The Puffer Forum

Hey Guys

Is it best to buy the smallest Dp's you can get?

I've seen some nice 1 inch sized ones but I'm worried they don't have long to live since they only live to about 2 years old.

What do you think?

Where do you get the idea they only live to be 2 years old? I can't say I've ever heard anything at all about that. And people often say bettas only live to be a year or two and I've kept them alive and healthy 5+ years. I don't remember how long my dwarfs lived, its been many years since I've kept them, but it was more than 2 years.

I think, if you are lucky enough to find some old enough to sex, that you should be thrilled that you have a good chance of being able to sort out males and females and get a good ratio.

Cannot remember where I read it before but I'm sure it was in a thread on here at sometime as I get all my puffer info from here. Just checked pufferpedia and it says they live to 5+ years.

Thanks for clearing that up for me. I think I'll buy the bigger ones I saw

Yup dps are quite long lived. Look out for blue lines on them, the imitators are regularly available in the uk and are slightly bigger from my own experiences

When they are small, it can be quite challenging to find them food small enough to eat. When they are bigger u will have more choices.

scpion wrote:When they are small, it can be quite challenging to find them food small enough to eat. When they are bigger u will have more choices.

Exactly. I've had to cut bloodworms into pieces for feeding a few times daily.

I don't know if anything comparable to live California blackworms is available in the UK, but if so there are never any feeding issues w/DPs.