Dwarf puffer owners i need your help...

[Phoenix91]

well, not so much your help, but i'd really like to hear about your dp's behaviour. So how many do you have? Do they greet you when yo go visit them? what kind of foods do you feed and what feeding schedule are they on? Do your dps change colours (get lighter and darker) and why?

Feel free to share photos.

They're really cute little fish and my two seem to be loving all this new space they've got. Even skinny Vettel doesn't look so bad anymore.

[hadla]

they only love me for my black worms

lol, seriously, the only time panda will come near me is if i have live worms for her XD the other two arent as afraid of my hand.

[bertie 83]

I have 10 of these fed 5 times a week all greet me when hungry especially. Not noticed any colour change but do see this from my fahaka. Can't seem to get blackworms here mine love bloodworms. I love these guys they so cute when hunting lol they go all cross eyed

[Antagany]

I now have 2. Part of why I got the second is the first wanted nothing to do with me. She would just motor around the tank and be cute, but not very interactive. The second, however is extremely curious and comes right up to the glass and loves to watch me. I feed them SF Bay Freshwater Multi-Pack cubes, but I think the ghost shrimp loves the food more than the puffers do....

[Phoenix91]

Hadla, i've noticed my two like me a lot more when they think it's food time (but aren't all pets like that?)

bertie83, i've noticed Button (the biggest of the two) seems to get really dark marking when he hunts, but they fade away pretty quickly. Vettel hasn't changed colour too much as far as i can tell. Button doesn't like to hunt the snails but Vettel is all about the snail hunting, it's so cute. He'll even circle the empty shell just in case something was missed.

antagany, aww, mine both come and say hi when i walk past. I think The smallest, Vettel, likes me more. He watches me wash the dishes, it's very cute.

[Antagany]

I think the second one is making the first more friendly, to be honest. But the second is definitely a ham. It was the last one in the tank where they had DPs at the LFS, tiny, and on the skinny side. The little puffer fattened right up though once I fed him a bit. Perhaps that is why he likes me

[Purifire]

I have 3 dps. They're in a biotope ish setup with lots of plants, strong current, natural driftwood, and a "beach" section that's sand instead of gravel. I added them maybe 3 weeks ago to the tank, which has been established for a year. Moved the guppy inhabitants to a 29 showtank, but left 2 ghost shrimp and a bunch of snails, ramshorn and common pond. The ghosts get chased a lot but are learning to give them a wide berth... most of the snails are now just empty shells. The puffs amaze me with their ability to take down a mollusk maybe 5 times their mass. As far as diet goes, its a tricky situation. One puff is always in the mood for something different and will only eat whatever it is he wants that night. If something else is on the menu he will only pick at it and pout. The other two, females I think, each have a favorite respectiveley but aren't as stubborn eaters as the one I think is male. One likes baby brine shrimp, the other likes bloodworms. I feed bloodworms one day and BBS the next two days, then repeat. They always seem ravenous and aren't getting porky, so I don't skip days. They appear to have locked down their territories by now, with the most aggressive one holding the slighty larger plot, in some driftwood caves at center, back of the tank. This area is sparseley planted. Massive sword plants in strong currents to either side are the home zones for the other two. There is some chasing around during the day when the tank is in ambient living room light, but after night falls and the tank lights go on they get very peaceful and all three explore together. The one that I'm hoping is male exibits colour changing behaviour. When he hunts he darkens a little, and gets what I call "warpaint" too. They aredark dots on each side of the mouth. My green spotted puffers did this when they were hungry too. They seem to very much enjoy the strong current that using two big HoB filters provides. Also, I would advise that if you don't have a liquid master test kit, it would be good to invest in one. Puffers react badly to ammonia very quickly, and I seem to recall that your using 5g worth of media to jumpstart a 15g tank. The first 2 weeks its pretty critical to keep things in balance. Hope I could help!

