New Dwarf Puffer (QUESTIONS)

[Quaid]

I went to PetSmart two days ago to pick up some feeder ghost shrimp for my SAP. They wanted $1 per shrimp, so I skipped that idea. I was determined to buy something though, so I picked up some micro flakes for my whiteclouds. Then I saw a little girl and her teenage mom holding a fish bowl. Only bad things were going to ensue from their endeavor, but it was their endeavor and I resisted intervening. Part of my brain was screaming though, so I was paying attention to them while I perused the displays. They stumbled on a tank they thought was empty, until they were happily surprised by a dwarf puffer smiling at them. 'How cute!' they exclaimed. The little girl fell in love with it instantly. The mom wanted to get some feeder fish for $0.17 instead When it became clear to me that they were going to buy the dwarf puffer and keep it in a fish bowl, I found the nearest employee and asked for their only remaining dwarf puffer. I am a terrible person and the girl was crying when they came back and the puffer was gone. I am ok with being a terrible person though.

(I also had a synical chuckle but didn't say anything when I heard an employee describing the cycle to a customer as ammonia->nitrate->nitrite, and nitrite was good so their tank was fine)

It's disheartening, but big stores are big stores and I don't feel that 1on1 information makes a meaningful difference against store policy.


So now I have a dwarf puffer living in my whitecloud tank. It's a 3gal nano that is heavily planted and ripe with snails. There are two whiteclouds in there right now. I think I will send them to live with a friend of mine in his 30gal community tank.

QUESTIONS:

1) Will the 3 gal be enough for this dwarf puffer long-term? I have read people recommend 5 gal per dwarf.

2) I haven't seen him/her eating at all. The tank is full of snails from teenytiny->3mm long (that is the size at which I pluck them out for feeding to the SAP. I have tried feeding blood worms, but the fish is not accustomed to being fed and ignores the whole process. The employees weren't sure what it had been eating. It's belly still has some bulge, so it' isn't starving. It is possible it has been eating snails while I wasn't looking, but I have watched it swim past countless snails that seemed to be the right size. Should I get some special food for it, and if so what method should I use to feed?

Pictures are worth a thousand words right? Only two pics for reference, the others will be in the photo section of the forum:
http://www.thepufferforum.com/forum/vie ... 4848#14848




notice the snail it is ignoring...

[Pamela]

Try crushing the snail and offering it to your DP...he may not recogzise it as food till he gets a sniff.
Good on you for rescuing him...bloody fishbowl!?
I should imagine moving him to a 5G will be better, but for now concentrate on getting him settled.
Pami.

[Quaid]

Tried a few crushed snails. She must smell something because she takes a closer look. She doesn't eat it, or even nibble at it though.

[Toadman Z]

I think you could keep a single DP in a 3g tank if you can keep the water parameters stable.
You've got quite a cute little DP there. Interesting colors. It still seems to have a nicely rounded belly, so I wouldn't be too worried yet. I had one that I swore wouldn't eat anything, but it kept getting fatter and fatter. Then one day I caught it eating a snail when it thought I wasn't looking. I wouldn't be surprised if yours is eating while you're not looking if there's that many snails in there.
You could also try live blackworms. I thinke they're a DP favorite.

[Quaid]

Thanks for your thoughts Toadman Z. It has been a week now with no signs of the belly flattening out. He must be eating something! Snails are fewer and farther between, so I imagine he's feasting in private. Eventually he may eat them all, and then I will have this dilemma all over again

I don't seem to have a source for live black worms. Brine shrimp, daphnia and meal worms are all available live, but I don't think these are proper alternatives. Ghost shrimp are available as well, but they are too large I think.

[Toadman Z]

Well, it seems like he must be eating those snails and just doesn't like people watching.
There's a good chance that when he runs out of snails he'll be more willing to try some different foods. I found that the DP I mentioned earlier started eagerly eating frozen bloodworms when there were no more snails. Heck, if I had a choice between frozen dinners and fresh ...well not snails... I'd go with the juicy fresh meal, too.
My DPs don't like frozen brine and I've never tried live, but some people have had good luck getting stubborn DPs to eat live brine shrimp. The problem is, brine shrimp aren't very nutritious. Daphnia might work as well, I've never tried 'em. Meal worms would be way too big, I think. My DPs live happily with ghost shrimp, so they probably wouldn't work as food.
You might want to pull out some of the bigger snails and start a small snail breeder before he devours all of them. DPs don't seem to have problems with their teeth, but I still like to give mine snails for a treat once in awhile.

[NikkiDee]

When I first got my dwarf puffer it wouldn't eat also. I tried blood worms and brine shrimp, but my puffer would have nothing to do with them... That is until I discovered the skewer...I just poked one of the little blood worms on there wiggled it in front of my puffer's face and she's been eating since. Granted I now have to hand feed the thing or at least use the skewer to show her the food...but its fun and it works.

[demented_lullaby]

3g is too small to cycle so I say go with the 5g and cycle it beforehand. In a 3g as a permanent home you'll have to do 100% water changes and gravel cleans which means always moving the puffer out. Not really ideal.


good luck with him but it's not much better than the 1g bowl . DP's shouldn't be kept with other fish(besides low profile fish) and combined with the above you could be in for problems. If you get the 5g asap then I think he'll be able to ride it out, in the meantime just make sure the 3g is always ammonia 0, nitrites 0.

[Jager]

demented where are you basing the being unable to cycle a 3g tank from? I kept a DP in a 3gallno tank with 50% weeklies just fine while it was small and was being taugh which foods were gonna be used.


as for gravel cleans, i hope that you are referring to washing the gravel in water chagne tank water and puttingg it back in. otherwise you are removing any hope of stabilizing the system. I can and have cycled tanks that small with no problems for various fish, bettas especially, however a 3 gallon tank is fine for a small dp if it is cycled and the gravel is cleaned usign old tank water as to not kill off the bacteria.

[YBeNormal]

Ditto what Jager said. A large tank will have more surface area for nitrifying bacteria to live on (glass, decorations, substrate and most of all-filter media), but the same bacteria can and will grow in a smaller container. It is just much more difficult to keep a stable environment in a small tank/container.

[lisalisa]

Yes, it can be very tough to keep things stable, but it certainly can be cycled.

[English George]

interesting colours on the DP, kinda like the weird DPs in Dr.Ebert's book.

[Quaid]

Wow, I left my thread alone for a few weeks and look what happened...

I assure you the 3gal is fully cycled, and fairly stable. The WCMM is long since gone to my friends community tank to live out the rest of it's life. I have been testing the ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, phosphate, pH, GH, and KH almost religiously with a before and after every water change, which I have been doing ~30% per week.

Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 10 before change 20-25 after (dosed)
phosphate 1 before change 2-3 after (dosed)
pH 7.1 in the morning 7.6 in the evening
GH 4
KH dosed to 10-13

The filter is a Penguin Mini, and it is recommended for 10 gal aquariums.

For 1 dwarf puffer, I am not experiencing any problems...and the puffer appears healthy as can be. I still haven't seen him eat, but I have observed definite hunting/foraging. His belly has maintained a rounded shape indicating that he is not starving. I don't see many/any snails in the tank anymore though, and eventually he'll have to start eating the food I offer him.

[thebuddy229]

might i recommend the dwarf puffer site lemme go grab the address

edit here ya go
http://www.dwarfpuffers.com/

PS hey toad nice to see someone from the DP site here this site is way more confusing

[lisalisa]

PS hey toad nice to see someone from the DP site here this site is way more confusing

Why do you say that?

(and Welcome )