The Puffer Forum

I have picked up three Dwarfs. I have only ever had brackish and marine puffers, so need some advice. First, they are so tiny, maybe about 1/4 inch at the most, so how do I keep their teeth trim at this size? Is this something I have to worry about right now? For the moment, they are in a 10G but will probably end up either in a 20G or 40G (I have both laying around). Well I actually have an empty 30 and 50 also, so there are lots of options! What size would you recommend for three? The tank right now, is heavily decorated! I will post pics soon. They seem to be sticking together so far, Im guessing because they are still so small but when do they generally get aggressive towards each other? Im trying to figure out when I should set up a bigger tank for them. The later the better because I have no space right now. I for some reason thought that a 10G would be fine for three but realized later that it was at least 5G per puffer...no worries though, I will set up one of the others when needed. Lastly, tankmates, I would like to add at least an algae eater at some point, what would you recommend? As for other tankmates, what kind of fish are good with DP's. I know it depends on tank size...I would like to keep them in no more than the 20G really but if the 30 or 40 is really necessary, than I will do so.

Any other advice you can give would be great!

Justin

DPs don't seem to suffer from overgrown teeth like other species do. Few, if any, of the DP keepers on the dwarfpuffer.com forum have ever had problems. But we feed them tiny snails anyway.

For 3, I'd definitely recommend the 20g tank. LOADS of plants and hiding spaces. Caves not so much, they tend not to use them at all in most of our experience (again from talking to others on the DP forum), but they do need lots and lots of plants. Fake, real, doesn't matter, just loads.

The aggression levels tend to increase as they mature and age. I'd recommend getting them into a larger tank sooner rather than later.

Otos are generally the only algae eaters they tolerate, and even that is hit and miss. Some other tankmates that have been relatively successful are kuhli loaches. Snails, even large ones, will usually be pecked to death, very slowly. Shrimp are hit or miss, some tolerate them, others won't. No other fish recommended IMO, as they tend to shred even much larger fish than themselves. Most DP keepers advocate species-only tanks, aside from the aforementioned otos and occasionally kuhli loaches.

Thanks! That helps out a lot! I am really just interested in adding a algae eater, so that works out. I may try a shrimp but yeah it seems like they will peck at it.

What we recommend with shrimp is the same for larger puffers - try a couple of the cheapest shrimp you can find, usually ghost shrimp. If they ignore the ghosties, chances are good they'll ignore any other kinds and then you can add more interesting types. If they do eat the shrimpies, it hasn't cost you much.

Good idea. Ive never had luck yet keeping shrimp with any puffers though. I did have a freshwater lobster with my GSP when he was in very low salinity and that worked well but the lobster was quite big and aggressive. I actually still have the lobster in his own tank now. I will try a ghost shrimp though and see what happens!

My first mixing of DPs and shrimp was pilot error - I thought that I had removed all the shrimp before I moved the puffers into the tank. That particular group of DPs never bothered the Rednosed redtail for the rest of its life, nor any of the other adult shrimp I tested with them. They did eat the baby snowball shrimp though.

I can't even entertain putting shrimp with my 3 DP's. The 1st time I tried it the 2 shrimp lasted about 30 seconds, it was a bloodbath.

My dwarf puffers nearly wiped out a colony of hundreds of red cherries in a massivly heavily planted tank.

They never got them all, but they sure put a dent in the population!

I have 5 DP's in a 60 hex that is heavily planted with quite a few rock-caves. They "share" this tank with two small Raphael cats, one Banjo cat, two Chaetostoma pleco's, three Hillstream loaches, a couple swordtails and DOZENS of ghost shrimp. So far the ghost shrimp are surviving and multiplying.
I do feed a lot of snails and bloodworms to the DP's, so maybe they aren't hungry enough to slaughter the shrimp. Mine seem to be more interested in the food that comes floating down to them than hunting shrimp. They do enjoy scouring the tank for snails as they do not last more than a day or so. The swordtails have even given birth and the DP's ignore the babies. From what I've read of other's experiences, mine may be the exception as far as aggression towards each other and their tank mates.

Just to go a little off topic... when you say "ghost shrimp" is that the same as Amano shrimp (Cardinia multidentata formerly C.japonica) or is it something totally different?

Many thanks from Bill.

Totally different.

I'm curious as to why 3 dp's need a 20 gallon tank. I can see the hiding spots, etc....but 20 gallons for 3 1 inch fish?

Irish

They don't. We recommend 5 gallons each. I recommended the 20 out of the options the original poster had.

I see. So technically if I had a five gallon tank, the recommended load is 1 dp? I have personally had 3 dps in a 5 gallon with plenty of hiding spots (plants, caves etc) and never had a problem with them. I had them for about 5 years. Why is 1 per 5 gallon any better than 3 per 5 gallon or vise versa? I'm not trying to be argumentative, I'm just curious as to specifics on this. Especially with the fresh and brackish puffers....

Irish

For the same reasons I said in response to your question about GSPs.