ALL DWARF PUFFER OWNERS: Inside Please

[jread]

I am getting ready to create a website dedicated to dwarf puffers: http://www.dwarfpuffers.com These little puffers have become very popular lately (especially with Petsmart selling them) and there is no all-in-one internet resource about them.... just various pages scattered throughout the internet. I would like to create a site where all dwarf puffer owners can have access to information on their little pets.

I am currently in the info-gathering stage and would like input from any and all dwarf puffer owners. Whatever tidbits you can offer as well as pictures and articles.... I mean ANYTHING that you can contribute. I am trying to make the site as comprehensive as possible. All who contribute will be given credit if their info, pictures or articles are used.

I also would like to just take a small survey if you guys don't mind filling it out... even if it's just part of it:

1. Where did you get your dwarves?

2. What size tank are they in? How many are in the tank?

3. What is the male/female ratio?

4. Fake plants or live plants?

5. What foods do you give them?

6. What tank mates do they have (if any)?

7. What tank maintenance do you perform?

8. What temperature and other water parameters do you maintain?

9. Any unique experiences you would like to share?

Also, feel free to e-mail me at: jeremy_read79@hotmail.com

Thanks everyone!!!

[Dangerdoll]

1. Where did you get your dwarves?
petsmart

2. What size tank are they in? How many are in the tank?
I had 3 in a 55 gallon, I know this seems to break some rules but these guys were different....they definiteluy made me recognize that there are extreme exceptions to every rule...i.e., some nippy, some not....definitely your proof that they have individual characteristics which vary from fish to fish.

3. What is the male/female ratio?
1 male, 2 females.... they were all the very best of friends

4. Fake plants or live plants?
fake and live, they loved to hide in the fake plants as they were very bushy. Whereever you saw one buzzing around the edge of a bush, the other 2 were just beyond.

5. What foods do you give them?
frozen and live blood worms, frozen and live brine shrimp, and of course they cleaned my tank completely of any trace of snails brought in with the plants

6. What tank mates do they have (if any)?
I don't have them any more because of a crash of my tank but had them together for well over a year, closer to 2. They were with Angels, cories, a pleco, a RTS, and a danio.... I loved them and miss them very much....I haven't gotten any more because of the current stock in the tank now is complete and I'm afraid they will have competition over the snails with some skunk loaches I got after the tank was back up and running smooth

7. What tank maintenance do you perform?
regular weekly water changes, gravel cleaning every other week

8. What temperature and other water parameters do you maintain?
somewhere between 78 and 80 degrees F

9. Any unique experiences you would like to share?
as I mentioned earlier, this type has proven to me that these fish are definitely little characters that have their own personalitywhich varies from keeper to keeper. When they were swimming around the tank, they travelled in the group of three as well as at rest. No other fish bothered them and they didn't do the "nipping" thing they seem to be notorious for. When I advise about these guys I indicate that this behavior is an individual based characteristic and that they should be watched for it. They never bothered my angels but have heard horror stories of keeping them with angels nonetheless due to the angels laid back behavior and flowing fins.

[SnakeIce]

could be that you stocked the 55 light enough that they had thier space and didn't feel the need to try to enforce that room they needed by nipping

[jeffro426]

1. Where did you get your dwarves?
Petsmart also, hard to beat at .99 cents each!!

2. What size tank are they in? How many are in the tank?
I have 3 of them in a 10 gallon planted

3. What is the male/female ratio?
Honetly couldnt tell ya!

4. Fake plants or live plants?
All live...various types, java fern, java moss, anubius, anarchis

5. What foods do you give them?
Mainly frozen brine shrimp or snails if the LFS store has any


6. What tank mates do they have (if any)?
3 neon tetras and 1 otto

7. What tank maintenance do you perform?
20% water changes once a week, and DIY CO2 changed out once a week also.

8. What temperature and other water parameters do you maintain?
Temp about 76 or so, PH around 7.0 0 ammonia

9. Any unique experiences you would like to share?
These are really cool little fish and i highly recommend them to anyone looking for something with personality. I have them in my 10 gallon tank in my kitchen and all the guests in my house are always drawn to how cute they are. There really not very agressive but should be kept with quicker moving fish!

[Dangerdoll]

Originally posted by SnakeIce
could be that you stocked the 55 light enough that they had thier space and didn't feel the need to try to enforce that room they needed by nipping

that's true but I didn't know the nipping was because of territory, I thought they nipped because they were....... ya know?

