The Puffer Forum

OK, I have a 5 gallon tank I am setting up right now. it will be lightly planted with some moderate decorations, sand bottom. I have a booming snail population in my other tanks, so snails are no problem.

OK what puffers can go in here? I am thinking dwarf, red-eye, or red-tail? anything else? the largest of those seems to be the red-eye at 2.4 inches.

are there any puffs closer to or at 3 inches that can do well in a 5 gallon? (is a marine land with bio-wheel BTW)

Also, are there any tank mates that can be kept with any of them? when I say tank mates, I mean something like an oto or an amano shrimp for cleaning up?

And do your suggestions get along with MTSs? I ask cause if MTSs cannot be in the same tank (for fear of the puff breaking its jaw on the snail) I need to know so that I can clean the plants before they get transplanting into this tank.

I would say go with a dwarf or two, but then i don't have any experience with the red-eye.

IMO i think a red-eye is a bit big for a 5 gallon, i would think you'd want at least 10 to give him enough swimming room.

not sure about the oto or shrimp. my DPs attack shrimp though.

i would say no MTS, but i defer to anyone with more experience

5 gallon would be a great size tank for one dwarf puffer, possibly two. Also, this varies puffer to puffer, but mine liked the shrimp dinner they got when I dropped in a couple ghost shrimp. They completely ignore the otos I got, so that's a good thing.

-Kenny

ok, I forgot to mention, DPs are out of the quistion, I cannot stick only 2 into a5 gallon, and 1 is just does not fill out the tank enough, (I have one right now, and I can never see him he is just too small for that much water)

pufferlist.net says that both red-eyes and red-tails can go in a 5, I am just wondering if anyone knows this for sure before I do it, or if anyone knows any others that dcan also go in there

IMO shrimp and puffers don't mix. all my puffers ( including my DPs) love a shrimp dinner

Jarred Darque wrote:ok, I forgot to mention, DPs are out of the quistion, I cannot stick only 2 into a5 gallon, and 1 is just does not fill out the tank enough, (I have one right now, and I can never see him he is just too small for that much water)

pufferlist.net says that both red-eyes and red-tails can go in a 5, I am just wondering if anyone knows this for sure before I do it, or if anyone knows any others that dcan also go in there

If Dp's are out of the question then I afraid so are puffers for a 5 gallon.
I wouldn't keep anything other than 1 Dp in a 5 gallon for any length of time.

ok, thanks rocker.

BTW, I have been keeping shrimp with my DPs since I got them, right now there are about 20 shrimp in his 10 gallon tank, been in tehre for 2-3 months now

ok, are there any small puffers that can have a tankmate? would be for a 10 gallon, I am wanting to get 2 blue rams I also have three tiny angels, but can move them to the five for right now (I mean TINY, less than 1/2 inch)

The only tank mates I have had success so far is combining DPs and ottos and shrimp.
If you are putting any other puffer other than a DP in a 10g then I wouldn't add any tank mates.

Why do you want to add tankmates to puffers when they do best on their own?

my DPs do very well with some male endlers an a three lined cory (Corydoras trilineatus). i have yet to see the DPs nipping the endlers, and the only time ive seen the cory nipped was when i went out of town and they missed a few meals, but at feeding time if the DP drops a bit of snail to the gravel the cory will go right up and take it from him.

I have had otos with my DPs for 2 months, angels for a few weeks, and shrimp for a few months.

why would I like to have tankmates? perhaps because even though I like this fish, 1 inch fish in a 5 gallon tank makes it way to empty. a 2.5 inch fish, alone, in a 10 gallon, makes it way to empty. on top of that, the 10 gallon is a fully planted aquarium. I have to have a cleanup crew to take care of algae outbreaks that are inevitable in a dosed and CO2'ed tank, hence the amano's, oto's, and ghost shrimp in the tank right now, along witht eh MTSs in the gravel that only come out when the darf puffer is asleep

Hello Jarred Darque,

I have the same itch as yourself it seems. I have a planted 15gal; you can see pics in the photo section. You are right that having a high light, CO2 injected, fert dosed tank is an invitation for algae. It is a constant battle to keep the stuff under control. A clean-up crew is necessary for this.

What you might not realise though is something that was a hard lesson for myself. Having too many fish in the tank is the main cause of your algae. I started with an overstocked tank, and did weekly 50% water changes and heavily over-filtered. The nitrites and ammonia were never above 0. Algae was everywhere though. I am gradually reducing the tank stock until I find a sweet spot. When I removed the spotted raphael and clown pleco, algae took 3 months to reappear. It usually took 1 week.

My honest opinion, with experience on this particular debacle, is that you cannot have what you want. It just won't work.

Your best bet is 2 or 3 dwarf puffers in your 10 gallon tank heavily planted with a cleanup crew of 3 Ottos. You might feel this doesn't 'fill' the tank visually, but it is a might bit prettier than an algae infested tank.

It is good you are reading up on puffers and all the different varieties and their specific needs. Props for that. A more important step is finding out what varietals are actually, real-world, available to you. This will be a very different story than what puffer types exist in the world.

An important decision for you to make will be whether it is more important for you to have puffers or to have the 'full' feel you talked about. If you opt for the 'full' feel then there is nothing sexier IMHO than a school of neon tetras or similar small slender fish, as per many of the Amano aquascapes. The point is that puffers will never give you a ''full" feeling tank. Their beauty is a different kind.

Quaid wrote:
An important decision for you to make will be whether it is more important for you to have puffers or to have the 'full' feel you talked about. If you opt for the 'full' feel then there is nothing sexier IMHO than a school of neon tetras or similar small slender fish, as per many of the Amano aquascapes. The point is that puffers will never give you a ''full" feeling tank. Their beauty is a different kind.

Extremely well put and I agree fully!! P)0

ha ha neons. :/ I don't do well with the- normal community fish. It took me a while to get the angels, only reason I did is that I needed something that would grow to a medium size, and be slightly aggressive so as to not be out-competed for food by their tank mates (Bichir Senegalus and African Butterfly Fish)

Alot of people talk of the ferocity of puffers, only able to keep them in species only tanks. Are they this aggressive to slightly larger but peaceful fish? One of the reasons I ask, is that I have never had a puffer show signs of aggression to any tankmates, even when they where temporarily housed with guppy and guppy fry

Last question this round, if I decide to stick with the 5 gallon and with DPs, can it only be one DP in the tank, or can it be 2 or 3? (If two both would be female, I will have to double check, but I am quite sure the one I have now is female, even though it is still a bit on the smaller side)

Puffers are not that often aggresive in the cichlid sense, highly territorial, although some species can certainly tend to be. At maturity many do get more territorial. But their greatest hazard is nipping to eating tankmates if/when they become "hungry". They can co-exist for months to years and then Bingo!, dinner. Individual puffers become unwilling to share tanks, but many more just want to taste or eat whatever they can get.