puffer or beetas

[hargi22]

hi all,
just wanting some advice really . my mum bought me a 5g tank today which was nice of her. im just wondering what to do put in a dwarf puffer ( one person said only 1 andther has said 3 will go in) or to split it up for beetas which do u recomend?
matt

 

[StingrayKid]

Well, first off, you should have 3 DP's per 10 gallons so, you could have one DP in there.(In order for it to live comfortably) Personally, I think it's better to have more than one in a tank, but it wont kill the DP if its alone. IMO you should go for the Bettas but if you want a single DP go right ahead.

 

[LadyMinion]

Yup, I agree fully with StingrayKid - you can really only have one in there.

Puffers are very messy fish who require perfect water. My main concern would be how difficult it is to keep such a small volume of water stable in terms of toxicity and temperature. A betta would be much more suited to this environment as it can handle more variation in these conditions.

 

[SirMinion]

Split a 5 gallon? what into? droplets?

Why not get a really nice betta and spoil him by giving him the run of the whole five gallons?

 

[David]

Well I have a betta in my 5 gallon, but technically you could split it into 2 (2.5 gallon) sections, which is more than enough for a betta. So you could have 2 in there, which will also keep them pretty active flaring at each other, but I wouldn't do any more than that. Good luck w/ whatever you decide.

 

[Puffer_freak]

I think its cruel to keep them in things like that. Constantly flaring. It may look nice, but it's pretty mean.

 

[Opcn]

they dont flare constantly (well mabey for the first few hours) but they do flare on occasion and it keeps them active and in there best colors. the two fish could live happily in a 5 gallon I'm sure.

 

[washuai]

1 betta is probably the best way to go. A couple of ghost shrimp if you've just got community fever to keep him company (be sure they have a hiding rock).
If for some reason you try more than one dp, make sure they are not both males and have plenty of plants, et cetera to break the line of sight and give them something to interest themselves with. Bored dps, with no hiding foliage and other amusements means trouble.

 

[lovebuzz]

I think its cruel to keep them in things like that. Constantly flaring. It may look nice, but it's pretty mean.

Ummm, as opcn said they won't constantly flare, only for the first few hours. Eventually they'll see that they can't get past the divider and will give up. Their not stupid, hehe.

 

[AmberC]

I agree that two bettas would be fine with a divider, but if your truly worried about it, you could get a divider that they cant see thru.