The Puffer Forum

Hello..,

I am going to get my daughter an aquarium for Christmas, and she really wants to have puffers. She says she wouldn't mind keeping it as a species-only tank. The aquarium will be small-only 10 or 15 gallons, and I was wondering if it would be fair or wise to keep two or three dwarf puffers in a tank of this size. Also, I was wondering if anyone knows if the shape of the tank would be an issue. For example, a taller tank would take up less space but hold more water. Is the puffer a fish that needs a lot of surface area, or is it the gallonage that makes the difference? I have not bought the aquarium yet, so I can still choose carefully.

Would the dwarf puffer be the best choice for a small tank, or are there other suitable candidates? I have only ever seen brackish puffers offered for sale in my LFS, and they will soon be getting "Green" Puffers, so I may have to special-order some. I would really like to be prepared to house and care for these fish properly before I commit to letting her have them, though she knows he will be getting an aquarium and fish.

I have many other questions, but I will leave it at this for now.
Thanks to all who have welcomed me here, and in advance to all who will answer!
soul-hugger

Have you looked at our Pufferpedia? Look under the Learn tab. Our Library is in there too. Be sure to read the Fishless Cycling article in there.

Water volume is definitely good in regards to having adequate filtration because of the volume of waste they produce. However, puffers usually need more surface area as well because they can be quite territorial. I think a longer, shorter tank would be better than a taller tank to prevent fighting.

Yeah larger footprint is more important than hight. By Green Puffer I assume they mean GSP (Green Spotted Puffer), but unfortunately they need 30 gals each so for your tank size they will be no good. I don't know if you want to go the BW water route or not, but an F8 (figure eight) would be good in a 15 gallon.

ug.php/v/PufferPedia/Brackish/T_Biocellatus/

I do agree that puffers prefer footprint over height. That being said, if your choice is between a 10 gallon and a 15 gallon for dwarf puffers, I would go with the 15 gallon. The additional height allows you grow taller plants and extra water volume just makes life easier for both us and the puffers.

Dwarf puffers are actually one of the few puffers that you can keep tankmates with, but there are only a few that are compatible. You can keep Oto Cats with them, as well as larger shrimp, but the more fish you add, the greater your bioload ends up being.

Personally, if you're daughter is new to fish, and you have a bit of experience, you can find a good medium between your plan. What I would do is get the tank setup at your place so that you can monitor how they're doing (as puffers tend to have the most problems when you first buy them). Then you can let your daughter help with the tank's maintenance. Once she's gotten the hang of what to do and has shown that she's responsible (I'm not doubting her, but you don't want to swamp her with fish stuff), then you can let her take it home. In my opinion, if you want to teach her how to care for fish properly, she's going to need some hands-on training and by keeping the tank at your place for the first couple months, it's much easier for you to regulate the water conditions and make sure everything is stable and happy.

There are definitely more things to think about, but we'll let you ask the questions.

Hello...

Thanks for all your replies!!!

As far as the cycling goes, we should be OK because I have other tanks and can use media from them to get them started.

As far as the size goes, I think I'll probably go with the 15.., it isn't too much larger. I will also look up the figure 8, but wondering if brackish are harder to keep? Setting up the tank here first is a really good idea, even if I have to put a couple of the fish I already have in it to get started, rather than putting the puffers in right away. I can always move the other fish back when the puffers go in.

I have lot of plants in my own aquaria, so I can even get some clippings started for her. Another question I have is whether puffers can be with loaches, which are another species both my daugter and I are fond of.

I have enjoyed this site very much and may even become a puffer addict myself!

soul-hugger wrote:I will also look up the figure 8, but wondering if brackish are harder to keep?

To be honest it depends. I would have thought you would be ok as it sounds you have fishkeeping experience. Your daughter may struggle more with making up the salt and stuff though to the right SG. But yeah it is personal opinion at the end of the day. Some people say it is easier than FW, some people say it is harder. I've never heard anybody say it is very hard though.

soul-hugger wrote:Setting up the tank here first is a really good idea, even if I have to put a couple of the fish I already have in it to get started, rather than putting the puffers in right away.

Do you mean putting the fish in to keep the tank going once it is cycled, or to cycle it? Please don't use them to cycle it (if that is what you meant). Do fishless cycling instead. No harm to any fish that way.

Brackish water isn't really that hard. it's just like an extra step to a fresh water water change. just make sure to get the sg right.

Dwarf puffers are also fun little guys to watch though

Just make sure she doesn't want puffers for the sole reason that she wants to make them puff My friend's little boy was like that, and it was a very stressful life for his poor puffers.

If you have live plants already and are experienced with that, I'd probably go with a 15 gallon, dwarf puffers, and live plants. If you can, aim to get 3 dwarfs, one male, two females (there's an article on sexing them in the library here), as that cuts down on aggression. However, if you plant the tank nice and thick, they'll be too busy hunting things to eat to really bother each other much.