[CivicChick]

1. Where did you get your dwarves?
PetSmart....hmmm I think I see a trend...

2. What size tank are they in? How many are in the tank?
I have 2 in a 5-gallon tank

3. What is the male/female ratio?
I just recently got this current pair (the last pair died after an incident with the tank water), and they're still in their adjustment stage (meaning, they won't let me look at them yet :shake:), but if I had to guess I would say 1 male & 1 female.

4. Fake plants or live plants?
Fake plants, but ones that provide good hiding places, & lots of them!

5. What foods do you give them?
An endless supply of snails, as well as frozen blood worms. The petstore told me they fed them flake food as well, but they totally ignore it (this pair & the last ones)

6. What tank mates do they have (if any)?
4 juvenile guppies. They seem not to bother them at all. However, the guppies won't stop having babies (which the Puffers eat sometimes), & they get all excited about the bloodworms, too, so sometimes they eat them all before the puffers get any.....which is why I'm trying to find a new home for them! Also, there is a Chinese algae eater in there, and he gets along fine with the Puffers.

7. What tank maintenance do you perform?
The water evaporates quickly, so every couple days I have to add some. But every 2 weeks or so I try to change 2 gallons of water, at which point in time I use a gravel vacuum. Other than that, the Puffers keep the snails at bay, and the alge eater keeps the waste manageable.

8. What temperature and other water parameters do you maintain?
I use a heater to keep the tank at 76-80.

9. Any unique experiences you would like to share?
My new pair seems to stalk their food together, which really is quite a cute sight. Also, one from my last pair loved the sound of my electric toothbrush (the tank is in my bathroom), and would swim over to the side to watch me :D

[Minty]

1. Where did you get your dwarves?
At my local lfs for $12.99 each-Figure eight's

2. What size tank are they in? How many are in the tank?
Two in a 20 gallon

3. What is the male/female ratio?
How do I sex them?

4. Fake plants or live plants?
Fake-silk

5. What foods do you give them?
Frozen bloodworms and brine shrimp, snails and coral to file away at.

6. What tank mates do they have (if any)?
Chinese algae eater's and guppy fry. They have no interest in any of them.

7. What tank maintenance do you perform?
Weekly partial water changes

8. What temperature and other water parameters do you maintain?
Typically 80

9. Any unique experiences you would like to share?
They are super inquisitive and not scared of my fingers-mini pirahna's!

;)

[cdawson]

civicchick- your tank is WAY too overstocked. Which would explain why you've already gone through a previous pair. If you want to keep the dwarfs you need to take all the other fish out of that tank or you're just going to keep losing puffers. The reason they're probably not comming out to see you or hiding when you come up to the tank is because the water quality isn't very good.

Sorry I don't mean to attack you, I just see that you've got some big issues that need tending too. 2 gallons changed every 2 weeks on a tank that small is BAD. Especially a 5g tank that has over 5" of adult fish size in it with at least 3 pretty aggressive fish.
When you're keeping aggressive fish the 1" per gallon rule doesn't apply, you need to put more of a 1/4" per gallon rule to it.

[CivicChick]

Originally posted by CivicChick
which is why I'm trying to find a new home for them!

7. What tank maintenance do you perform?
The water evaporates quickly, so every couple days I have to add some.



OK, first of all as you can see here, I'm trying to get rid of the guppies. I'm not just going to flush them down the toilet or something, nor will I spend $20 on a new tank until I can get rid of them, let let the tank sit in my basement. So if you know someone who wants them, great, let me know.

Second, the water evaporates very quickly. I'd twice a week I have to add a gallon of water. So how does this not count as replacing water? Current water evaporates out, I add new water in. Am I missing something???

As for the fish not coming out, I wrote this on Sunday & had just gotten the fish on Saturday night. They were still adjusting to their new home, & now they swim about freely when I'm in the room. I get the water tested every 2 weeks to make sure it's healthy, so this is not a problem.

I also don't understand how you get 5" of fish out of my stock? The puffers are both only about 0.5" (which makes 1"0, and the guppies each are between 0.5" & 0.75" (which makes 3-4"). The algae eater is bigger (maybe 2-2.5"), but the pet store & other info. I've read say that he doesn't count. So if I get rid of my guppies, how many puffers are you saying I should have in 5 gallons with the algae eater?

