Which puffer for my 90l?

[GemsandDai]

Hi all,

As you can see from my post-count I am new to the boards and puffer-keeping in general. We have had trops for a while and now the opportunity of an empty mature 90l has arisen, and I am really interested in homing a puffer/couple of puffers in this tank.
I have read the puffer-pedia and have gained some knowledge from doing so, but from your experience which puffer would you recommend? I guess Dwarf Puffers are an obvious choice due to the limited space but are there any others that would be suitable?

The water is freshwater, has a pH of 7.6, and a temp of 26C, and has been up and running for over a year. The tank is empty due to the purchase of a new 180L for the community fish. It has a Fluval u2 internal filter.

Any advice would be really appreciated Thanks!

[J-P]

Well... for the sake of argument you have a 20 gal tank. There are many puffers you can keep in there, the question is what can you obtain from your local supplier?

ug.php/v/PufferPedia/Freshwater/

will give you a long list, but obtaining most of those will be difficult and dependent on what your LFS can get.

[pufferpuggirl]

If you've never owned puffers before, the dwarf puffer is a very good puffer to start with. They are quite easy to care for, don't need any special foods or treatment. I started out with dwarf puffers and moved on from there. So I would suggest starting with those. Don't let their size fool you, they are feisty little puffers! Just one suggestion -- make sure you plant your tank heavily and have lots of ornaments and hiding places in there as well. Dwarf puffers can be a bit nippy if they don't have sufficient places to hide and/or to get away from some of the more aggressive ones. But they can be so much fun to watch, and to see how they all get along with one another. Mine all line up at the glass front when they know it's feeding time. It's so funny seeing them all bobbing up and down in anticipation.

I wish you luck with whichever puffer you choose.

And by the way .....

[spanerman]

Where in wales are you? I'm in Neath, do you know for any shops stocking puffers?

Sam.

[autophotos]

Theres a beaten up mbu in zoars ark. not many of the shops around here carry many puffers as they all seem to die to quickly in their tanks

[spanerman]

Theres a decent looking mbu in Maidenhead Aquatics in Ponterdulais

And loads of GSP's in Maidenhead Aquatics in Morganstown

Sam.

[lilacamy931]

A MBU wouldnt be suggested especially for a 90 litre, I would suggest looking on the Puffpedia in freshwater section getting some names and seeing if locals can order in, otherwise try torpical fish finder that can show the various species locally and there are also two online shops that can order through as an alternative, I have used Wildwoods myself twice as couldnt get the species I wanted locally and both puffs are gorgeous. Best of luck x

[GemsandDai]

Thanks all for your replies!

Mbs are absolutely gorgeous, but I obviously realise my tank is waaaay too small for one of those guys! Cross Hands Maidenhead Aqautics has three beauties. Thanks for the link to Wildwoods, Lilacamy, they have some beautiful fish that we can't seem to get locally that are suitable for our community tank.

At the moment I am swaying towards Dwarf Puffers to start me off. How many could be kept in a 90l?

Thanks again! xx

[Pufftastic]

At the moment I am swaying towards Dwarf Puffers to start me off. How many could be kept in a 90l?

The general rule of thumb is one DP for the first 5 gallons, and 3 gallons for each DP thereafter. I have 5 DPs in a 29 gallon tank.

Your 90L = about 23.5 US gallons. So you could technically have 6 DPs in there, but I personally wouldn't recommend having that many -- they're messier than you're probably expecting (I thought goldfish were dirty, but these little puffers have them beat!). And you might not be able to provide enough decor to break sightlines and keep that many puffers from bickering with one another in a tank that size. If I had your tank, I'd probably have 4 DPs.

They're wonderful little creatures -- I enjoy mine SO much! Fascinating, with tons of personality. Please keep us updated when you get yours!

[GemsandDai]

Thanks for that Pufftastic! Would rather understock than overstock and my filter not be able to cope and tank parameters become unstable. There is plenty of decor, plants etc in the tank to hopefully stop any potential bickering.

[jus85411]

make sure you keep that 90l cycling by adding some sort of ammonia to it so you dont kill all your bacteria and have to start all over with a new cycle again. puffers dont handle being cycled in tanks very well cause they are very sensitive to ammonia and nitrites.

[GemsandDai]

There are fish in it currently so no probs with the cycling issue. There are currently 3 rainbows, a plec, and Odessa barb and neons in there, there is a tank waiting for them though once I get the puffers

[Pufferpunk]

Perfect!

[jus85411]

[GemsandDai]

I have sourced some DPs from a guy on here (autophotos) yay! And we are hopefully going to be getting them tomorrow so I shall keep you all updated