dwarf puffers

[unwritten law]

So my room mate always wanted puffers and since we had equipment for a 10 gallon but no tank we went out and set it up. I figure I can fit 2, maybe 3 dwarf puffers in there and maybe an oto or two.

Now I had to order them threw my LFS and he said they were called dwarf yellow puffers. I said that sounded right because they have dwarf in teh name and are yellow. Was I correct?

Also he said that they were brackish. I am pretty convinced they are not. So whats teh deal with that and if they are shipped brackish should i acclimate to fresh? I assume a drip acclimation would be best, do I need to set it up?

Any other suggestions?

 

[emmanuelchavez]

True dwarf puffers are freshwater, I believe. He may be ordering something else for you.
Make sure to have plenty of hiding places if you get more than one. You should try looking up the scientific name, and going back to make sure that's what you're getting.

 

[OrangeCones]

The most common species sold is called Carinotetraodon travancoricus. Sometimes Carinotetraodon imitator is seen, but there are debates going on that they may be one and the same species.

My LFS keeps them in brackish water. Doing so will shorten their lives and subject them to health problems.

If what your store ordered is the correct fish, they are indeed a FRESHWATER fish. I've bred them in freshwater planted aquarium. Lots of plants will really help. If you plan on keeping 3 in the 10 gallon, I'd highly recommend you get one male and two females. Males can be aggressive with each other, especially if they are fighting over one female. If they get a batch in and you can chose your fish from a large school, look for wrinkles around the eyes and a darker bar on the belly, that indicates a male. Young fish and females look a lot alike, so its harder to sex them at younger ages.

If they are the right fish and come in with brackish water, just drip acclimate them. They can be picky eaters. My first set (the parents) would eat live food only at first, but I got them to take frozen with some coaxing. The fry ate infusia, then BBS, then commercial flakes ground up tiny. They also would eat live and frozen meaty foods too. Even living together with the parents, the parents never would eat flakes. I thought they'd 'learn' to from the offspring, but no such luck! This website has a lot of good info about them. *SUNSMILE*

Dwarf Puffers : Home

EDIT - One more thing...its important that you keep them underwater. If they should freak out and start to puff and they puff air, it can be deadly to them. Whenever I moved them, I'd scoop them out with a clear drinking glass and gently pour them into the new container. They are not a fish you can really safely net. And keep an eye on them when you do waterchanges/gravel vacuuming. They are very curious and you can easily suck them up by mistake.

 

[unwritten law]

Thanks. I couldn't find anything that had dwarf puffer in the name that wasn't freshwater. He named them dwarf yellow puffers. Only problem is that the is convinced that they are brackish.

 

[OrangeCones]

That website has a lot of good close-up pics of the dwarf freshwater puffers. The best way to know is to compare the real fish to those photos. Many wholesalers make up a name and then the LFS adopts it as the 'correct name'.

Can your LFS give you a scientific name for the 'dwarf yellow puffers' they have ordered?

If it is the dwarf freshwater puffer, it should live in freshwater. Most puffers start out life in freshwater and migrate to the sea as they age. The dwarf freshwater puffer is the exception, it that it remains its entire life 'upstream' and never migrates to the open sea. From what I've read, its their small size that caused them to remain in the 'relative safety' of the rivers and streams.

If you do get some, be sure to post some pics!

 

[wondabread]

I've wanted these for a long time. I setup a 5.5 gallon tank for them once my favorite pet shop got them in stock, but by the time it was planted and running long enough for me they were out of stock for the next several months.

They finally got them back in a few weeks ago, so I bought 2. One of the two died on the second day, the first wasn't eating either. The third day I fished about 20 very small pond snails from my guppy feeder tank and the remaining puffer absolutely devoured them. He at several and after eating it looked like he just wanted to keep killing them for fun.

4th day I noticed snail eggs so stopped adding snails since they will be able to somewhat sustain themselves.

Bought another puffer on the 5th day - which wouldn't eat for 2 days. He started showing a sunken in belly on the 7th day - and I actually thought he was dead on the 8th day. Came home after work and he wasn't dead.

On the 9th day I fed frozen mysis shrimp, which the initial puffer devoured. As the new puffer came into his view, he shot across the entire tank and head butted him in the stomach. I removed the new puffer, which died late that night. Puffer one is doing great after 3 weeks.

