The Puffer Forum

Hello, I have a 40 gallon planted tank that is cycled. I will be ordering some dwarf puffers. How many would be happy in that size tank? Thank you

Hello, let me welcome you to the forum, as I see this is your first post!



I would think with a tank that big you could have a fairly good pack of dwarf puffers. I'm going to throw a guesstimation out there and say you'd probably be okay with having between 8 and 12 dwarf puffers. I have a fairly big community tank (more than 100 gallons with lots of other fish too) and I've got about 14 +/- dwarf puffers in there, although I suspect that they get eaten every now and then too so that number is just a guess. But I think with lots of plants and the line of sight broken up, you would be fine with at least 10. That's just my guess from my experiences with them.

Sounds like a good number to me.

I've got about 14 +/- dwarf puffers in there, although I suspect that they get eaten every now and then too so that number is just a guess.

Who eats them?

Rule of thumb is 1DP/5g. Try to get a good ratio of M-F.
See: library/puffers-in-focus/sexing-carinot ... rf-puffer/

lol i was wondering that too maybe ppg mistyped

No, sorry to say that our community tank is due for a much-needed overhaul, it's gotten a bit out of control lately. We've recently seen the Panther crab and it's huge, not to mention some bottom-feeding catfish that when they went in, were much smaller and, are now are quite large. I'm not certain that the DP's are getting eaten, but if you could see how big that crab is in there, it definitely looks as though it would eat one if it could catch one. I am going to rehome several of the fish from that tank as it's getting to the point where I can't really enjoy the fish. So we're going to rehome some and then move the ones we're keeping to a tank where I can see what's going on a little better. That Cube is so big that it's difficult to keep track of what's happening in there.

Doesn't seem like a fun place to live it you're a tiny puffer...

I agree with PP; you're going to want to stick with about 8 DPs in a 40-gallon. I'd shoot for 2 males, 6 females.

You could use the old 1 inch of fish per gallon, that would make about 40. lol JUST KIDDING!!!!