The Puffer Forum

Hi all,
I currently have a 10 gallon tank stocked with 9 bloodfin tetras, 1 bristlenose pleco, and 1 bamboo shrimp (filter feeder). Please don't tell me my tank is overstocked because I do tons of huge water changes. I was wondering if I could add a dwarf puffer. Even though they are territorial and fin-nippers, wouldn't the 9 tetras be enough to "counteract" his aggression. What I mean is that the puffer will chase one of the nine and then chase another, so 8 of them won't be chased at one time, so they won't have too much harassment. They are also very streamlined with small fins and very fast. I know there is a possibility of him eating my shrimp but it is 4" long, so...
Thanks in advance,
RAR

Your tank is overstocked now. Water changes do no compensate for volume. Sorry.

+1 to RTR comment...

DPs are small, but puffers at the end, i will be matter of time to get a maimed tetra or shrimp... thats a very limited tank for such community plus a DP.

other than overstocking .... feeding is an issue...

the other faster fish will get at the food before the puffer has a chance.

J-P wrote:feeding is an issue...

the other faster fish will get at the food before the puffer has a chance.

This is verbatim what I was gonna say. And with all that activity you would never ever see your DP as he would be hiding all of the time.

Sometimes a hungry dp is a nippy dp.
When my dp was well fed she was very docile but hungry she'd be hunting all the time, nipping at anything.
I would imagine the shrimp would lose body parts at the first signs of hunger.
I tried Endlers with my dp (the Endlers bred like wildfire) but they seemed to end up dead, not sure whether puff had anything to do with it but the Endlers were fine beforehand.
Dps like clean conditions and are happy alone; maybe a few small snails for company.
Get another tank! More fish means more tanks!

Would be fine for a dp if you remove the tetras and plec. Just if you want puffers they need to be alone

UPGRADE , UPGRADE !!!

Even in an upgrade a dp will cause stress and death to other inhabitants

Because we recently moved I had to consolidate my tanks. The tank I have is not over stocked per say but it is doing very well.

30 gals:
2 fan shrimp (males)
20+ guppies (fry)
3 albino BN plecos
100+ cherry shrimp
1 male beta
2 adult marbled crays + ??? babies

and.........

1 Dwarf puffer.

I understand that puffers can and do have different personalities, but this little guy just cruises the drift wood, nooks and crannies picking off the shrimp and baby crays (now). He doesn't touch anything else and doesn't bother anyone else.

I feed the fish, and crays. The shrimp have at 'er, they make babies and Mr. DP eats them.

I haven't had to feed Mr. DP directly for over 4 months now and he is still well rounded and still cruising the tank.

If you set up the food chain properly you can have a stable tank even with a puffer.

Re J-P's comments: Well, maybe. And for how long? Tanks do mature and stabilize. Smallish highly mixed tanks can take quite a while to stabilize, with some populations expanding and others contracting or dying out. That is why refugia are used for biologically complex systems. That limited separation can give the marginal species their chance a survival. That benefits the whole system.

FWIW

I 100% agree...

The guppies, I wish they weren't there. Prior, it was the red cherry shrimp only and the DP it was great. The crays may have to be thinned out in the future as some of the surviving babies are getting larger.

Focusing on the DP .. I don't think he could be happier.. unless you added a girlfriend to the mix

bertie 83 wrote:Even in an upgrade a dp will cause stress and death to other inhabitants

Depends on the individual dp's persona , tank mates and tank size ......

Puffer King wrote:

bertie 83 wrote:Even in an upgrade a dp will cause stress and death to other inhabitants

Depends on the individual dp's persona , tank mates and tank size ......

All these points are kinda irelevant, you do not put a predator and potential prey in the same tank. It's asking for trouble. Now im not saying it definitely won't work it's just unethical IMO. Unless you want or don't mind them potentially becoming live food of course lol

bertie 83 wrote:

Puffer King wrote:

bertie 83 wrote:Even in an upgrade a dp will cause stress and death to other inhabitants

Depends on the individual dp's persona , tank mates and tank size ......

All these points are kinda irelevant, you do not put a predator and potential prey in the same tank. It's asking for trouble. Now im not saying it definitely won't work it's just unethical IMO. Unless you want or don't mind them potentially becoming live food of course lol

Well the bamboo shrimp would land up on the menu ! , but the others would be fine in a larger tank , with plenty of decor ....