i need help on dwarf puffer fish?

Question

i'm thinking about getting some dwarf puffer fish but i need to know if they are hard to take care of and if they are comunity fish please help me i don't want then to die or kill any other fish

dwarf puffer fish don't eat live bait

at petsmart they had dwarf puffers in with jumbo neon tetras and it said they were comunity fush thats why i'm asking

Answer 1

Definitely not a community type of fish, need a species only tank with them alone in it. I had 4 of them once, very quickly went to 1, a lot of times they're even intolerant of their own kind. I feed mine live or frozen brine shrimp(mine preferred the live), frozen blood worms, small snails.

As far as their care, they're fairly easy, like any other fish, need to keep the water quality good-if anything more so, because it's easy to overfeed them, causing leftover food in the tank.

Here's a good link with info on dwarf puffs, click on freshwater puffers(they are true freshwater puffers so no salt):

http://www.thepufferforum.com/forum/ug.php/v/PufferPedia/

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And by the by, PetSmart as a lot of pet stores(not all but a lot), are stupid and I would take their advice on anything reguarding fish with a grain of salt....they are not very knowledgable or a reliable source of information...Better off doing your own research online before buying fish, supplies, etc.

.

Answer 2

Dwarf Puffers are extremely time consuming and expensive to care for because they only eat frozen food and live food (some times they only eat live food). They are about as far from a community fish as you can get. Though they stay about an inch long, they have a sharp beak they can (and will) tear through any other fish. They are 100% freshwater fish and will die in brackish water (aquarium salt is different than brackish salt). Puffers should be kept in a tank with only Puffers of the same species. Until you are an experienced fish keeper, I would caution against Puffers.

Nosoop4u

Answer 3

The last thing you would ever do with puffers is put them in with a community tank with other fish.Unless you want to view a fish massacre. Puffers are nothing but evil and will devoure the fins of any fish that is placed in the same tank with them.

Answer 4

Dwarf puffers are not the easiest to take care of and might do what you're afraid of as well. Here's an extensive article that should give you all the information you need:

http://www.fishchannel.com/freshwater-aquariums/species-info/puffer/dwarf-puffers-are-hard-to-resist.aspx

Answer 5

MY dwarf puffers (and i seem to be alone on this) do fine in a community setting. i've had them with guppies, neons, glass cats, cories, loaches, gold barbs, and otos. they do only eat frozen or live food which can kind of be a pain in the butt, but all of the other fish they are in with loze frozen too. i just throught 1 cube of bloodworms in the tank a day and everyone is well fed.

Answer 6

Unless you have a small dedicated tank for your puffer I would advise against one.

Puffers do not work and play well with others and you will need to feed it brine shrimp or blood worms as they won't eat flake food.

On the other hand, dwarf puffers are small enough that it might not pose a threat to your larger fish. But the special food requirements still remain.

Answer 7

No they are not a community tank fish. They usually need to be in a tank by themselves...I have had them...and they are nasty!

Answer 8

They are aggressive and a brackish water fish. The extra salt will not harm your community fish, but make sure there are enough hiding places and you have a big tank in order to protect your other fish.

Answer 9

Good articles on their care:

http://www.aquascape.co.uk/DwarfPuffer.mht
http://badmanstropicalfish.com/profiles/profile93.html

Answer 10

Here is everything you need to know about them
http://www.aquarticles.com/articles/breeding/McKane_Dwarf_Puffers.html
http://www.aquarticles.com/articles/breeding/Kaiwa_Dwarf_Puffers.html


I hope that helps
Good luck


EB