The Puffer Forum

I've just started to get back into the puffer game - I took a long hiatus after the pet sitter killed my figure 8 puffers :'( - and while I've owned dwarf puffers before, my new setup will be species only and I want it/ them to be pampered to the fullest extent! Any suggestions on my current setup are greatly appreciated!

So the setup:
Tank: Marineland Portrait 5 gallon aquarium - 14" tall x 9.5" x 7.5", height is reduced by about 2-3" inches depending on substrate depth (see pictures)
Filters: stock filter supplied with the tank + Aqueon Quietflow 10 internal power filter - both have adjustable return rate and I will have both cranked to the lowest setting
Heater: Aqueon 50W fully adjustable heater - I have the tank set to a stable 78 degrees Fahrenheit
Decor: 1 piece of medium (although large for this setup) spider wood; 1 medium sized natural river rock bought from the LFS
Live plants: Anubias 1x, Micro sword 1x (separated into 3 smaller clumps), Bacopa 1x (several stalks ~4-5), small Amazon sword 1x
Lighting: pictured using the stock light however I have a Finnex Fugeray Planted+ clip light arriving in a few days
Substrate: Seachem Flourite Sand

I just started cycling (FISHLESS) the tank about 3 days ago and have been testing daily (sometimes more then once a day) and have seen a steady increase in ammonia, last reading was 4ppm, no nitrite reading yet (and of course no nitrate) - I have been dosing with stability daily as well and have several small snails in the tank (and have added some crayfish food) to hopefully help cycle and potentially start breeding stock for when the babies arrive. I have biomedia sitting in my old tropical 10 gallon tanks filter (which has been running extremely well for the past 3 years - ammonia and nitrite always test 0 even with a neglectful amount of water changes) and plan on introducing that media back into the new tank after its been seeding for about 5 days or so... Any suggestions with my cycling technique?? I know that I can't rush it because I want my water quality to be perfect before purchasing my babies from the LFS, but I'm super impatient!

Anybody with plant experience!! - I tend to have a poor track record with aquatic plant life and do not want to go through the hassle of killing and replacing plants again - I plan on using substrate fertilizer, and I also have Flourish liquid fertilizer and Excel (liquid CO2) if needed (or if anyone here suggests using it!) - I was going to wait until I started to see new plant growth before starting any of that regiment however. I am hoping that the planted+ light will be enough for my micro sword (I'm not as concerned about the other plants since they are typically rated low-medium light requirements) but if anyone has any additional suggestions I'm all ears!!

I am still undecided if I want to get 1 or 2 dwarf puffers, I have successfully housed 2 dwarf puffers together in a 5 gallon tank however I have read mixed things about this and wanted to see what others thought based on my current setup - I feel as though there are enough hiding places and enough 'stuff' to break their line of sight however as I mentioned before I want my babies to be pampered to the fullest extend - what do you guys think??

I have frozen bloodworms that I want to feed using a cone feeder (and might thaw using Garlic Guard if my puffers decide to be picky eaters - I tend to have bad luck with finding good eaters) and I will be feeding small snails on a regular basis - I hope to establish a snail breeding community either in the new tank or I will use my old 10 gallon tank as a breeding tank since my neon tetras and blue ram cichild don't bother my snails - any suggestions here?

I attached pictures of the tank in current condition - sorry for the cloudiness! Mechanical filtering hasn't quite caught up yet!

Love the decor so far! I really suggest keeping only 1 puffer in there. They seem to really like Java moss.

Thank you so much! I'm looking forward to when everything starts to fill out - I was most definitely going to start with only one especially since this is a new set up so I don't want to over load anything. I'm hoping having the additional internal 10 gallon filter will help keep my water chemistries pristine.

I will definitely see if my LFS has any Java Moss when I go to pick up the baby, I also have tons of Java Fern from the old tank since it can't seem to stop making more babies LOL, would that make a good addition as well? Really the only reason I haven't put any in yet is because I wasn't sure where to put it.

Doesn't the internal filter take up needed room in such a small tank?
Java moss & fern attaches to wood very nicely.

It's honestly fairly compact, you can see it in the second picture suctioned to the back of the tank next to the Amazon sword. I have it placed on the very bottom of the tank to help with circulation (and of course added filteration). Amazon has the dimensions listed as 1.5" x 2.8" x 5.4" however I think it might even be smaller then that because I measured it to only take up 1" from the back of the tank outward. I've definitely had success with that - I'm more just picky about where location wise I would want to place them! Thanks for the replies!