Tankmates for DPs

[rwsheep]

Hi! I am new to this forum, but have a question. I currently own a 29 g with 3 DPs and an Ausellus (or SA puffer). They are being upgraded to a 46 hex corner tank. It will have a penguin bio-filter and an eheim filter on it. It will have mostly sand with a few rocks as substrate. I was wondering what else I could put with them, or if I even can put anything with them. I really want something to help keep the sand clean. I was thinking of tiger barbs, otos, and cory cats. I don't want a whole lot, just something to complement them. I was also thinking of adding a few more SA puffers. Any suggestions?

[RTR]

No. Tiger Bards will starve the DPs, they cannot compete for food. The Cory cats will be de-finned (caudal and dorsal) by both puffer species. Otos may be okay if there is glass and plant algae, but they will do nothing for the sand. Try Ghost shrimp (Amanos are better, but the puffers might eat them, individual puffer thing, cannot be predicted - Ghosts are cheaper).

HTH

[Myaj]

Sounds just like my setup, a SAP and 3 dwarfs in a 29. I also have a bristlenose pleco and a pair of kribs (a smaller cichlid) in my tank, and they all get along well so far (its been about 6 months). The kribs love snails and clean up anything the puffers drop, so that works out well.

My only worry is that as the SAP matures, he may get more agressive. In the last 2 months, feeding has become a bit more complicated as he seems frantic to gobble every little bit and keep it all to himself, I'm expecting that to only get worse as he gets larger and more mature.

Mixing any fish with puffers is always tricky and you never know how it will work in the long run. If I suggested any, it would be otos or shrimp (preferably in a well planted tank) or smaller cichlids (preferably ones that stay near the bottom and give them lots of hiding room), but no matter what, it would have to be monitored and you'd have to be ready to move them out of the tank at a moments notice. And you still might end up with dead and/or mangled fish.

[Jarred Darque]

Quistion, would a red-fin shark work with some DPs? tehy are slighly active, but not at all active at feeding times, tehy wait for food to come to the botto, and eat flake, so they wouldnt interfere with a DPs diet. they are also a bit larger than a DP if that matters..

[touie2]

myaj I was wondering whether your Dwarf puffers were mature yet? Someone posted about keeping dwarf puffers and kribs on another forum and i was wondering about the combination?