The Elegant Dwarf Puffer

[archerman22]

Ok, so I was wondering. I have a 5g tank with a bunch of stupid little feeder guppies (supposed to be food, but turns out that dragon gobies don't really like them), I would really like to get rid of the guppies and put some dwarf puffers in the tank. How many could I keep in a 5g? Also I know that they should probably need snails or something crunchy to keep their teeth worn down, since they're puffers, but where could I find snails that small? Or would there be a good substitute for snails that would still keep their little puffer teeth down? Any info would be appreciated, Thanx.

[raymgnz]

You can check out dwarfpuffer.com for all the info you will need. They recomend 3 gal of water per fish so really only one will be good for a 5gal tank. I have a snail tank for breeding so I always have a suply of them. Pond snails are the best for the DP's. Thier shells are softer and they reproduce like crazy, your LFS should give them to you for free. My local PetSmart and Petco do. Either way check out the site it will answer all your questions. I have both dwarf puffers and greeen spotted puffers. I feed them both the same. Frozen blood worms ( thawed ) and snails.

[labont865]

Dwarf/pea puffers are freshwater fish, they should not be kept in brackish for long periods of time.

[BeelzeBob]

i would say you could keep a pair M/F or F/F but never 2 males.

you would just need to heavily plant the tank to heavily break their line of sight.

the males are just pissed lil fish.

as far as snails, ive heard that they are not as necessary for DP as for other puffer species, but my little guy loves the frekin things.

i would definitly suggest getting snails for DPs, definitly yea.

and my LFS has little snails all over the place and they are more than happy to get rid of them. size wize, my DP will kill a snail as big as he is no prob.

just plant the hell out of your tank with all sorts of stuff, (take the luxury of freshwater) get some cherry shrimp, ghost shrimp and shiz and go for a sexed pair and you should be fine.

[RTR]

Only one in a 5 gal. tank IMhO & IME. Insufficient pesonal space for two for me.

I feed my DPs blackworms and snails, with an occasional treat of frozen/thawed bloodworms.

[archerman22]

Ok, so I did buy a dwarf puffer, although I am not sure on the gender. It is in the 5g tank and I have some bushy plants for it to hide in. It seems pretty happy. I also put a small shrimp (was labeled as algae eating shrimp at the petstore)in the tank and I haven't seen him in a while. Do you think the the dwarf puffer could have eaten him? I got some snails from the wal-mart near me (they made me buy a fish, but the snails were free of charge). I'm pretty sure they are just small mystery snails, is this ok for my dwarf puffer to eat? By the way, thanks for the info everyone.

[s2kdrift]

DPs are a good choice. I would recommend 1 per every 3 gal. And instead of using snails to keep their teeth under control, might I recommend you use peanut brittle or jaw breakers. The peanut brittle provides a brackish type of water while the jaw breaker would definitely satisfy the DP's sweet tooth and keep their teeth grinded down.

[FreddytheFish]

http://dwarfpuffers.com