The Puffer Forum

Hi everyone, I'm in the process of setting up a 35 gallon hexagon tank. I would really love to have some dwarf puffers, yellow apple snails-big ones. and a few african dwarf frogs. My questions- how many dwarf puffers for this tank, and are the african dwarf frogs compatible with these puffers? Also a pleco in there probably? Are there any more compatible things that would go in there? Any info would be greatly appreciated!

Jaime

Welcome to the forum!

1st off, make sure to let your tank cycle completely before putting a puffer in there, as they are extremely sensitive to ammonia/nitrites.

Unless it's South American puffers, I tend to keep just 1 puffer per tank to avoid aggression and needless death of my other puffers and fish. I know that it is possible to keep several dwarf puffers together, so I'm sure the experts on that will be along shortly. Puffers tend to nip at or even kill just about any tankmate, especially snails (an apple snail would likely be just fine with dwarfs though), so you could try it, but I wouldn't put anything in there you don't want possibly becoming food. Welcome again!

Welcome to the board!

You can do multiple dwarf puffers there, be sure you read the article on sexing them. library/puffers-in-focus/dwarfpuffercare/

I'd ditch the frog though. Lots of plants... LOTS of plants will help them with their territories.

The apple snail is a toss up. Mine leaves anything larger than it alone, but he is solo. It will "pick at" and harass other tank mates but not kill them. Your apple snail may fall victim to this as it moves up and down the tank to get air.

Scenario: Apple goes up the tank to get air, puffers nit at it, it balls up and falls to the bottom. Process repeats until the snail dies from lack of O2.

There is no reason why you couldn't do a beautiful planted species only tank

Excellent post JP. Besides, species tanks draw the attention to your real star, your puffer!

Thanks Reaperpilot2014 and J-P! I really want to do minimal plants/decor, and no real plants. I have a cardamine & a Water Hyacinth, plus a small halfed sunken pirate ship, also a bubble wand. So maybe the puffers are not the best idea? What other kinds of fish will fit well in this size aquarium? Something colorful maybe? Any suggestions?

I don't want to discourage you from getting a puffer. They make very fun pets! How many plants (real or fake) you need just depends on the species of puffer. If you are looking at a different fish option that's colorful though, I like Malawi cichlids and some of the more colorful gouramis, but puffers are my absolute favorite fish.

Just to add what everyone has told you. The general rule of thumb for dwarf puffers from what I have read and been told is that its 1 DP per 5gal of water. The frogs do need shallow water though since they do breath air and aren't known for being the smartest. I had one drown...and yes they are frogs, but are not the greatest swimmers. Like others said LOTS of plants, but make sure its like a playground for them! But do not forget they do need swimming room too just to be mindful of that! Also plecos are not that great for starting out tanks due to the fact that they grow to be quite large over time and require a lot of room! But I haven't had any problems with my cory catfish or my chinese algae eater. Those seem to do fine with my fahaka so you could try those and if they do get eaten I guess the upside is that they are relatively inexpensive fish.

Any ideas on substrate for the tank?

The puffers will munch on the poor froggies!

Pufferpunk wrote:The puffers will munch on the poor froggies!

He will not much! He shall feast!

Taste test first, worry about whether or not it's edible later lol. As I hint at in my sig line.

Yeah lol With puffers there is no taste tests! Its bite and continue eating worry about taste later! I saw Gilbert eat his first earthworm tonight! it was awesomeeeee!

Reaperpilot2014 wrote:I don't want to discourage you from getting a puffer. They make very fun pets! How many plants (real or fake) you need just depends on the species of puffer. If you are looking at a different fish option that's colorful though, I like Malawi cichlids and some of the more colorful gouramis, but puffers are my absolute favorite fish.

I was under the impression that cichlids need more then 35 gallons, is this wrong?

Well it depends , Some cichlids can live just fine in a 35,I breed Apistogramma's they are just fine in a 35 Gallon
So maybe look at dwarf cichlids, Just remmeber that German blue rams are annual fish, They have a short life span. There are plenty of fish out there that you can have your frogs mystery snails etc together. I had my Mystery with Guppies, Rams,plecos you can have there are some small versions like the Bristle nose, They grow to only 3 inches or less. the pleco's like rubber nose or common pleco are the ones that grow to big like 20 plus inches, Just noticed that you are from texas so am I!

ErnieC wrote:Well it depends , Some cichlids can live just fine in a 35,I breed Apistogramma's they are just fine in a 35 Gallon
So maybe look at dwarf cichlids, Just remmeber that German blue rams are annual fish, They have a short life span. There are plenty of fish out there that you can have your frogs mystery snails etc together. I had my Mystery with Guppies, Rams,plecos you can have there are some small versions like the Bristle nose, They grow to only 3 inches or less. the pleco's like rubber nose or common pleco are the ones that grow to big like 20 plus inches, Just noticed that you are from texas so am I!

I'll have to look those up! So what part of Texas are you in?