The Puffer Forum

Hey guys I am new around here. Mainly been a lurker for awhile reading up on things.
Can anyone help decipher something for me please.
I have a 6 gallon tank at my office picture below.
I wanted a dwarf puffer and I think the LPS sold me a GSP instead.
Which is fine just means that I need to get at least 30g tank for him at the house.
By the way PuffLee is only about an inch long right now.
Here he is below.


Current tank Setup

Tiny, baby GSP. How cute!
library/puffers-in-focus/an-introductio ... d-puffers/

Thanks I had a eeling thats what he was.
I went by a different LFS and found they actually had 2 dwarfs in stock so I got those and will be taking the GSP home.
PuffLee can take out some seriouse snails. But he is not much for ghost shrimp or red claw crabs.
He doesnt nip at anything. He is so laid back its weird. Kinda contridicts everything I have read here.
Anyways thanks for the info. This guy has been a hoot and been a ofice favorite.

Puffers grow more aggressive with age and as they adjust to new surroundings...

So no contradiction, you just haven't given him enough time.

Glad you were able to take the little GSP home. What will he be housed in there?

Did you say you bought both dwarf puffers to put in your 6 gallon tank? If so you will probably have some aggression issues in a tank that small, as well as some possible water quality issues. From the pic it looks like the filter has plenty of flow but what kind of filter is it and do you have a heater?

JRC3 wrote:Glad you were able to take the little GSP home. What will he be housed in there?

Did you say you bought both dwarf puffers to put in your 6 gallon tank? If so you will probably have some aggression issues in a tank that small, as well as some possible water quality issues. From the pic it looks like the filter has plenty of flow but what kind of filter is it and do you have a heater?

GSP is going to go in either a 55gallon or a 75gallon I am building out a space to inset the tank in a wall. (should have it finished soon)

The 2 DP's are going to stay in the 6gallon for now i know i know its a little small but given the fact that these two guys have been together and not left each others side I think its going to be ok .
If not gives me an excuse to buy a 20gallon long tank for my daughters room and let her enjoy the little guys.

The Filter thats on the 6 gallon right now is rated or a 10-20 gallon tank. I figure betwen the displacement of the sand the rocks and the plant that should = 1 gallon. That means I have either double or quadruple the water flow. The name escapes me for the moment. But its not an Aqueclear I believe its an off brand.
I cant do anything to crazy since its my office.

As far as a heater yes I have one in there its on the far right side and the temp gauge is on the far left. Its running at 78 degrees right now.

I wish I could keep the GSP up here at my office he is a riot. I like watching him ride the current.

you might want to shoot for a little more turnover. generally like an 8-10x turnover rate is recommended, especially for the dwarf puffs since they are in a smaller tank than would be recommended. filter intake looks like a top fin maybe

The GSP is going to be in hog heaven in a 55-75g. I see your heater now, the auto resize cropped it out of you pic.

IME, my 2 DPs grew up together from pea size but the male became aggressive after hitting maturity. I moved them to another tank in a more private location and added even more decor and the aggression continued. I divided the tank for a few weeks and have since removed the divider and things have been peaceful. Anyway, my point being that if you have a male, or *gulp* two males, you may have a problem with aggression. They are all different so who knows. It sounds like you have it all under control if there are any problems. Good luck.

jus85411 wrote:you might want to shoot for a little more turnover. generally like an 8-10x turnover rate is recommended, especially for the dwarf puffs since they are in a smaller tank than would be recommended. filter intake looks like a top fin maybe

The filter he has is meant for a 10-20 gallon tank so I'd say he has more then ample turnover. Or did you miss that part?

wilson0309 wrote: The Filter thats on the 6 gallon right now is rated or a 10-20 gallon tank. I figure betwen the displacement of the sand the rocks and the plant that should = 1 gallon. That means I have either double or quadruple the water flow

from reading this i took it as a 2x or 4x turnover in the gallons per hour . but i see how this could be taken differently. 3 1/3 turnover in gallons alone

if you can get picks of the two DPs we can tell you what sex they are

purplecandle wrote:if you can get picks of the two DPs we can tell you what sex they are

That would be awesome but I am going to need to get a better camera my Iphone is not taking the best shots.
So let me work on that

ok i tried for now this will have to work
But I was taking a shot of PuffLee whooping some tail on some snails and caught my two DP in the back ground.
Not sure you are going to be able to tell sex off the picture I will work on getting a better one.
But quick question can I leave the snail shells in the tank?
I am worried if he didnt fully clean the shell out doesnt the rotting snail carcus cause tank issues?

Not good enough to sex but you can do this yourself:
library/puffers-in-focus/sexing-carinot ... rf-puffer/

Moving this to FW Puffers.

Not the greatest pics , However, after zooming in, to me they appear to be male..we will wait and see.

Those snails are far to large for your sized puffers..Ideally you want to feed snails the size of their eyes.

When you use large snails often puffers will just bite the head off and swim away, so they become of no benefit for teeth trimming..

And yes remove the dead snails unless you want an ammonia spike.

In addition, you do not what to use shells with the spiral cone..they can break puffer teeth..you want snails such as ramshorns and pond.

Here is some info on those snails and how to breed them.
library/feeding/basic-snail-breeding/

purplecandle wrote:Those snails are far to large for your sized puffers..Ideally you want to feed snails the size of their eyes.

yeah it was only thing the LFS has. I am in Dallas and it seems like no place carries snails that small.
I did see snails in a can? I kinda thought that defeated the purpose of helping the puffer keep a trimmed beak.

purplecandle wrote:In addition, you do not what to use shells with the spiral cone..they can break puffer teeth..you want snails such as ramshorns and pond.

Not sure if you can see the other ones I have in the tank from the pictures but those are about the size of his eye. The LFS was out of those so I got what i could to give the guy a treat. Its about a 15-20 minute drive over there on my lunch hour to get them so didnt want to walk away with nothing. Plus I like seeing him stalk the snails.