The Puffer Forum

After acquiring a new 60 gall tank for my GSPs from craigslists....I acquired a bunch of new fish from the old tank's owner (they originally did not tell me fish came with the tank)

So, I am now over stocked...so I have put the GSPs in the new 60 gallon...put some fish in the old puffer's tank..and I am still let with an overstocked tank.

I called a friend who has several large tanks and she very badly wants to take all of my recently acquired fish...as well as most of my own fish. It will be hard to let them go, but she has a bigger tank that will be much better for them.

So, now I am left with a basically empty 20 or 30 gallon tank..I think it is 20-25 gallons.

So, I have thought about getting 2 dwarf puffers for this tank.

And I am wondering about tank mates for dwarf puffers. Are there any fish that go good with dwarf puffers? I was thinking of getting cherry barbs.

Also, is a dwarf puffer the same thing as an Indian dwarf puffer and a Golden dwarf puffer?

my personal experience with DPs has been that they do great with ottos. i've never kept them with cherry barbs, but from my own cherries my other tank it might not be a problem on the part of the barbs, they tend to mind their own business and play with each other more than the other tank mates. the only problem with tank mates i've ever had with my DPs is that one of my females died of unknown reasons. she was a bit of a runt though, and that my remaining female killed my male. for a short while my mother had a F8 in with my dwarfs (he's in his own tank now) and there were no problems at all there (not that i recommend it, just figured i'd mention it). i would say ottos are a good bet, the barbs might be a risk, but it depends on the individual puffer. i might try a dwarf gourami personally, they tend to stay at the top my my DPs never go up to the top. again its all a risk though, so keep that min mind.

I keep mine with otocinclus catfish and ghost shrimp. Shrimp are a toss-up - some DPs are okay with them, some eat them. Otos are your safest and best bet, but don't add them until the tank is stable and has been established for at least six months or so. Many will not eat anything but fresh algae.

Gouramis have long, trailing appendages that might be prone to nips from DPs. I wouldn't go that route.

i have with my dps - all 17 of them - 2 rock shrimp - one amano shrimp - 5 glow light tetras and 5 bb gobies- tank is 300L

My DP's are in my community tank, which has guppies, Endler's, Gouramis (both regular size and dwarf), Buenos Aires Tetras (I hate them, but can't catch them to get them out of my tank!), some other Tetras, which I can't remember the name of, plus several different kinds of catfish including Corydoras'. Now I will say that when the Cory's come into the DP's territory, the DP will give it a nip to move it along, but they don't follow after them and harass them, plus none of my fish, not even the Gouramis have tatty fins. So I think, all in all, the DP's are behaving very nicely with all these other fish. They really do tend to keep to themselves, hanging out in groups, with their own hierarchy even. I think they are great little fish that are often labeled as vicious and evil, maybe so if they are in the wrong tank set up, but I love them, and always hope I am able to have just a few.

i have introduced the other fish whilst puffers were younger

IMHO,& IME, DPs are poor competitors - I would not co-house them with any fish other than otos, and that only in well-established planted tanks - as has already been said. Otocinclus cats are nor competitors either.

But then, I am strongly prejudiced against mixed tanks. They are very rarely the optimum housing for anything.

JMHO, YMMV.