troutfly said:
Hey Erised,
I will soon have a 10 gal. (US) open that has been used for over a year now, if I were to change out the rocks for sand, would it be OK to house just one DP in there or should I try 2 and if one "disapears" then leave it that way?
And - Are they "TRUE" fresh water puffers or do I have to add salt to the water?
I am curious because I used to have a puffer (Ironically, it "became" the only fish in the tank after 4 months) and I would like to have a go at it again.
If you would be willing to give the whole 10G to 1 dwarf puffer, that would be absolutely perfect! Most people however, aren't willing to do this, and seeing as the 'rule' is 5G per dwarf puffer, they try to keep 2. Puffers are very territorial, and although it is possible to keep 2 in a 10G tank without them killing eachother, they will stress eachother out and the weaker one will get chased a lot. So there's a couple of things you could do.
Have a tank they way you like it, as long as it's got a sand bottom and some places for the puffer to 'hide' in the form of plants, pots, wood, rocks, caves etc. It doesn't have to be overdone for 1 puffer, but just enough so it has it's own place
Have 2 dwarf puffers in the tank, but very heavily plant it and make sure's there's loads of hiding places and things to break up their eye-sight (or is it eye-line?). It is possible to keep them together without them killing eachother, but never completely peacefully really.
Have a divided 10G, and keep 1 dwarf puffer on each side. I personally am not keen on this, seeing as puffers are great in finding their way through the divider (speaking of person experience here
). They can bite their way through and will get together, also, them seeing eachother can be stressfull on them, but this ofcourse can be fixed by a non-see through divider or putting rocks and plants right next to it to at least make it as rare as possible for them to see eachother.
It's completely up to you which option you will pick ofcourse
If you think you'd be willing to buy an extra 5G tank and set that up (including heater and filter) if it turns out they don't get along, you can definatly try to keep 2 together. You might get lucky and have them share territories for a lifetime! Or you might have to pull 1 out and move him to his own little 5G tank.
If this seems like too much hassle, I promise a 10G with 1 dwarf puffer will definatly be worth it as well! They are absolutely full of personality
A dwarf puffer is a completely freshwater puffer and does not require any salt at all
Try reading through their profile in the fish index:
Dwarf Puffer Profile You might get some more information there
--Edit--
Make sure to cycle it properly after changing it to sand (removing the gravel will cause it to go through a mini-cycle again) ... puffers are very sensitive to their water parameters, and would not survive a full cycle.
