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DPs how much water per puffer

Posted: Fri Jan 08, 2010 7:23 pm
by autophotos
im sure i read somewhere that they need 30g each

now i thought that may have been a typo and that it should be 30L
as if it were Gallons then the new tank im looking at 300 L would only allow me two DPs to the 300 L

thats a lot of water for two fish ? so what is it - ps im in the uk

Re: DPs how much water per puffer

Posted: Fri Jan 08, 2010 7:30 pm
by busybones
DPs need about 5 gallons per fish :) Or..about 20L per fish..not good at conversions lol


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Re: DPs how much water per puffer

Posted: Fri Jan 08, 2010 8:30 pm
by L!$A
+1 they only need 5 gallons per DP! :D
& if possible more females than males!

Re: DPs how much water per puffer

Posted: Sat Jan 09, 2010 6:14 am
by autophotos
phew - i thought then that if i get this 300 i would still only be able to hold 2 dps

lol

so about 5 gallons per dp thats sweet - rock on

Re: DPs how much water per puffer

Posted: Sat Jan 09, 2010 10:53 am
by Lil' Swimz$
I bet you saw that on Live Aquaria. They really need to fix that.

Re: DPs how much water per puffer

Posted: Sat Jan 09, 2010 4:37 pm
by Myaj
I've always gone by 5 gallons for the first one, 3 gallons for each additional, trying to keep them in odd numbers with more females than males of course.

Two DP's in a 60 gallon tank, now that would be a riot!

Re: DPs how much water per puffer

Posted: Sat Jan 09, 2010 5:30 pm
by autophotos
well - ive picked up the new tank/ well second hand tank - its hooooooge. i could imagine if it was just two dps theyd get lost in there -


need to get some substrate in there now - just need to decide on what to use - and get it all cycled and then start to scape it - its just soooo big

Re: DPs how much water per puffer

Posted: Sat Jan 09, 2010 11:19 pm
by LilGreenPuffer
Do you want to plant it?

Re: DPs how much water per puffer

Posted: Sun Jan 10, 2010 6:55 am
by autophotos
yes , i want it heavily planted if i can

Re: DPs how much water per puffer

Posted: Sun Jan 10, 2010 4:30 pm
by S&FW_FishyFriend
I am starting a Dwarf Puffer tank as well.... what type of substrate do they prefer? Sand, pea gravel, larger stones? I am getting a lot of plants for it. I have a friend that may sell me a 15 gallon hex tank that has a footprint of about 12" across but is taller than it is wide... would that work or would I be better served using a longer tank?

Re: DPs how much water per puffer

Posted: Sun Jan 10, 2010 4:38 pm
by LilGreenPuffer
S&FW, a tank with a big footprint is best for fish that like swim room. :) Also, DPs don't bury, so it doesn't matter what substrate you use.

autophotos, if you want to plant, you should get sand or Eco-Complete. Just a couple hours ago, I planted my DP tank, using black flourite sand. It was a pain in the butt to rinse, but it looks nice.

Re: DPs how much water per puffer

Posted: Sun Jan 10, 2010 5:27 pm
by autophotos
oo - have you got some pics -

whats happened with me is - i started off with some DPs in a 2ft tank which was a tall tank - then a week or so later moved them into a 2ft6 tank again this was tall and quite deep- - this being a bigger tank i added some more DPs - currently have 6 - i had to get them away from the grubby tanks in the lfs stores , the other tanks there had dead fish and their water qualitys wernt the best. they currently have about 6-7 more there that i want to rescue if thats the right word?

so cue the 300 litre tank -

but i dont know what to do - keep them in the tank their in now or get the others and put them in the big tank - or get some other fish - puffers? bigger ones to accomodate the bigger tank ? i dunno yet

Re: DPs how much water per puffer

Posted: Sun Jan 10, 2010 5:29 pm
by LilGreenPuffer
Technically it's usually called a "sympathy purchase," not a "rescue," but close enough. :)

I have no pics, and it's a mess right now. Only half the tank is planted. The other half has bins of old gravel (bacteria needs to transfer to the new substrate) and old fake plants.

Re: DPs how much water per puffer

Posted: Sun Jan 10, 2010 9:52 pm
by Myaj
Tall tanks are okay for dwarf puffers as they are the more "hover and explore" type of fish, but they can make live plants difficult (hard to get enough light to the plants down at the bottom).

Substrate won't matter for DP's, they don't bury. Personally I like black substrate, so I generally go with the black EcoComplete (not nearly as messy as Flourite).

Re: DPs how much water per puffer

Posted: Mon Jan 11, 2010 12:56 pm
by autophotos
saw some nice black sand and black gravel earlier - has anyone got some pics of their puffer tanks with black gravel/sand? be great to see what it would look like