Thinking of a 10 gallon puffer tank.

[FloridaFishGuy]

Since i dont think im gonna have enough money for a 55 gallon for awhile i was thinking about a 10 gallon puffer tank. I was thinking of getting 3-4 dwarf puffers and 3 ottos. Since i can get the 10 gallon at petsmart for 9 bucks what filter and other stuff do you think i would need. Do you think a sponge filter would be ok for puffers? Also since that 10 gallon dosnt come with a cover or a light do they need lots of light or will a regular light bulb from a lamb be enough untill i can get a hood. Also do they jump of can i just leave the tank uncovered. Lots of questions but i hope someone can answer them.

 

[NeilP]

Hi Newbie,

If you look on my thread 'i wanna, i wanna puffer er er err' ( ) Pufferpack detailed what puffers and tankmates i could have in my UK 8 gallon.

Sorry - don't know about the filters etc, i will be running a Fluval 204 with canopy and lights. I wouldn;t have thought the puffers would jump - but i have no real experience with them.....


Did you get that job by the way?

 

[Pufferpack]

Hi FishNewbie

For my puffer tanks I like to turn the water over 10 times per hour (due to puffers being such messy eaters and sensative to chemicals) so for your 10 gal IMO your best bet would be a filter that pumps at least 100 gals per hour (I like the Aquaclear 150 which would pump 150 gals/hr). I wouldn't recomend a sponge filter, but that is more because I have no experience with sponges so don't know their effeciency.
Dwarf puffers are more active in good lighting, but a lamp would work fine for temp. lighting (if it's close to the surface of the water it will raise the temp of the tank). Although Dwarf puffers are not known as jumpers per se, they can get up quite a burst of speed and the potential for a jumper is there. I prefer to have a cover on all my tanks, maybe just my own paranoia, but I'm always worried that without a cover, things such as dust, cat toys, dog toys, Cats & Dogs faces etc. are going to end up in the tank , also with a cover on your water doesn't evaporate as fast and the tempature stays more constant, so less work for the heater.

 

[FloridaFishGuy]

Ok sounds good puffer. I think i might just buy the tank, filter, and heater and just cover the tank with some plastic.

 

[rhyswebb]

Whats the smallest tank you could keep 4 dwarfs in?How much would a cheap but very good/efective setup cost.I would probarbly have siamese algae eater as well.
I'll move my 1 dwarf out of my community tank into this "possible new one".

Could you list all the kit id need?

 

[Pufferpack]

Sounds good Fishnewbie


Hi rhyswebb

I wouldn't go any smaller than 8.5 gal UK/10 gal US for 4 Dwarfs. As for adding the SAE I wouldn't rrecomend it, I have read that they can get aggressive (which would probably provoke retaliation from the Dwarfs) and I think they grow too big for a 10 gal, Ottos would be a better match with the puffers.

10 gal tank
Filter with 100 gal/hr flow rate
fine substrata (dwarfs are messy and leave a lot of food lying around)
multiple caves/logs etc. for hiding/sleeping
5-6 med plants (plastic are fine) (dense or broad leafed work well)
min. 50 watt heater

maybe some floating plants as well, the puffers would enjoy them.

 

[Laughncat]

I've been thinking about starting a puffer tank ever since I started reading about them here in this forum (and discovered that I could use them as a disposal unit for all those wild snails that are breeding like guppies in my tanks). It was a project that I had earmarked for a future date, like after christmas sometime because I'm currently working with a sand filled 10 gallon that has some beautiful rainbow celebese in it (they need friends badly. *Sigh * so little money, so little time). Luckly (or unfortuantely depending on how you look at it ), my roomate's mom just gave me an brand 10 gallon glass tank that she no longer. Granted it needs to be outfitted with everything and cleaned to get the stench of unhappy guinea pig out of it, but still..how could I turn down a FREE glass tank

Anyway, I was reading aboutin PufferPacks post that a fine substrate is good. Will sand be okay? Now that I have tried sand in my celebese tank, I'm a convert. It looks beautiful the way it shifts into little waves and hills as the fish brush up against it or root around in it. (only really bad part is all the snail poop showing up so well on it )

Another question...it may sound silly, but how exactly does some one cram driftwood (logs), multiple caves, 5-6 meduim plants and maybe some floating plants in to a wee little ten gallon? I've got two pieces of drift wood in my ten (with some plants to be added later on) and I'm packed to the gills (no pun intended...really ).