[Phoenix91]

Antagany, I'm glad your second one is making your first one more friendly. Mine both fight for room at the front of the tank so they can see me, it's really cute. although one is definitely a little more curious than the other. Possibly because he's skinnier and just wants to eat all the time.

Purifire, I set up a biotope, which i think is going to change once i finally get all the plants i have moved over. i'm taking i think your advice and doing a sandy portion of the tank and then gravel for the rest. so far i have new gravel in on one side and the other side is still bare. once it's all done and nice i'm probably going to try and add some shrimp just because they're funny to watch, if they get eaten i'll just have to deal with that.

I love watching Vettel hunt, he's so focussed. he even hunts the empty shells which is cute. he took on a snail that was too big and i think it eventually got away and is now chilling somewhere in the tank, i haven't found it's empty shell yet. Button is all about the bloodworms and i think i saw them having a tug of war with one the other day, Vettel tend sto just pick at the worms and prefers the snails right now. neither like the brine shrimp

mine don't have territories yet, once more plants are in they will be fine and probably make a little home each.

Both of mine get that dark at the sides of their mouths, but they get it when they sleep. Mine like to play in bubbles, any bubbles really, from the airstone and filter.

I have a liquid kit and have been testing the water everyday, i'm jumpstarting my 20 g with my filter media and plants/wood from a 5 g. so far nothing too bad, a tiny rise in ammonia but i did a water change and it was fine.

[Pufftastic]

well, not so much your help, but i'd really like to hear about your dp's behaviour. So how many do you have? Do they greet you when yo go visit them? what kind of foods do you feed and what feeding schedule are they on? Do your dps change colours (get lighter and darker) and why?

I have 3 DPs. I originally had 5, but as they got older it became apparent that I had 3 males and 2 females, and the males were beginning to have some nasty little fights. I took two of the males back to the LFS, and kept my favorite male and both the females.

Yep, my DPs do a wiggly little dance at the glass whenever I enter the room. They absolutely love to eat. Their main staple food is frozen bloodworms, but I buy live blackworms at the LFS every couple weeks, and they go BANANAS over those. They get a treat of live brine shrimp once in a while, too, and they think that's pretty fantastic as well.

This is my big female after snarfing up live blackworms:



As for color changes, mine look their brightest and best when they're hungry and begging for food. They're very yellow then. But when they're sleepy, their colors fade. The male in particular looks kind of olive colored in the morning.

[Phoenix91]

Cute puffer you have there. how do you get such clear shots? and so close!

I know the wiggle dance well my bettas do it when they want food. So far the dps haven't wiggled at me yet.I'll have to look out for live food for them, although one only really eats live food (snails) but live worms would be nice too.

[Pufferpunk]

Great shot of your lil fatty!

[Purifire]

I decided to skip one day on feeling em and see if they will all eat the BBS tomorrow night. I'm sure they're hungry... a moth wound up stuck on the surface earlier an lasted maybe 30 seconds..

[Phoenix91]

I skip a day when feeding my other fish but so far haven't with the dps. Vettel is still as skinny as can be even though he eats and is being treated for IPs. He took on a massive pond snail yesterday which i put in to keep him busy for a while. it lasted all of a minute and then the shell was all empty and sad.

I've tried my two on bbs and it was a no go. maybe some time in the future. Good luck with yours, let us know if they go for the new food.

[Purifire]

Aw...
I wimped out and gave em bloodworms because they were begging so cute like... heh heh.
Random question Phoenix, it sez ur in Ohio... so how come you type like someone from the UK? (colours, behaviour, etc) I know there are exceptions to the rule, i.e. myself, having grown up in cali but adopting that spelling style from british literature and periodicals! Just curious if your like me and chose to spell that way or if ur a European expat.
Cheers!

[Phoenix91]

Aww, i bet they'll get used to new food eventually. They are really cute when they beg though.

I'm British. I'm originally from Newcastle, UK. I've been in Ohio about 6 years now. The weather is better. Sometimes my spelling auto corrects to the US version but i can't break the habit of adding u's all over the place.