails in there


DP's can be very intolorant of each other, I have tried fixing mine with a mate twice and on both occasions they were dead by morning and this was in my 10 gallon which technically would be good for two



Dps like a mixed diet, but getting them to eat other things can be tough

Dont be surprised if you have extra packages of frozen food that you try, that dont work pileing up in the freezer

Mine will eat snails, ghost shrimp, brine shrimp blood worms, cut up red worms, and I dont have to do anything wierd to get him to eat, some people have to use tweezers and wriggle food in there face, others use turkry syring things and squirt it a them. im fortunate that he'll eat it right off the floor.

They like sand as they sometimes like to rest on the bottom, so be sure your filters are ok with sand, i learned the hard way that my penguin 150's were not

They also like to have an interesting home to explore and have rearranged from time to time as they can get bored easily

as fun as these fish can be, they also take a little bit of work

good luck

Matt