I got a 5 gallon tank for xmas. i've decided almost to get a dwarf puffer. i think they're cute, and sound like they wont' be too hard to take care of, just as difficult as other tropical fish, but i'm curious to see if anyone would get another one if they had the chance? i've done all the reading up on them, so i'm not really lookin for any websites, just personal experience. also, how long did/has yours lived??
2007-01-08 16:12:06 · 6 answers · asked by Silver Thunderbird 6 in Pets ➔ Fish
i know that you're only supposed to have one at a time, because they will kill to the death over teritory,,,,, and that you have to have a minimum of 5 gallons to each fish. that's why i only want one.....
also, would you recommend putting a snail in with it?
2007-01-08 16:20:51 · update #1
I've had 4 for about a year and a half, but one that just died a couple weeks ago. They all fit into a planted 10 gallon very happily. I've got 4 Oto catfish in with them too. They are the only ones that the puffers haven't beaten up yet.
If you wanted to, you could put 2 or 3 in the 5 gallon tank, just give them plenty of places to hide and fake or real plants to break up their lines of site in the tank. Mine chase each other away from the snails alot, but otherwise they get along very well.
Don't put a snail in with them, unless you want it to be lunch for them. I've thought about the large mystery snails, but I don't know if the puffers would snack on it or not. You can always try it.
Oh, and if you're talking about the tiny brown spotted puffers, they are not brackish like the answerer before said.
2007-01-08 18:48:53 · answer #1 · answered by jcrnr79 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Dwarf puffer fish are indeed adorable and very interesting to watch. If you get the young ones. You could expect them to live for about 2 years. They are freshwater fish and look best in a tank with fine gravel and freshwater plants (get good lights). You can keep a few together and if you add a small hollow, you might be blessed with watchin a pair mate and rear a brood. They love live food and thrive on chopped worms, tubifex worms but their one true love is SNAILS. Most people keep them to rid their planted tanks of snails. Their beaks are suited to suck the snails out of their shells or chew the small ones. You can actually hear them crunching the shells!! If you can get your hands on watersnails in large numbers, your puffers will be in fishy heaven. When they are underfed or bored, they may start attacking each other but injuries are usually to the tail fin only. Andafter a while, they learn to give each other space. You may keep them with other fish as long as the fish do not have long fins or move too slowly because dwarf puffers are notorious fin-nippers. Hope this helps.
2007-01-08 16:51:57 · answer #2 · answered by aken 4 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Dwarf Puffers are far to aggressive. I would never keep goldfish with tropical fish of any kind. Goldfish do not have stomachs they digest food through their intestines and they are constantly producing high volumes of waste, In fact a tank with gold fish should have at least double the filtering power than normal tropical fish, so if you have goldfish in a 45 you should be filtering for at least 90 gallons. Goldfish are cool water fish and that does not match tropical fish temperatures.
2016-05-22 21:56:49 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yes I have kept dwarf puffers and they are not easy to rear at all. They also are fussy eaters and will certainly nip fins of slower moving fish. However once they are acclimatized to your tank they will eat and get really territorial. Do read up about the water composition too.
Mine lived about a year with me.
2007-01-08 18:35:40 · answer #4 · answered by steve s 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I hope you have better luck than me if you decide to get a puffer. I got 4 of them and they live about 2 weeks. I'm not sure of what I did or didn't do that was wrong.
2007-01-08 16:18:20 · answer #5 · answered by simpsonwd 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
my lived for about a year. they are a pain in the ***, because you have to keep them with fish that are just big enough that they won't bite them. Puffers are really agggressive, i have red devil and i seen aggressive fish. I keep mine with my rainbow shark and angels and the puffer destoried their fins. to care for puffer keep the ph at 7 or above, temp around 78, and they are brackish fish so a little salt to the tank can help. Most puffers will adjust to freshwater.
2007-01-08 16:32:58 · answer #6 · answered by dustmaster69 2 · 1⤊ 2⤋