I'm obviously new here. I'm going to be setting up a Fluval 3 for a single Dwarf Puffer. It will be moderately planted. My question is, what kind of cleaners could I have? I won't be able to fit a small school of Otocinclus, and I'm worried about small snails being eaten. Would it be possible to get a large Nerite, as the mouth of the puffer is so small?
I look forward to hearing your suggestions and/or tips.
My Puffers: Puffers I have kept: T lineatus T miurus A modestus T biocellatus C valentini C coranata C papuan C lorteti DPs suvattii burrfish T niphobles
My Puffers: Puffers I have kept: T lineatus T miurus A modestus T biocellatus C valentini C coranata C papuan C lorteti DPs suvattii burrfish T niphobles
It is my understanding that when puffers eat snails that they eat them flesh-first so no matter the size of the snail, I would think it would be eaten. It is the process of eating the flesh that causes the teeth to scrape the shell and therefore file them down. I have never personally owned puffers, just what I've gathered in my research in preparation for some. Hope it helps!
My Puffers: Puffers I have kept: T lineatus T miurus A modestus T biocellatus C valentini C coranata C papuan C lorteti DPs suvattii burrfish T niphobles
dpmom is correct; that poor snail will get chunks eaten out of it & live quite some time...
Amano should be OK but never trust a puffer!
Glad you got the 5g.
You are getting sleepy... you only hear the sound of my voice... you must do water changes... water changes... water changes... water changes...
I have a half dozen ghost shrimp with my DP, the puffer has only eaten a couple over the past three years yet murdered the pair of oto's I had in there within a month of having them.
WARNING: Puffers are mischievous little blimps with enchanting powers. You may not be content with having just one.
sgtmyers88 wrote:I have a half dozen ghost shrimp with my DP, the puffer has only eaten a couple over the past three years yet murdered the pair of oto's I had in there within a month of having them.
This is what I plan on putting in there. I MAY try a few otos, but I'm not sure. I will, however, put some ghost shrimp in so they will clean up after the puffer.
I doubt that the quite small tanks under discussion could support one Otocinclus cat long term, much less several. Otos may be small, but they will actually outlive many DPs, if they are properly selected (never buy a hollow-bellied DP, QT in a tank w/algae - including some soft green glass algae if possible). Few immature tank can support any Otos.
Red cherry shrimp do tend to survive w/DPs because they are small and quick and do best with several good smallish clumps of small Anubias nana or old and mufti-stemmed clumps Anubias nana petite to provide refuge from the DPs.
Ghost shrimp will eat DP eggs and perhaps newly hatched fry as well. NIMFTS.
I have to agree, no smaller than an established 20 gallon for otos. I keep a group in my 10 but I still have algae all over the glass as they have converted to eating flake (which they don't commonly do) and even when they were eating algae, there was some visible. I run extremely high light, however, and don't have demanding plants anymore or enough fertilizer to let the light do what it could for the plants. I would stick to the shrimp and the puffer in a 5 gallon.
RTR wrote:I doubt that the quite small tanks under discussion could support one Otocinclus cat long term, much less several. Otos may be small, but they will actually outlive many DPs, if they are properly selected (never buy a hollow-bellied DP, QT in a tank w/algae - including some soft green glass algae if possible). Few immature tank can support any Otos.
Red cherry shrimp do tend to survive w/DPs because they are small and quick and do best with several good smallish clumps of small Anubias nana or old and mufti-stemmed clumps Anubias nana petite to provide refuge from the DPs.
Ghost shrimp will eat DP eggs and perhaps newly hatched fry as well. NIMFTS.
I think I'm just gonna go with an amano shrimp or two.
Dwarf Puffer Cleanup Crew