So now we are reserved to keep our single puffer in the tank, feeding a mixture of frozen mysis shrimp (3 times/week) and live snails.

Moral of the story is pay very close attention to these guys for the first few days. I was sure a 5.5g was enough space for 2 - and they have AMPLE hiding places and about 15 native plants (native to their natural habitat). I knew they were aggressive, but didn't realize how aggressive they could actually be.

Sorry for the long post, but while I think this is possibly one of the coolest fish I've ever owned, unless breeding, maybe reserving the tank for a single fish would save a few bucks. Man are these guys curious and personable (if a fish can be described as so).

 

[unwritten law]

The first supplier didnt have them so I am suppose to call again today to see if the second supplier out of ohio has any. Ill ask for scientific names this time and Ill probably just stick with two.

 

[OrangeCones]

Looks like you got the puffers based on your signature now. Were they the ones you wanted?

 

[unwritten law]

yeah he got some in from Ohio...They pretty much already cleaned out my tank of the snails I got. Today I tried some frozen bloodworms and at first they were hesitant but they did devour them. They are really fat now though. Here's some pics

Their tank

Them

 

[BlueStraggler]

So cute!! *celebrate

 

[OrangeCones]

I wish you could teach them to eat only snails and not fry! I have a ton of snails I'd like murderated in a tank that has Badis badis fry in it. They are so teeny tiny and no way I could get them out of a 29gallon heavily planted. They look like eyeballs with clear tails still. Once they are old enough, I'll get a few! Too cute!

If you want to breed snails for them, some have had sucess using a snail trap that the adult snails can't get out of, but the babies can fit out of the holes/slits in it. Mine had a ball waiting for new baby escargo to escape the trap (or so they thought!) *laughingc

 

[unwritten law]

So I figured by the line on their belly's I got a male and two females so that's good. We named the three: Sex, Drugs, and Rock & Roll. The male is the meanest right now but he doesn't pursue a chase just a bit territorial.

Here's a decent video of I think Sex trying to get a snail... It's harder when they are on the glass and I think the camera spooked them a bit. I think I need to try and get more snails later today. I kept some extras in the 16 gallon but they are hard to find.

 

[OrangeCones]

Yes, that is the 'hunt mode' they do! They'll learn to just hit them hard once to knock them off the glass, then follow them when they hit the substrate. Sometimes it will seem like they are hesitating, but if another puffer is close by, they kinda hafta gauge if they can follow the snail down to the ground before the other puffer gets it. I had a female that would wait when the male was hunting, and would beat him down to the bottom to get the snack 'he' was hunting. The little tramp!

Can't tell for sure, but it looked like the water was a bit turbulant. That may slow them down some too. They have a hard time in anything but a slow flow.

If the male is staking out a territory, he may be setting himself up to breed. Does he have wrinkles around his eyes yet?

 

[unwritten law]

Yeah the water is a bit rough right in front of the filter bit its only right there.

No he doesn't have wrinkles yet. I think its that I actually have two males and one female. O well.

 

[TropicAZ]

I got a question about keeping these guys...

Im thinking about picking up like a 10 gallon or something small to keep a male and a female in. I was reading that dwarf puffers website, and it mentions that they like true freshwater the best. Does this mean I shouldn't use any aquarium salt in the tank? I currently use it in my 25 gallon, but I don't want to hurt the puffers.

 

[unwritten law]

There is no need for salt with these guys.

 

[OrangeCones]

They can't expell salt the way other puffers can, so no salt at all is best. I even rinsed brine shrimp in freshwater before feeding.

If you get two, make sure there are plenty fo plants, rocks, etc to break their line of sight. Cuts down on aggression.

 

[OrangeCones]

No he doesn't have wrinkles yet. I think its that I actually have two males and one female. O well.

The wrinkles develop as they mature, like the bristlenose pleco gets more whiskers. If you do have two males, watch them as they mature. Sometimes two males will fight if there is only 1 female, and sometimes the 1 female is harrassed. They are hard to sex at a young age unfortunately.

If you do have aggression problems, if you could trade one male in for another female, or add two females, it will diffuse the aggression. All depends on the personality of the fish. Some never have problems at all. I kept 3 males and 1 female for years together and never had a problem. They even spawned a few times with no coaxing at all (I had no idea they HAD spawned until fry showed up!). *BOUNCINGS