[RTR]

FYI IMHO & IME you should use the maximum adult size of any fish for stocking purposes, and puffers in general need at least twice that minimum (usually much more) as they are chunky-bodied and extremely messy, plus they have a low tolerance for less-than-clean water.

Algae eaters DO count. They have mass, they use oxygen, they produce copious wastes. Again IMHO & IME, I also allow them MORE volume than their maximum size would suggest.

[CivicChick]

So how many would you suggest for my 5-gallon tank, taking into account the algae eater?

[RTR]

I would not keep a CAE in a 5 myself.

[cdawson]

the two puffers, and that's it. Even that's pushing it, I'd just go out and get a bigger tank. A 10g is only $12 canadian. Even then you could only keep the two puffers. Besides, the equipment you have on the 5g is probably actually fit for a 10g seeing as there isn't much equipment out there for a 5g. However I'd check.
All-in-All ditch the 5g, it's more of a glass coffin for fish than a fish tank. The only thing you could really keep in there is a betta and I wouldn't even do that. When your water evaporates the nitrates, and maybe in your case ammonia and nitrites don't go away (because it doesn't sound like your tank is cycled yet if you bought your fish on saturday). That's why you change your water weekly, and the small the tank the less room for error there is. That means more water changes and more tank maintenance. I have to do more maintenance on my 10g planted than I do on my 135g SW.

Also, when stocking a tank you have to take into consideration the ADULT size of the fish, not the current size. Especially when dealing with smaller tanks. You also need to research the tempermant of the fish. You really shouldn't be keeping anything with the dwarf puffers, puffers are very territorial and aggressive at times.

Sorry to put you through all this, but keeping fish isn't like keeping a cat. There's lots of little details involved, ones that are very important and I didn't want to see someone who's enthusiastic about the hobby spend alot of money and get discouraged. pet shop employees actually like seeing people like that because they come back time and time again and spend their money.They also don't know as much as they should. If you need to know something about fish, come to these forums, it's where you'll get the best answer 100% of the time.

[PumaWard]

Originally posted by CivicChick
Second, the water evaporates very quickly. I'd twice a week I have to add a gallon of water. So how does this not count as replacing water? Current water evaporates out, I add new water in. Am I missing something???

No, it doesn't count. Carbonate (which usually effects pH indirectly) Magnesium (effects gH) and calcium (which effects gH also) do not evaporate. So, they just make your water get harder and harder.

I am not positive, but I don't think Nitrate evaporates either, so your nitrates are still always building up.

Weekly water changes, 2X a week being even better, in tanks smaller than 10g is essential to fish health.

HTH

[RTR]

PumaWard got it exactly.

Topping off has absolutely nothing to do with relacement. With topping off nothing is removed from the tank, more is added.

With a partial water change, all the minerals present are being reset closer to the levels of the source water , and materials generated in the tank (nitrate being the one we use as indicator of general pollution in unplanted tanks) are being removed and reduced by the percentage factor of the partial. In other words, do a 25% change, you have reduced nitrate and other pollutant concentrations by ~25%.

Add 10% make-up water without removing anything, you have increased the mineral concentration by ~10% and have removed no pollution.

HTH

[OrionGirl]

1. Where did you get your dwarves? LFS

2. What size tank are they in? How many are in the tank? 40 gallon tank, moderately planted. Currently just one. 3 succumbed to a feeding mistake on my part.

3. What is the male/female ratio? Current one is a male, I'm looking to add 3 females enevtually

4. Fake plants or live plants? Live!

5. What foods do you give them? Blood worms, frozen community formula, brine shrimp, snails. Lots of snails.

6. What tank mates do they have (if any)? 3 SA puffers, 1 rainbow shark, kuhli loach colony, bristlenose.

7. What tank maintenance do you perform? Weekly water changes.

8. What temperature and other water parameters do you maintain? pH about 6.8, temp around 78-79, hardness 7.

9. Any unique experiences you would like to share? I have had them puff on me--not a fun experience. They should not be removed from the water, as they can not expel air. Juveniles will sometimes refuse anything but live foods, and should be kept in a larger tank with a large supply of snails. While their beak growth is not as impressive as with other puffers, it's still important to provide them with crunchy foods as a stable in their diet.