Tankmates for my DP's

Dwarf, Red Eye, South American & more. Freshwater puffer talk in here.
Post Reply
R_Hg
Puffer Fry
Posts: 2
Joined: Fri Apr 22, 2016 6:22 pm
Location (country): Canada

Tankmates for my DP's

Post by R_Hg »

I currently have a 29G long tank with 5 Dwarf Puffers. The tank is cycled, well planted and doing just perfect. However, the tank feels somewhat...empty. My puffers are super entertaining to watch but hard to apriciate for non-hobbyists. I had 3 fancy guppies in there for a bit, and I found no aggression or fin-nipping the whole time, the puffers seem very docile for their reputation. I was thinking about getting a few harlequin rasboras, cherry barbs or small hatchetfish to add a little more activity to the top of the tank. I figure this might bet me some hate, but...is this a bad idea?
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.
KGNickl
Puffer Fry
Posts: 6
Joined: Tue Sep 08, 2015 3:17 pm
Location (country): United States

Re: Tankmates for my DP's

Post by KGNickl »

How old are the puffers? If they are young then I would skip getting more fish. When they get older and more established they usually get more aggressive. Mine do fine with larger shrimp (full grown cherries and amano shrimp) and otos. I would say 5 dwarf puffers, 3 otos, and a bunch of larger grown shrimp (might become food) would be good.
sasiks
Puffer Fry
Posts: 3
Joined: Fri Apr 29, 2016 12:21 pm
Gender: Female
My Puffers: carinotetraodon travancoricus
Location (country): Italy

Re: Tankmates for my DP's

Post by sasiks »

Hi, i have my puffers (now 6) for over a year now and i didn’t’ find them as terribile as people says. They live with 4 japonica/amano shrimps and 9 otocinclus. They never attacked bloodfin tetras (consider that I had to give them away because they stole the puffer food.)
DP in captivity are feeded every day so they don’t’ need to “hunt”.
Please don’t keep only 3 oto! They are extremely shy, so is better to have more of them in the tank: they will be more lively and you’ll see them around.
mislaura
Puffer Fry
Posts: 25
Joined: Wed Jun 24, 2015 8:00 am
Gender: Female
My Puffers: Betty Bob and Bertha 3 dwarf pea puffers in a community tank of many fish
Location (country): north america
Location: Michigan

Re: Tankmates for my DP's

Post by mislaura »

I have tried to tell that to many people on this form that swear by it that they will turn wicked. Good luck trying to change there mind. They are die hard gloom and doom on any fish put in with a pea puffer. I roll my eyes at the narrow minds and check my tank daily to make sure there eyes are not plucked out by the pea puffers ;)
User avatar
bertie 83
Moderator
Posts: 5298
Joined: Tue Apr 12, 2011 4:28 pm
Gender: Male
My Puffers: lineatus R.I.P, South American puffer. Valentini puffer, porcupine puffer.
Non puffer
Danios, Tetras, Redtail Rasporas,
Harlequins, CAE's, Yoyo
Loaches, Clown loaches ,Eels, various shrimp, tangs,wrasses, damsels, chromis
Location (country): Brighton, England
Location: brighton , england

Re: Tankmates for my DP's

Post by bertie 83 »

Only ever had a pair of males that weren't killers. All the rest were intolerant of anything else in there space. To add its not doom and gloom its long term experience which I rely on more than short term luck. It's your tank and ultimately you can only make the choice what to add, just be prepared to remove mutilated fish and rehome any survivors. It might not come to that but ime it likely will. I have kept multiple dp tanks for many years and luck was not on my side for tank mates apart from my male pair, even in the most highly decorated tank. Just my input fwiw, ymmv
It's amazing how easy maintenance is. If done regularly and thoroughly
Post Reply