The Puffer Forum

Hello all,

I am new to the hobby. I've have 3 Dwarf Puffers in a 12 gallon Fluval Edge planted tank for about 3 weeks now. Everything has been going great, until today. All of a sudden I noticed my smallest DP (juvenile, possibly female) sort of spin out in the water and sink to the bottom of the tank. She remained pretty motionless on the substrate, but was still alive. A few minutes later, one of my larger male DPs came over and started nudging her a bit, she clumsily would try to swim away, but her movement was obviously impaired. She found shelter under a piece of driftwood in my tank. At this point, it was feeding time anyway, so I fed some bloodworms to see if I could get a reaction from the injured puffer. The other 2 DPs ate, but not the small one. Eventually she was forced out again by the other 2 male DPs into a bottom corner of the tank. I noticed what looked to be some sort of skin discoloration on her back. My theory is she was attacked by the other two DPs.

Over the next 20-30 minutes I tested my water, for Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate...all at normal levels, added Prime just in case. During this time, I noticed the other two DPs started nudging her again, and eventually they started to attack her. My largest DP even bit her and lifted her up, causing her to puff up. Then would continue to circle her and nudge her. They seemed very interested in the weak/injured puffer. At this point, I had to do something, and removed her from the tank. After removing her from the tank, I noticed a red spot on her belly, and it looks like she has some bleeding going on. One of her eyes looks a little puffed up, and her body looks swollen. Unfortunately, I think she is nearing the end as I write this.

Before this incident my DPs seemed to get along well since being added to my tank, typically exploring/hunting together or on their own. Not many fights. They cleared up about 100 pond snails in the tank in about a week (incredible). At this point I started feeding frozen bloodworms every other day. During a recent feeding I did notice them getting more aggressive towards each other, but this subsided once they were no longer interested in the bloodworms.

Anyhow, I'd like to hear thoughts from more experienced DP keepers on this sort of behavior. Have any of your DPs ever attacked and killed another? Are they cannibals (would they eat their own kind)?

Also, in this sort of situation, what is the best course of action for a concerned fishkeeper to take?

Thanks very much for your insight.

Basic tank info is below:
1) Your water parameters - pH, Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrates and salinity (if appropriate). pH = 7.8, Ammonia/Nitrite = 0, Nitrate= ~20ppm

2) Tank size and a list of ALL inhabitants. 12 Gallon, 3 DPs, 1 Oto, Pond Snails, noticed some Hydra and Detritus Worms in tank.

3) Feeding, water change schedule and a list of all products you are using or have added to the tank (examples: Cycle, Amquel, salt, etc) Pond Snails, Bloodworms every other day, water changes weekly, have used Prime, Stability, assorted Seachem liquid plant ferts.

4) What changes you've made in the tank in the last week or so. I did add an extra biological media bag to the tank to establish good bacteria. I will use this in another tank at some point.

5) How long the aquarium has been set up, and how did you cycle it? Aquarium has been established for ~4 months. Cycled with live plants, and Nutrafin Cycle beneficial bacteria.

Hi and welcome to the forum. 2 males and 1 female is a bad mix, especially in close quarters. You are likely right that she was bullied to death, any chance you can return the males and swap for 2 females as they tend to be less aggressive

Unfortunately, I ordered the fish online with no option to choose gender. Will definitely keep that in mind going forward though, it makes a lot of sense. In the meantime, I'm going to rearrange the tank every so often, and add more plants to break up territories and hopefully keep any future scuffles to a minimum.

It is possible she was bullied to death, or its possible she was already failing and the other puffers were picking at her because she was already not well. I would not suggest any major changes to rescaping the tank once the other puffers have established their territories. When I rescaped my puffer tanks it always caused problems as they fought over new territory.

jv2puffer wrote: Before this incident my DPs seemed to get along well since being added to my tank, typically exploring/hunting together or on their own. Not many fights. They cleared up about 100 pond snails in the tank in about a week (incredible). At this point I started feeding frozen bloodworms every other day. During a recent feeding I did notice them getting more aggressive towards each other, but this subsided once they were no longer interested in the bloodworms.

