The Puffer Forum

Thought I'd give an update on my dwarf puffers. 2 1/2 weeks ago I received 10 tiny, emaciated dwarf puffers. They went straight into quarantine for deworming. One didn't make it to the third day. I'm happy to say that the other 9 are fat, sassy, and growing like weeds! If not for deworming them, I don't believe any of them would have survived, let alone thrived. I can't stress enough to new keepers of the best fish in the hobby: deworm your puffers! It can mean the difference between years of joy and heartbreak.

More pics.

Aww, they are adorable! And fat indeed. How big is their tank? I would love dwarf puffers, but I already am running three tanks with fish and a fourth would just be too much.

They are in a heavily scaped and planted 35g hex. At this point, they've started showing sexual dimorphism and of the nine I appear to have...6 males and 3 females. So far it seems to be working out, though. There's some chasing going on, but everyone is still fat and healthy and eating well. There's even been some spawning activity going on, but I don't think they're mature enough to actually breed yet. Hopefully, that will happen soon though!

That would be soooo cool! How do you sex them when there's so many? I have 7 & they never sit still long enough to even tell who's who.

They sit still when they are begging for food! Or more accurately, they hover in place! The males have a more muted pattern overall with a dorsal and ventral stripe. The females seem to retain the bolder juvenile pattern with a peppering of black speckles in the yellow areas. So far the males have been occasionally chasing the females around while shimmying along side of them and nudging them around the midsection. At the moment, My blue Brazos dwarf crayfish just had babies, as well as my dream blue velvet shrimp, sterbai cories, and the feeder guppies I started raising for my suvatti. I probably have enough snails breeding to last a few years! If my murder beans have babies, that'll top it all!

Mine seem sooooo much happier after being moved into their 29g tank! I can actually see their interaction & there are now 7 of them.

I think they might actually do better when they're "crowded" just a little bit. Kinda like some African cichlids. There's a little chasing going on, but nobody takes the brunt of it. I'm actually thinking about getting a few more to grow out in quarantine for a few months and adding any females in the group to the big group. Maybe rehome one of the males.

Be careful adding new puffs to an established puff community. I had a solo pea and added 7 thinking that it would diffuse the aggression and only one survived.

Thanks for the heads up. It's always a concern whenever adding new fish to an established setup. Honestly, it's just a thought that may never happen. If it does, I'm hoping the removal of several fish and introduction of several new ones will help, along with a little re-scaping.