The Puffer Forum

I'm looking for one puffer for a 20 gallon tank..So far i have come up with South American puffer..Are there other Active puffers that will work in a 20 gallon besides Dwarf puffers?

The tank is full fresh water ,Aquaclear 70 filter..Pool filter sand and is currently housing 2 baby Delhezi's and baby Black Ghost knife which are getting big enough to move to large tank.

I never had Puffers and would like to get one ...Any ideas on a nice very active puffer for Bedroom 20 gallon?

I do realize they need snails and Ultra clean water which i always have:)

No South Americans. They need to live in schools.

If you look in the PufferPedia (Learn tab at the top of the page), you'll find a collection of species profiles. I think that a single irrubesco would fit the bill nicely. Of course, you should never underestimate the dwarf puffer! They look small, but they think they're fahakas.

Where would be the best place to buy dwarf puffers? 2-3 females and 1 male would work or just 1 alone?

In a 20g, you could have up to six. I think that three or four would be nice; you could have five or six otocinclus catfish and maybe some shrimp. Three or four little guys would love a big space, especially if you did a planted tank and let it grow out into a jungle.

That would make for a nice tank.

I will do it...Where can i buy 3 females and 1 male or does sex not matter?

I

Yes, when males are willing to fight to the death, it does matter.

Well... that's complicated. The thing is, you can't definitively sex a DP until they're older juveniles, but they're usually sold as young to middle juvies. Sex does matter. If you want multiple males, you need two or three females for each one. You want four, so one male only, and that makes the other three females, like you said. Your best bet at getting exactly what you want on the first try is to adopt or buy adults from someone rehoming theirs. Your second-best bet is to eyeball the ones at a LFS and try to guesstimate genders. This might mean some trial-and-error, and some returns. (I got lucky - I asked them to order a m/f pair, and I got middle juvies that were accurately sexed.) Your last resort is to order online. I've never seen an online store that lets you specify which gender of DPs you want.

You'll want to look at the article in the Library on sexing DPs.

I been calling all the local stores and can't find any...I suppose a figure 8 puffer or spotted puffer will not work? Some places say Freshwater and others say brackish?

A F8 would work. They are indeed brackish.

Both Green Spotted Puffers and F8's need brackish environments and the GSP needs to go to a high brackish to marine environment eventually. Also the GSP requires 30 gallons at a minimum to do well.

Try an A. modestus or an A. silus. I have what I think is a modestus in a 20 long, and he seems happy enough. Not that he does a whole lot...life is too easy for him, I guess.