Should I get the....

[Wisperian]

Hi guys.... I checked in on the dragon puffer on in my lfs and you wont belive what i saw..... it was in a jar and they were feeding him seeds of some kind I felt really sorry for it and I was wondering if I should take him home..... I just wanna know the basics on keeping him or her and will cooked prawn be good food?

 

[SirMinion]

If you have a suitable home for him and if you are prepared to do all the extra work that keeping larger puffers entails, then sure, get the dragon.

Ours eat live mealworms, live jumbo bloodworms, live waxworms, live ghost shrimp, live snails, frozen cockles, frozen mussels & cooked prawn.

Dragon Puffers get to around eight inches. 50 gallons is minimum tank size for an adult.

They are very inactive and are ambush hunters.

They are true freshwater fish requiring no salt.

They cannot be kept with other fish except large amoured catfish, and even then the catfish may get their fins trimmed.

They are sensitive to water quality and require a lot more filtration than other fish.

They must not be taken from the water as doing so could cause them to puff and inhale air which may kill them.

They require a heavily planted tank with sand substrate and caves/flowerpots as lairs

They are as cute as heck.

 

[Wisperian]

Yea I need some preparation but I dont think the puffer can last that long... I mean feeding them seeds? he's still around 2" so would a 3g be okay for now

 

[sunflower]

As I said to you before Wisp, if you have done adequate research and you are 101% sure you can provide for it's requirements then go for it.

It has to be better than it being fed seeds and being kept in such bad conditions.

 

[SirMinion]

When you say '3 gallons for now' how long do you mean? a couple of days? a week?

There is nothing that should be kept in 3 gallons for any length of time IMO and certainly not a puffer.

Puffers are very messy fish. It would be almost impossible to maintain water quality in three gallons.

Are you sure it was seeds? there's no way a dragon puffer would eat seeds. Are you sure it wasn't some sort of meaty pellet or maybe daphnia?

 

[Wisperian]

When you say '3 gallons for now' how long do you mean? a couple of days? a week?

There is nothing that should be kept in 3 gallons for any length of time IMO and certainly not a puffer.

Puffers are very messy fish. It would be almost impossible to maintain water quality in three gallons.

Are you sure it was seeds? there's no way a dragon puffer would eat seeds. Are you sure it wasn't some sort of meaty pellet or maybe daphnia?

I'm sure it was seeds the puffer didnt even look at them.... and the puffer is only gonna be in the 3g for a few days if I get it.... cuz its cycled right now and empty and I just got my 20g put water in it and started cycle it..... is that big enough?

 

[SirMinion]

Yeah, that's much better for a while. He'll need a bigger tank later on, but dragons are slow growing so there'd be plenty of time to prepare.

Go for it!

 

[Wisperian]

phew! I feel soooooooooooo much better! i didn wanna feel like a murderer or something

 

[SirMinion]

Puffers really aren't good fish to put in a tank that's still cycling or has only just been cycled, so you will need to keep a very close eye on the water quality, and do daily or even twice daily water tests for ammonia & nitrites.

Is it possible to use some media from another tank to speed things up?

 

[Wisperian]

Puffers really aren't good fish to put in a tank that's still cycling or has only just been cycled, so you will need to keep a very close eye on the water quality, and do daily or even twice daily water tests for ammonia & nitrites.

Is it possible to use some media from another tank to speed things up?

Yep 9/10 of the water in the 20g is from another tank and i put aged water for the 1/10 part and i put cycle and stuff in it

 

[Wisperian]

Horray! I got him! he was normally $19 but they seriously didnt want him so I got him for $15 canadian decided to name him Paulo lol! My dad wanted to call him Paulo to Predator and my mom wanted to call him sweetpea

 

[Puffer_freak]

Yay! Good on ya!