Live and learn? No, should have listened in the first place

exu

exu

AC Members
Mar 8, 2007
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I have kept Dwarf Puffers for some time in a species tank. I did all the research and learned all that I could about them. I read all the claims of them being aggressive, etc. BUT I has also read several claims of success putting one into a large planted community tank. So I took my 2 DPs and put them in my 55 planted. All was ok for about a day. Yesterday morning I noticed one of the rainbows with a little notch n the tail fin. Last night I witnessed the larger of the DPs chase those poor rainbows all over the tank taking teeny tiny bites out of their tails. I quickly wrangled them up (how great that you can put your finger on the glass then net the puffer who comes to investigate! curiosity killed the cat) and put them into an empty small tank.

Point being when someone tells you that a Dwarf Puffer can take on a 3 inch fish and win they are telling the truth and it will eventually happen. In my case I believe only one of the pair was being aggressive, but thats all it really takes. My entire stock was hiding in the plants because of them. I found the whole thing very interesting, though I should never have attempted it as I did read all the warnings.

My fish are all fine. Luckily the DP mouths are minute and I stopped it very early on. Perhaps someone else will read this and some peaceful community fish will be spared the reign of terror a DP visit can cause.
 
I have had my DP in my community tank for about 3 weeks now with very little aggression. If anything, the neons nip at Dwarf "Puffy" Fish instead of the other way around. I'm stocked fairly low at 7.8 gallons per inch of fish so I think that's a major factor in their peaceful co-existence. But I'm keeping a very close eye on everybody's health and am on the lookout for anything damaging. Since I don't have a second tank, I'll have to return P Fishey if he gets too aggressive. (Probably won't get any money back for him, but it's better than just killing him)
 
the moral of the story? Tail today, Gone tomorrow! ;)

glad to see everybody came out alive.
 
So the moral that I'm getting LOUD & CLEARLY is that as it applies to Dwarf Puffers, (& I'm not sure I've ever seen them so that means I've got reference work to do ....), as well as with many other fish that more SEASONED hobbyist try to warn people about,....

....it pays to listen even when you'd rather not & get the fish that you want!

I'd LIKE TO SAY that I didn't go astray from this in all my years oin the hobby, but I'd be lying!!

AT LEAST I NEVER FOUND OUT THE HARD WAY THAT LIONFISH WILL STING & YOU WILL EXPERIENCE SOME SEVERE PAIN, LIKE MY COUSIN DID!! LOL
 
faldgan said:
I have had my DP in my community tank for about 3 weeks now with very little aggression. If anything, the neons nip at Dwarf "Puffy" Fish instead of the other way around. I'm stocked fairly low at 7.8 gallons per inch of fish so I think that's a major factor in their peaceful co-existence. But I'm keeping a very close eye on everybody's health and am on the lookout for anything damaging. Since I don't have a second tank, I'll have to return P Fishey if he gets too aggressive. (Probably won't get any money back for him, but it's better than just killing him)
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The point I was trying to make is do not ignore tails of dwarf puffer aggression. What I ignored is a great deal of people saying at some point DPs will get mean. Sometimes sooner, sometimes later, but eventually. It is my opinion that I listened to the "its been a month and everything is cool crowd". Hopefully I will not make that mistake again.
 
At work, the way the fish were set up in the tanks was the dps and african spotted leaf fish. The 4" leaf fish were always, always hiding in the back and no one could figure out why. No one would believe me when I said it was the dp until I sat them down and we watched the tank for a few minutes. Sure enough, a dp cruised right up and nipped a chunk out of a leaf fish. We moved them to their own tank and everyone is doing much better.
 
One of the problems with inexperienced fishkeepers posting they have done something for a while and it has not been a problem is when it finally does become a problem they never come back to post that they were wrong. This leaves some with the impression that it can work despite more experienced folks saying it is not a good idea.

If one wants to get good info from any fish forum, the first step is to learn who are the 10-15% of posters who can and should be trusted when they say something. And don't be fooled by post counts either ;-)
 
TwoTankAmin said:
One of the problems with inexperienced fishkeepers posting they have done something for a while and it has not been a problem is when it finally does become a problem they never come back to post that they were wrong. This leaves some with the impression that it can work despite more experienced folks saying it is not a good idea.

If one wants to get good info from any fish forum, the first step is to learn who are the 10-15% of posters who can and should be trusted when they say something. And don't be fooled by post counts either ;-)
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I agree. A main reason I posted my screw up. However on other forums, that shall remain nameless, I may have been attacked for being honest. I think this keeps a lot of people from posting back about such issues. Luckily AC seems to be a fairly level headed group. As with any group the inexperienced vastly out weight the experienced and AC doesn't seem very elitist on this front.
 
Well, I've had my two puffers in a community tank for about a year or so, they are full grown adults (babies rarely nip). They have "days" where they will nip, I won't lie. But it's not very often. It happens most of the time to the cardinals, but again...it's rare. I truly believe it depends on the individual personality of the fish and the food. Live foods are a must if you want to have peaceful puffers. I have two females which may also have something to do with it, I had a male for a week who was really aggressive towards EVERYONE.
My advice for someone wanting to try puffers in a community tank would be to try it, but make sure there is an alternative home for it if things don't work out.


Edit: By the way, the cardinals are fine, even occasionally chase the puffers and are always out in the open and not shy.
 
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