Ddn't observe it with dwarfs, but with my irrubescos yes: it seems that nothing trigger bullying more than sickness/weaknesses.
I have seen much more charges or attack when a puffer was sick or not in shape. And it is not the bullying that makes the puffer weak (by not enough food or injuries), it's the other way around: my male has bullied my female, but also has been bullied...while when both are in good shape they get along. Seems that if one of the puffer is sick or have some kind of problem, it is a very good idea to isolate him/her, not only to prevent possible disease spreading, but to let the puffer get better without being harrassed/injured/killed by his healthy mates....

Hi and welcome to the forum!

My only suggestions for reducing aggression will make your tank messier than it already is, but it works for us.

Many plants, of all shapes and sizes. We have 3 male DPs in a 20 gallon tank and it is a little jungle. They don't fight, but they do display when we feed them, just to remind each other to stay away. Our puffers all have a favorite sword plant that they sleep in, and rock and driftwood to explore. They are too distracted to fight.

Feed every day. I find that when we went to an every-other-day schedule, the puffers (all fish, for that matter) get more aggressive and nippy. Puffers are messy, they eat chunks of food, let some fall to the bottom, and generally act like piglets. Just let them be pigs, and over-filter the tank. Our 20 gallon has a 40 gallon filter and Amano shrimp and Malaysian trumpet snails munching on debris. We change 30% water every week.

You will never have a pristine, austere tank with pea puffers, but that is their nature. They need a comfy, lined-in tank to be happy.

TOPuffers wrote:Feed every day. I find that when we went to an every-other-day schedule, the puffers (all fish, for that matter) get more aggressive and nippy. Puffers are messy, they eat chunks of food, let some fall to the bottom, and generally act like piglets. Just let them be pigs, and over-filter the tank. Our 20 gallon has a 40 gallon filter and Amano shrimp and Malaysian trumpet snails munching on debris. We change 30% water every week.

This sounds like what may be going on in my tank. Since my DPs cleared out 99% of the pond snails I had in my tank since introducing them, they seem to have become a lot more aggressive towards each other. I suppose this could be due to the lack of food, and the fact that they are no longer always full on snails. I will start feeding them every day and see how the 2 I have remaining do.

Thanks to everyone for your feedback, I appreciate it!

Best,
jv2puffer

I would still try to track down 2 females. Loose at least 1 male and trade for credit

+1. if you can lose 1 or both males great.

If not, some clever (read dense as hell) aquascaping can alleviate a lot of aggression. My 2 males were in a 20g that I've renamed "the jungle". They spent so much time exploring the various plants that they had little to no time to beef over turf. Your tank is a bit smaller but, still...with well defined and densely planted zones that each fish can retreat to or break line of sight will go a long way to reducing (not eliminating) aggression.

Thanks all, for suggestions.

I added a ton bunch more plants to my tank, but since it's a taller tank there is still a bit of open space, and I was still having fights between the two males. So in the end, I donated the more aggressive and larger male to my LFS. Unfortunately, they didn't have any females, from what I could tell, so I will have to wait for a future shipment to get a couple more. For now, that leaves me with the 1 male DP, and 1 Oto.

Does anyone know any place online that sells DPs and allows you to choose gender?

jv2puffer wrote:Thanks all, for suggestions.

I added a ton bunch more plants to my tank, but since it's a taller tank there is still a bit of open space, and I was still having fights between the two males. So in the end, I donated the more aggressive and larger male to my LFS. Unfortunately, they didn't have any females, from what I could tell, so I will have to wait for a future shipment to get a couple more. For now, that leaves me with the 1 male DP, and 1 Oto.

Does anyone know any place online that sells DPs and allows you to choose gender?

I was able too but they have to be close to adults before you can tell. I have mine in a 75 gallon community tank and still the only ones they chase are each other

another option would be to get a couple more oto's and leave your tank open to a singleton. As my DPs passed over the years, probably the most interaction I had with a DP was when I was down to only one. He essentially made the entire tank his territory and would always "follow" me around the room. People loved that guy because his personality really shone when he owned the whole tank.