The Puffer Forum

Hey, my name's Brett and I'm 14 years old. I've had some experience with keeping fish before, but I'm interested in getting a puffer. I'm considering a dwarf puffer, and here's what (I think) I know about them-correct and add if you need to.

-One specimen needs a 5-gallon tank.
-Overfiltration is a good idea, because puffers are messy eaters.
-A 50% weekly water change is also necessary.
-They should be fed bloodworms, shrimp, and snails, not flakes and pellets.
-They are not community fish.
-They need a lot of plants and things to explore and keep them stimulated.

I also have some questions:

-What's the best way to cycle a 5-gallon tank?
-What's the recommended filter model?
-What's the best way to go about changing the water and cleaning the tank?
-Can I use a gravel substrate?

Thanks in advance for the help!

You are pretty much bang on there. if you can, get a 10 gallon as you have much more decor space and you could have 2 lol I use eheim ecco filters on my smaller tanks as they are awesome good luck and welcome

Oh and there is a great article in the library on fishless cycling sorry I don't know how to post links lol

library/water-filtration/fishless-cycling/

At this point in your set up, I'd be more focused on obtaining a quality water test kit. The numbers will tell you when the tank is ready and when to do your water changes

You can use gravel vacuum on every waterchange with a syphon hose

But if you used the gravel vacuum or removed the fish once a week, wouldn't that put a lot of stress on the fish?

You never remove the fish when doing water changes. With a gravel vac you don't need to remove the fish.

What I'm trying to ask is, wouldn't the fish get stressed if you use the vacuum once a week?

Water changes and gravel vacuming become part of a aquarium fish life, no way of getting around it for a long happy life. They do adjust.

You sound like a very intelligent, caring, fishkeeper!

No, the fish become accustomed the routine. Some fish get spooked easily regardless of routine, but it is far more stressful for them to endure poor water quality than a few minutes a week of removing gunk from the substrate.

Pufferpunk wrote:
You sound like a very intelligent, caring, fishkeeper!

+1

Pufferpunk wrote:
You sound like a very intelligent, caring, fishkeeper!

Thanks! I really like animals, and I'm often worried that I'm too caring. It has happened with every new pet I've ever gotten-it takes a month for the "new pet" feeling and extreme paranoia to wear off. I've been mostly interested in reptiles, but I'm really interested in fish now. Actually, I'm thinking about getting an arrowhead puffer instead-what can you tell me about those?

3 articles on them in our Library & a profile in the Pufferpedia.

kinda late but Welcome to the TPF Nutthouse :D