Dwarf Puffers -- and Hello from Cooper

[Cooper]

Hey all!

LONG time since I posted. Moved from L.A. to North Carolina and back with Buzz my Fig 8 Puffer. He's now living with a friend in L.A. and doing well. He's with a friend as I had an opportunity to do a consulting job in Mexico City. Flying back to L.A. (A.K.A. the real world) tomorrow after two great months south of the border.

Question 1.: Who has the largest Dwarf Puffer "school" on the Puffer Forum? I'm fantasizing about a 50 gallon freshwater tank with 10+ DPs in it. Thoughts? Pics? Anyone with a successful large group of them? Just wondering.

Anyway, a LFS I frequent on the web in L.A. has 24 gallon JBJ Nano Cubes (says on the ad that it's a 2007 model) on sale for $114 or 141 or something like that. I'm salivating over them but wanted your opinion first. Was thinking of a Silus (if I can find one) or a small school (like 5) DPs. Should have it by mid/late August if the Forum approves! I know this has been discussed to death, but is there any other small-ish puffer that is fresh-water and I could have 2 in the tank? Like 2 Irrubescos? I'm not opposed to a single target puffer of some kind either.

If you guys hate the JBJ Nano Cubes, I'm open to any other configuration of 20-30 gallonish set ups. My only limitation is the LFSs in L.A. tend to only have Green Spotted, Fig 8 and Dwarf Puffers. I've seen one store with Silus, once, and one with as-yet-unidentified "River Puffers" that were Silver, Black and white. Just want something that will be happy in 24 - 30 gallons as I just can't deal with larger water changes. lol Let me know your fantasies if you had a spare 24-30 gallon for FRESH water only.

Take care all! Cooper

[Myaj]

Myself, I wouldn't spend the money on a nano cube for freshwater. You can set yourself up better for cheaper.

A few of my friends have them for nano reefs and love them, and the newer tanks have some very nice changes that make them even better. But they are really set up for saltwater (look at the lighting for example). You can use them for freshwater certianly, but why pay that much for equipment you could set up better for freshwater purposes.

I also don't like the curved corners, they distort the view so bad.

Anyways, that's my griping about the nanocubes (they are cool looking systems though). I don't think I'd try keeping a pair of irrubescos, even if you could find them, as they can be very rough on each other. I'd stick to the dwarfs or modestus/silus, or even a SAP or two. Or a turgidus, abei, etc, one of the smaller lurkerish species if you can find them. A lot of it just comes down to what you can find when you are ready to buy.

[Hilly]

Welcome to the site

[Boxermom]

Welcome! I have a BioCube, which is much the same as the Nano Cubes, and I really like it. There's enough lighting to do a very nice lightly-stocked, heavily planted tank. I'd stick to a bunch of dwarfs.