Dwarf puffer questions

[AnneMarie]

I'd like to get some dwarf puffers for an empty 20 gallon I have, am I right in thinking I can have four? Also, I would be ordering them online so I would be unable to sort out the genders properly before buying, what should I do about that? The pufferpedia says that it should be 1 male to a few females, what if I ended up with a couple males? Thank you all!

[RTR]

Once sexually mature, males are quite likely to fight. Injury or death is possible. To be honest, I have never mail-ordered DPs. If I had to do so I would likely order 2x the number and find other homes for the leftovers. I have purchased excess numbers from my local fish store and returned the leftovers for re-homing on several occasions - but I have known the owner well over 30 years. He custom-orders whatever I want in fish or equipment.

One male and 3 females would be ideal for the tank. Are you adept with live plants? DPs really like rather densely planted tanks with one or two fairly open corners for feeding. Artificial plants will do, but live is better.

HTH

[AnneMarie]

The dwarf puffers I would be ordering would be .3-.5 inches. Ordering more wouldn't be a problem. At what size do they sexually mature? The pufferpedia says that males have wrinkles around their eyes, is this very obvious? I've had live plants before, so planting the tank shouldn't be a problem. Do bright lights bother the puffers? I was also wondering, when I order them they will be so tiny, what should I feed puffers that small? I think even my ramshorn snails would be too big. Thank you!

[G S P Freak]

The males iridescent wrinkles and the distinct yellow striping are good sexing indicators... Usually the vendor you're ordering from won't be able to tell, even if theyre old enough though. They're often captive bred and quite small when received. When I picked up mine from the lfs they were less then 1/4" O.o (smaller then a pea, pea-puffers! XD)

I fed mine live blackworms, moving food is the most interesting and stimulating

[AnneMarie]

So, it would be okay to buy eight of them and wait for them to grow large enough to sort out the genders? Would that work in my 20 gallon temporarily? I know my local Redbird recently started selling fish (they had the most gorgeous pearlscale angels I'd ever seen at one time, nice 4-5 inch angels) so I think they would take the four that I didn't keep. If not there's another fish store about twenty minutes from me that might take them, but they mostly specialize in African cichlids.

Are there any plants that dwarf puffers are particularly fond of? Does plant substrate like Ecocomplete work well with DPs? What kind of filter should I use with these guys? Don't want them getting sucked up while they're still tiny! Well, tinier...lol

Thank you for all the help!

[AnneMarie]

Well, I'm setting up my tank tonight. Can't wait to get the puffers! Cycling the tank is always the worst part, watching it up and running with no fish in it and knowing that soon /soon/ you can add your fish. I found a filter under my sink, I think it's rated for 30 gallons but I might just end up buying a new one. What size filter would you recommend? I know you're supposed to over-filter with puffers but I wasn't sure what to go with. 50-60 gallon filter? Or would that be overkill? Thank you all!