I kept my dwarf puffers in a heavily planted tank with lots of snails and red cherry shrimp, and a few other fish (kuhli loaches, rainbowfish). They never bothered the other fish, but again, they were too busy hunting all the time. The loaches weren't a type that came out very often though either. To be honest, there aren't many loaches other than kuhli's that I would keep in a tank that small, so considering how rarely they come out in the open, they might not even be worth it?

Brackish isn't that hard, especially for Figure 8's, as they are very low brackish. But its a bit more tricky, and if you do want to give her a planted tank, its a lot harder with salt. IME, Figure 8 puffers are on the "jumpy" side, so they might be too nervous to be in a child's room (if they are jumping or running around). I don't know old your daughter is though, so I'm just assuming she's pretty young

Dwarfs seem to be the easiest puffers to start with.

I work at a local pet store as the 'Aquatics' guy. We always keep Dwarfs, Figure 8's and Green Spotted Puffers in stock. Those are the most common varieties, and oddly enough, are listed in order of difficulty (in my opinion)

The big thing with dwarfs is sexing them so you end up with a 1:2 or 1:3 ratio of males to females.

Shrimp and Oto cats do make great tankmates; I would avoid the loaches, as the only species I would even consider for a puffer tank would be a Khuli (it spends most of its day hiding, so would be less liable to attract the attention of the puffers)


If she is interested in them just to make them puff, please consider a different fish; Paradise Gouramis spring to mind. The male Blue Paradise Gourami gets fantastic colors and is not as prone to stress related problems.

soul-hugger wrote:Setting up the tank here first is a really good idea, even if I have to put a couple of the fish I already have in it to get started, rather than putting the puffers in right away.

Do you mean putting the fish in to keep the tank going once it is cycled, or to cycle it? Please don't use them to cycle it (if that is what you meant). Do fishless cycling instead. No harm to any fish that way.[/quote]


She mentioned that she was going to use media from another tank to get things started, and I presume she would just be putting fish in it to maintain that cycle, so no worries there.


I agree that you might want to hold off on loaches in a 15 gallon. Also, I'd personally go with 2 dwarf puffers, as I find that if you have too many, you lose that bit of personality that makes them unique. That's just my opinion, though.

My theory on choosing a tank size has always been that given a specific number of gallons(say, because you can only put so much weight on something) a larger footprint is better, but given a specific footprint(say, because you only have space for such and such in the house or room) more gallons is better.

Hello, and thanks again...

No, I would never use fish to actually cycle a tank, but I would use the hardier ones to keep a cycle going along with the use of established media. I am so glad this practice seems to be dying out to some extent. When I was a kid and had my first aquarium, it was common practice to use goldfish to "break a tank in", and goldfish are worth so much more than that! I read that some of the larger koi and their friends can have a true life span of up to 40 years!!! Back then, we didn't ask as many questions, or have near as many answers, as we do now. It's so good to have places like this to come to where we can get the answers we need from people who care, even to the more specialized questions.

My daughter will be 11 in March, and she is mature for her age. All her life she has been exposed to animal-and-nature-loving philosophies, and she is very gentle, though I understand your concern. It would not be good at all if she just wanted to see them puff! I suppose I could ask her in more detail why she wants puffers, but it would be like asking me why I like loaches. I could name some of their attributes, but for the most part, I don't know why I like them, I just do. I think people are liable to choose pets who share attributes with themselves, and both my daughter and I are a little quirky and likely to gravitate toward the more unusual.

I have already told her if she has puffers, she may not be able to have other fish, but that doesn't matter to her. If they could be housed with khulies, that would be great, because I keep khulies, and have some experience with them. My other favourite, the weather loach, would be best avoided in her case because of its potential size. Two of mine are five and six inches long, and I keep them in a 4-ft-long 55 gallon with every notion that one day, this may not be large enough, and I will have to get another, larger, home for them.

The brackish water is definitely an option, but if I can order dwarf puffers from oe of my LFS, I think I'll stick to going this route. If not, then, I'll have to come up with something else.

It is getting late, and I have to go to work...

Until next time,
soul-hugger

Sounds like a good plan!

I had some weather loaches in with my goldies, and they maxed out around 6" or so, definately too big for a 15 but should be fine in your 55 long term. I've also had zebras, and man I loved those guys.. so goofy!

Make sure to stop back and show us pictures once you get them up and running.. and be sure to try to get more females than males, to help with aggression.

If you go with a bit bigger tank for your daughter, it is possible to keep khulies with some puffers. I have khulies in with my south american puffers (55 gal w/ some other catfishes) and with my bronze puffers. So far the khulies have been left alone by the puffers. I must note that my bronze are juveniles which will get more aggressive as they age but I put the khulies in the tank first. I may need to move the khulies out if the bronze go for them. In the 55gal they have been living with the SAPs for over 6 months. The SAPs can fin nip but they never seem to get the khulies. The bonus to keeping khulies with puffers is that they like to clean up the bits of food the puffers leave behind- watched one khulie steal a piece of shrimp from one of the bronze. The khulie came out from under the fake branch, grabbed the shrimp and darted back under before the puffer even knew what to do. Just remember every fish has a different personality and be prepared to separate them if needed.