New here, soon to be puffer owner again.

[JakeJekel37]

Found a great seller on one of my other forums, I should have my 2 new DPs on tuesday or wednesday depending on if she ships monday or tuesday.

[fugu99]

Welcome to the forum, and good luck when your DPs come in! Hope you find some suitable tankmates for them. This is best place to get advice for that. Youll be saved having to go through trial and error, like I was. I almost housed our puffers with african cichlids!

[Black Widow]

Welcome, please see the Pufferpedia and Library for useful info on your puffers!

[JakeJekel37]

Well, while I'm still waiting to get my DPs, I thought I'd show you guys the tank they'll be going in. The rocks underneath the driftwood on the left are going to be switched out for either flame moss or subwassertang either tomorrow or thursday. Other than that, it's just waiting on me getting some puffs.

[JakeJekel37]

::sigh:: Looks like it'll be one more week, at the least, probably more like 2 or 3, before I get my DPs. The person I plan on ordering from had an Ich outbreak in her DP holding tank. She's already treated with the raising the temp and salt method, but is now playing the wait and see game.

I love the fact that she is taking such care to make sure I (and other) customers get healthy fish, but the waiting can be, and is, frustrating.

[sevenyearnight]

Not as frustrating as treating ich! :/

[xrayjeeper83]

your seller got any other puffers? Or can you hook me up with them

And btw your tank is awesome looking

[JakeJekel37]

Not as frustrating as treating ich! :/

Oh, I know. Like I said, I love the fact that she wants to make sure it's all cured and taken care of, and doesn't just send out possibly sick fish.

your seller got any other puffers? Or can you hook me up with them

The only puffers she sells are DPs. She deals mainly with nano-fish (microrasboras, dwarf cories, dario dario) and invertebrates (many species of shrimp and snails). But if you're interested, I can PM you details on getting in touch with her.

[xrayjeeper83]

na im looking for a F8 now

[JakeJekel37]

So, while I'm waiting to get some puffers for my tank, I've had a bit of a diatom bloom. The tank finished the fishless cycle 2 or 3 weeks ago. Of course, I've continued adding ammonia every day to keep it that way. I was at PetSmart today to pick up a new litter box for the cats and as always went to look at the fishies. To my surprise they had 2 otos in for $2 each. I figured their boring, algae-less tanks wouldn't be as good for them as my puffer setup, so I picked 'em up. Both looked quite healthy and I'm hopeful they'll survive the transition to my tank. I plan to get 1 or 2 more if I see them anywhere.

Anyways, for now, say hello to Derek Flint and Jack Ryan

[jus85411]

that tank looks awesome! when you get your DP's keep an eye on the algae eaters, i had a friend who got some a few months into owning his tank and any fish he put in after them, the ottos would shoo away and one even would seem to latch onto a fish for a second that would come near it. his is the only one i have even seen do it, the shoo-ing away i have seen many ottos do but just watch for anything like that, DP's i dont think would take well to that stress, especially upon arrival and being new for the first few days

[fugu99]

If you get an F8 make sure your tank is big enough, it looks fine for one F8 but it needs to be at least 30 gal. for two puffers, and bigger is better once they are adult youll need more than 30 gal. for two. Having two is fun, they interact interestingly, and a singleton would be fine too. Good luck! Too bad the DPs got sick, hopefully she gets them all well again. She sounds responsible enough.

[JakeJekel37]

that tank looks awesome! when you get your DP's keep an eye on the algae eaters, i had a friend who got some a few months into owning his tank and any fish he put in after them, the ottos would shoo away and one even would seem to latch onto a fish for a second that would come near it. his is the only one i have even seen do it, the shoo-ing away i have seen many ottos do but just watch for anything like that, DP's i dont think would take well to that stress, especially upon arrival and being new for the first few days

Thanks! I've actually just rearranged a few things in the tank, but I'm at work so I can't post a picture right now. Took the rocks out from underneath the driftwood arch on the left and moved the skull ornament under it. Moved a couple pieces of cholla wood, and added a few more plants (some Jungle Val and some Bacopa).

And yes, I will definitely keep an eye on the fish once I get the DPs and introduce them to the tank. I always watch closely the first few days to make sure tank mates are getting along. But I think the Otos will be fine with the DPs. Otos tend to be super passive, whereas the Siamese Algae Eater and it's Gold Agae Eater variant have been known to shoo away fish and sometimes even try to suck the slime coat off other fish. But I still plan on keeping a close eye to make sure neither are stressing the other.

If you get an F8 make sure your tank is big enough, it looks fine for one F8 but it needs to be at least 30 gal. for two puffers, and bigger is better once they are adult youll need more than 30 gal. for two. Having two is fun, they interact interestingly, and a singleton would be fine too. Good luck! Too bad the DPs got sick, hopefully she gets them all well again. She sounds responsible enough.

I'm sure in the future I'll set up tanks for other puffers, but for now I'm 100% a dwarf puffer guy.

[JakeJekel37]

So, just got home from work, thought I'd share an updated tank shot even. Like I stated above, I removed the rocks from underneath the driftwood on the left, and moved the skull in their place, moved the cholla cactus wood around a bit, added a couple of patches of flame moss and fissidens fontanus. The plants that were in there have grown out a bit more, and I've also added some jungle vals along the back (only about 4-5 inches, so can't seem them yet) and some bacopa here and there.

[jus85411]

Otos tend to be super passive, whereas the Siamese Algae Eater and it's Gold Agae Eater variant have been known to shoo away fish and sometimes even try to suck the slime coat off other fish. But I still plan on keeping a close eye to make sure neither are stressing the other.

ah yeah thats what he had, the siamese/chinese algae eater. they look somewhat similar and i never had ottos so i looked up both to see the differences. nasty little buggers they can be!