The Puffer Forum

Hi Puffer folks,

My hubby and I are new to puffers, but experienced with freshwater community tanks.

We recently set up a 20 G tank and dumped piles of pond snails and live plants into it (ok dumped is the wrong term, we created a pretty space with lots of plants and decorations, and thriving snail population).

The tank has been cycling for 1 month with 4 little otocinclus in it and 4 days ago we bought our first 3 dwarf puffers (or "comma's" as my husband calls them )

The puffers are amazing little hunters. Within minutes of swimming in to their new tank, they were eye-balling snails and eating. Each puffer has a round tummy now and no one is nipping at their tank-mates. We are a little concerned, however, that they will stuff themselves on the snail bounty in their new home.

Can these fish over-eat when in a snail-rich environment? We were planning on getting 3 more DPs to give them a greater chance to spread their aggression; 6 seems like the most a 20 G tank could handle, and we hope 6 will result in greater snail-sharing.

Does anyone in the forum have experience with puffers gorging on snails? Is it a problem or can we let them pig themselves on pest snails?

Thank you for any info you can give us ^_^

Welcome! You can let them gorge. Shouldn't be an issue. Puffers can definitely over eat though. I put any of my fw puffs that have been bullied in my snail breeding tank for recovery. 6 unfortunately too many for a 20. I have 5 in mine and there is a lot of chasing and bullying. I am in the process of setting a 30 up for them so this can stop. They will make quick work of the snails in that tank if you are planning on having snails for a long term food supply you may want to setup a separate breeding tank.

Thank you for your advice Welch4

We were not sure how many pea puffers to include in a 20 G tank, and we arrived at 6 based on our LFS' advice. After your comment I think we will leave them at 3, as they appear happy with each other. We do not want to crowd them and each one seems to have picked a little territory to patrol, so 6 seems a bit crowded to us too, based on their behavior.

We have a 5 G beta tank that we are thinking of using for breeding pond snails. To be honest, we have a bunch of pond snails in our 29 G tank, so we have just been scooping those out and giving them to our puffers. If our community tank can grow pond snails for us, we may leave the 5 G for an actual beta

Thank you again for your advice!

HI welcome fellow Canadian! I'm also in TO! As Pufferpunk said, 6 is too many for a 20 gallon. I have 2 in my 20 but I would say three is max. As for snails, I tried to breed pond snails for my puffs but it was impossible to keep up. I have Malaysian trumpet snails in all my puffer tanks and that works out better. MTS are not a main food source but they are a great supplementary food and the puffs love to hunt them. The difference is that MTS breed like crazy, they also have a "trap door" that pond snails don't have, making it harder for the puffer to get at them when they withdraw into their shell. Also, mts breed like crazy and like to burrow into the soil during the day and come out at night which is when the puffs go to town. MTS also breed like crazy and the baby snails are perfect for the puffs. A word of warning tho, mts breed like crazy! I have hundreds scattered between my 3 small tanks at this point. If you're near downtown I'll be happy to give you a handful.

Did I mention they breed like crazy?

I am not Pufferpunk : P MTS can be good for dwarf puffer but there shells are too hard for all other puffers that actually crush the shells rather than slurping them out. You can definitely breed snails in a community tank. It will pollute you water faster and will require more water changes. My breeding tank changed from very basic to a heavily planted tank with a dozen or so cardinal tetras.

As Pufferpunk said, 6 is too many for a 20 gallon.

LOL, I had to look to see if I had commented on this thread!

Oops sorry! I hadn't had my coffee yet when I wrote this - that'll learn me

Hey guys - Sorry if Im annoying everyone. Was reading through this as I feel I can never learn too much about puffers, when I saw that 3 is max in a 20g? I thought 3 was max for a 10g? And I understand that may be pushing the limit. So I figured 5 was max in a 20g?

Better safe than sorry but the rule of thumb is 1 DP/5g total water volume.
library/puffers-in-focus/dwarfpuffercare/

It also helps if you can sex them: library/puffers-in-focus/dwarfpuffercare/

The five I have were doing OK in the 20g some fighting but I resacped to get some driftwood pieces tied with moss for their new 30g. After the sight lines opened up their has been incessant fighting.

Yeah my 3 go at it sometimes. I have a male and female who seem to be best friends, and even thry chase each other at times. And then my 3rd avoids them all the time. She is usually near the back bottom of the tank. They chase her whenever they see her. I wasnt considering adding anymore, but was just curious I thought it was 5 for the first and 3 for each after. Thanks

Read the article I linked to:

Tank size: 5g for the first, with another 3g for each additional puffer. With these guys, less is NOT more. They have very heavy bioloads, and 5g per additional puffer is always a good idea.

Like I said before, dps are weird... 1,4, or more is best; 2 or 3 always seem to present pecking order problems

Thank you for the info on Malaysian trumpet snails, pollypuff! We are going to try those, as our LFS is willing to give us some this weekend.

I really want to get a nice snail population going, as our DPs do not seem to like their freeze dried munchies

Hadla, so are you suggesting I get a 4th puffer for my tank? I am certainly having pecking order problems. With 4, that allows 5 gallons per puffer