The Puffer Forum

I have a 10 gal tank in my bathroom with 2 dwarf puffers and a bumblebee goby in it. You hardly ever see anyone in the tank. What can I put in there with those fish that would be ok?

As far as i knew bumblebees are a brackish fish, other than that you could prolly have one more dwarf in there, or a Otocinclus catfish or two which i hear are quite busy and help with algea. I just got a few ghost shrimp and one Amano shrimp which are pretty exciting and always busy, but may add a small extra bioload.

Maybe a Khuli loach. If you get oto's aim for 2 they do better in groups. Also some BB gobies can live in full FW. Does yours have unbroken stripes? If so it will live fine in FW. You could try Red Cherry Shrimp or something in the tank with your dps, but by a ghost shrimp first (since there inexpensive) and see if your puffs kill it.

Kuhli loaches also do better in groups of several and won't help with the activity level much as they tend to hide most of the time. I rarely see mine, don't even know if they're still alive unless I move something they are hiding under. I wouldn't recommend adding anything to the tank except maybe a couple of otos, although they won't do much for the activity level either. Very few puffers, including DPs, do well with tankmates.

I put 10 or so ghost shrimp in their tank everytime I go buy them for my cichlids, and the DP don't bother them much. They have short life spans or they are picked on til they die, usually a couple months.
I've heard both ways on the bb goby, but mine has been in the tank for a few months and has done fine, before that it lived with my guppies. I have had an oto in the tank, don't care for the fish that much though, it evenually died too.
I didn't mention that I do have a rubber lipped pleco in the tank, but it stays hidden most of the time til the lights are off then it does it's job.
I'm worried about buying another dp because I've had mine over a year and if I put a smaller one in there I'm afraid the bigger ones will kill it before it ever gets to grow up. Down here they don't last long in the fish store, so no way to buy a full grown one. What do yall think of maybe putting a couple (tiger, rosey) barbs in there? They are pretty quick and are always entertaining to watch? Going to the fish store today, so all answers would be appreciated.

If you have a pleco in there, too, you're already fully stocked. I highly recommend against adding barbs or anything else. Quick doesn't make any difference to puffers, all fish have to stop and sleep and that's when they are attacked. DPs can and have killed fish many times their own size.