Dwarfs

[Marlie]

Hi

I just got my Dwarfs and I have no idea how to take care of them.

I apologise for this, but is there somewhere where I can get all the info in one page or documents?

I don't have time to go search as it's late allready and i need to get the puffers out of the petshop bag as they have been in there since this morning and i'm getting worried about them now.

[Hilly]

You need to open the bag and slowly add a bit of tank water at regular intervals to acclimate them to the temperature of the water. I normally do this for about 30-45 mins and then release them.

Has your tank been cycled?

[Hilly]

Just reads your other post, Dwarf puffers are totally freshwater.

[Marlie]

no, my tank has not been cycled.
I did however take some water out of my 3ft tank and added it to this water so they puffs don't have to go into 100% clean water. Hope it helps.
They look ok today.

[Hilly]

You are going to have do to massive daily water changes for the next couple of weeks then otherwise the buildup of ammonia and nitrites in the water is going to affect them.

Adding water isn't going to add much bacteria to the tank, moving filter media over from the other tank will help but you still need to keep an eye on water parameters.

[Marlie]

I didn't move filter media, it would impossible for me to get filter media from my 3ft tank as I have a ugf in there.



I do quite good with fish, never ever did all the water paramenters and stuff, i always make sure i keep my temp constant and then i just go with the flow. always seemed to have more my way then fussing over my fish. Maybe i was just paranoid as i wasn't prepared for the lil puppies.

Does anyone have plants with their DPs? I had plants in my 3ft but my silver dollars ate them all. I miss having real plants, so maybe i can have some for my DPs. I can't even drop a plant in my 3ft then the silver dollars gobble it up within a matter of hours.

[crazedpuffer]

In your other tank does it have gravel and fake decor? If so put that in the dp tank to help establish bacteria. Also dps need a lot of plants (fake or real) to hide in and explore.

[Boxermom]

Puffers are not like other fish. Most other fish are much more hardy and can take the abuse of improper care better. Puffers are much more sensitive to water parameters and their environment and, therefore, need very good care.

[Hilly]

Scaled fish can be more tolerant of bad water parameters, puffers dont have scales and any trace of ammonia, nitrates or off the chart nitrates can affect them badly lowering the immune system making them susceptible to infection and could lead to death.

Take some gravel out of your other tank if you're using UGF, at least that will add some bacteria into the puffers tank.

[Marlie]

Hello, just an update, my puffs are doing realy well.

I added some fake plants from my 3ft tank and will today probably give them the last dose of PimaFix.

All 6 are still there, and they look much better then when I got them, especially the one little one, he was very very thin, and is now starting to look like a puff. However, they are soooo small i wonder if they will ever look like puffers. lol. they are only about 5mm big. Maybe I should try and take a pic, but I doubt if it will work because they are so tiny.

And they enjoy bloodworms very much. Tonight I want to go vacuum the gravel a bit, they seem to be messy eaters.

What else can i try to give them? I doubt if there are any snails small enough to feed them, i don't want to give them a small snail and then they don't eat it, but rather torture it to death.

I will probably go around the 15th and get some real plants, i don't want to disturb them just now, they have all found a nice little hiding spot to live in, and i don't want to take them out of their comfort zone.

[Myaj]

Live plants are great for dwarf puffers. There's no reason to take them out of the tank to put the live plants in, just plant them. Less stress for you and the fish.

All puffers are messy eaters, gravel vaccuuming is a necessity on a weekly basis at least.

You can try giving them a few snails, and if they don't manage to eat them, the snails will breed and then the puffs will eat the baby snails. But it wouldn't be very hard for a dwarf puffer to knock a snail off the glass and once they get an opening to get in there, the snail has pretty much had it.

[Marlie]

is it ok if I skip 1 feeding per week?

I always skip Wednesdays with my other fish, just to get their systems clean.
So is it ok if I do it with my dwarfs too?

[Myaj]

Oh definately.

In a very heavily planted tank, you'll find they often will prefer to hunt out their own meals (baby snails, shrimp, bugs, who knows what) and will be very picky about taking regular food anyways. I had mine in a jungle thick tank full of red cherry shrimp and snails, and the only food the dwarves would ever have any interest in was live blackworms.

[Pandora114]

for snails I just crush two bigger ones and my two do the rest. the way they try to get every bit of meat off the crushed shell grinds their teeth down nicely. I might drop two live ones in there and see if they breed....

Hmmm that might help me out when I go away for a month....