*begins drifting off thinking of puffers and ten gallon tanks*

Hmmm...now where do I set up that ten gallon...

 

[Lithril]

IMO Sands ideal as a substrate as you can see all the food that the puffers leave behind. I've got a battery powered gravel vacuum I use for cleaning my tank with just go over the sand a couple of times a week and also syphon off waste when I do the weekly w/c.

If you've seen the size of the dwarfs puffers you'll realise that fitting that many caves in is not actually that difficult as the caves won't need to be big. You'll need to position decor though in a way that'll break up the line of site from one cave to the next.

 

[MAM]

as lith said,its not that tough. i used pufferpacks idea of shot glasses as caves for my dwarf puffers. i glued gravel to them with aquarium sealant, sunk them into the substrate, works great. prefect size and very versitile. the puffers dont use them much, but the gobies like them, and the ghost shrimp i put in as food (but have now become little cleaning crew as no one wants to eat them....) are always in them.

 

[Laughncat]

Thanks for the info. I didn't think you all were serious about the shot glasses making good caves Are we talking single shot or double shot by the way?

I think I'm going to either set up a puffer tank the end of this month or in January. Just gotta figure out where to put it, by supplies, have LFS order my stock, etc.

I knwo this sounds silly, but will a puffer be fine an a single resident of a tank or do they need at least one other occupant to help them pass the time. Of course, from what I've been reading, finding an occupant that will be "safe: with them is a hard thing to do

 

[freshwatergal]

Just get more puffers. As long as you have places for them to hide, and things to break up line of site, you will be fine. I have a 20 gal puffer tank with 6 dwarf puffers in it. I think if have a pic posted...if not I will look into getting one. Good Luck, and have fun with it. I find myself paying more attention to my puffers then my other fish cause they are so much fun to watch.

tiff

p.s. here is the link to my puffer tank pic http/fish.orbust.net/forums/index.php?sh...showtopic=17006

 

[Pufferpack]

will a puffer be fine an a single resident of a tank or do they need at least one other occupant to help them pass the time

Puffers do fine as single occupants (some are too crotchety to live with tankmates), and other than Bumblebee Gobies and Ottos, I've also had some limited success with guppies as tankmates. The original guppies and swordtails used to cycle the puffer tank were left in there when the puffers were added (nowhere else to put them at the time), the first generation didn't fare too well, the Dwarfs chewed up the male guppy and killed the male sword wthin a week. The female swordtail lasted long enough to have 2 broods (1 survivor from each) and I still have one of the survivors in there(5 months now). The female guppy had 3 broods that I managed to save about 60 fry from, I found homes for about 45 of the fry but the other 15 are housed in various tanks that we have. There are about 10 in with the puffers that have been there since they were born and they have learned to avoid the Dwarfs. I can find very little signs of nipping on any of the 2nd and 3rd generation of guppys (even the male) but the original female was not as smart and was taken down a few months ago

 

[MAM]

Thanks for the info. I didn't think you all were serious about the shot glasses making good caves Are we talking single shot or double shot by the way?

just your basic single shot (the shorties), clean of course. inexpensive, easy to make look natural and the perfect size for a dwarf.

 

[Moe]

I'm thinking of setting up another 10G also. I've seen the puffers at the store. They look interesting. What do puffers eat? The tank is going to go in my son's room and I'm trying to think of something besides regular tropical fish to put in it.
What is so great about puffers? Why are they so much fun?

 

[MAM]

I'm thinking of setting up another 10G also. I've seen the puffers at the store. They look interesting. What do puffers eat? The tank is going to go in my son's room and I'm trying to think of something besides regular tropical fish to put in it.
What is so great about puffers? Why are they so much fun?

my puffers love live foods such as brine shrimp and tubifex worms, they will sometimes eat the frozen stuff(bloodworms and brine shrimp) right after i first put it in and the current makes it move.
i like them because 1)theyre different than other fw fish, looks and personality (ever really look at them closely? they're adorable yet tough, puggy is the best way to describe them), 2) the way they move both body and eyes, their eyes move all around and they really look like theyre checking everything out carefully, they can swim backwards and move really differently than most other fish, 3) theyre a fish my bf actually finds interesting (mollies just don't do it for him)