Dwarf Puffer

I'm thinking of setting up a species tank, a Dwarf Puffer (Pea Puffer)
tank to be exact. All the info I found on the web about these little
fish has just confused me. I need to make sure I know what I'm
getting into before I go out and get some. I also need to know what
kind of water to have.

I need the following cleared up please.

Common Names: Dwarf Puffer, Malabar Puffer, and at Big Al,s Pea
Puffer

Are these fish Brackish or Not?..... Some sites says they ARE Brackish
and will NOT do well in fresh water, others say they ARE NOT Brackish
but are FULL fresh water fish. Which are they PLEASE?

They will be going into a tank just for them, no other fish.

The Max size of these fish are around 1.5"?

Would a max of 7 be OK in a 20 Gallon Tank? or are we going to be over
crowding and asking for disaster? don't forget they will be the only
fish in this tank.

I've done a search on the Tropica site for plants (Brackish) and have
come up with a few choices. If I can get them locally this tank will
also be a low light planted tank with DIY CO2 if CO2 will be a benefit
to a low light tank.

Any and all help greatly appreciated.

Thanks
John (AKA)

-= Gandalf =-

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o
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Joh wrote:

Dwarf Puffer, Malabar Puffer, and at Big Al,s Pea Puffer

Are these fish Brackish or Not?..... Some sites says they ARE Brackish
and will NOT do well in fresh water, others say they ARE NOT Brackish
but are FULL fresh water fish. Which are they PLEASE?

They are not brackish. They are true freshwater fish.

They will be going into a tank just for them, no other fish.

That's probably a good idea.

The Max size of these fish are around 1.5"?

Mine never got any bigger than about 1/2" to 3/4". I would consider
1.5" their extreme maximum size, and uncommon.

Would a max of 7 be OK in a 20 Gallon Tank?

Yes. I kept four in a 3-gallon tank without any difficulty. You won't
be overcrowding them at all with 7 in a 20. You should aquascape so
they can explore nooks and crannies, and set up territories. Also, I
found that solid background and gravel colors made it easier to see
them. I tried a mixed stone substrate for awhile, and the puffers were
all but invisible against it.

Any and all help greatly appreciated.

One additional note - mine were very finicky eaters, and would only
take frozen blood worms, and whatever extra small live snails I tossed
into their tank. For your own convenience, you should try to train them
to take other foods as well as bloodworm.

--
www.ericschreiber.com

"John -^)) " wrote in message
...
I'm thinking of setting up a species tank, a Dwarf Puffer (Pea Puffer)
tank to be exact. All the info I found on the web about these little
fish has just confused me. I need to make sure I know what I'm
getting into before I go out and get some. I also need to know what
kind of water to have.

I need the following cleared up please.

Common Names: Dwarf Puffer, Malabar Puffer, and at Big Al,s Pea
Puffer

Are these fish Brackish or Not?..... Some sites says they ARE Brackish
and will NOT do well in fresh water, others say they ARE NOT Brackish
but are FULL fresh water fish. Which are they PLEASE?

They will be going into a tank just for them, no other fish.

The Max size of these fish are around 1.5"?

Would a max of 7 be OK in a 20 Gallon Tank? or are we going to be over
crowding and asking for disaster? don't forget they will be the only
fish in this tank.

I've done a search on the Tropica site for plants (Brackish) and have
come up with a few choices. If I can get them locally this tank will
also be a low light planted tank with DIY CO2 if CO2 will be a benefit
to a low light tank.

Any and all help greatly appreciated.

Thanks
John (AKA)


I have two in a 20g tank, along with a few mollies, 2 corys, 2 otos.
Freshwater, and I add a little salt occasionaly, no problems.
I have read that they can be fin nippers, but I never see them chasing the
other fish.
They don't eat flake food. They love frozen brine shrimp, and they eat
snails, but only small ones since they are so small themselves.
I love to watch them on the hunt, they look like little attack helicopters,
right down to the camoflaged paint job. They hover over the snail and slowly
circle, their big eyes pivoting like searchlights on the snail. Then wham!
they streak in to get the snail.
They are some of the best fish I've gotten, fun to watch. They seem pretty
hardy too, no problems with a bout of ich and fungus and related treatments
for the other fish in the past month or so.

On Fri, 30 Apr 2004 10:32:55 GMT, "TR"
wrote:

"John -^)) " wrote in message
.. .
I'm thinking of setting up a species tank, a Dwarf Puffer (Pea Puffer)
tank to be exact. All the info I found on the web about these little
fish has just confused me. I need to make sure I know what I'm
getting into before I go out and get some. I also need to know what
kind of water to have.

I need the following cleared up please.

Common Names: Dwarf Puffer, Malabar Puffer, and at Big Al,s Pea
Puffer

Are these fish Brackish or Not?..... Some sites says they ARE Brackish
and will NOT do well in fresh water, others say they ARE NOT Brackish
but are FULL fresh water fish. Which are they PLEASE?

They will be going into a tank just for them, no other fish.

The Max size of these fish are around 1.5"?

Would a max of 7 be OK in a 20 Gallon Tank? or are we going to be over
crowding and asking for disaster? don't forget they will be the only
fish in this tank.

I've done a search on the Tropica site for plants (Brackish) and have
come up with a few choices. If I can get them locally this tank will
also be a low light planted tank with DIY CO2 if CO2 will be a benefit
to a low light tank.

Any and all help greatly appreciated.

Thanks
John (AKA)


I have two in a 20g tank, along with a few mollies, 2 corys, 2 otos.
Freshwater, and I add a little salt occasionaly, no problems.
I have read that they can be fin nippers, but I never see them chasing the
other fish.
They don't eat flake food. They love frozen brine shrimp, and they eat
snails, but only small ones since they are so small themselves.
I love to watch them on the hunt, they look like little attack helicopters,
right down to the camoflaged paint job. They hover over the snail and slowly
circle, their big eyes pivoting like searchlights on the snail. Then wham!
they streak in to get the snail.
They are some of the best fish I've gotten, fun to watch. They seem pretty
hardy too, no problems with a bout of ich and fungus and related treatments
for the other fish in the past month or so.



Thanks for the reply. I'm going to put 7 in a planted 20g tank. This
tank will be a Dwarf Puffer fish only tank no other fish.

Just need to get as much info first before I get them. Don't want to
make the mistake of just getting them 'cause they are sooooo "cute"
then running for help 'cause they start to die, wont eat what I give
them and any other number of preventible mistakes/problems.

Before you get them from the store ask them if they have them housed in
brackish water, if they are in fresh ask them how long they have had them
in the store this way you know how hardy they are.


"John -^)) " wrote in message
...
I'm thinking of setting up a species tank, a Dwarf Puffer (Pea Puffer)
tank to be exact. All the info I found on the web about these little
fish has just confused me. I need to make sure I know what I'm
getting into before I go out and get some. I also need to know what
kind of water to have.

I need the following cleared up please.

Common Names: Dwarf Puffer, Malabar Puffer, and at Big Al,s Pea
Puffer

Are these fish Brackish or Not?..... Some sites says they ARE Brackish
and will NOT do well in fresh water, others say they ARE NOT Brackish
but are FULL fresh water fish. Which are they PLEASE?

They will be going into a tank just for them, no other fish.

The Max size of these fish are around 1.5"?

Would a max of 7 be OK in a 20 Gallon Tank? or are we going to be over
crowding and asking for disaster? don't forget they will be the only
fish in this tank.

I've done a search on the Tropica site for plants (Brackish) and have
come up with a few choices. If I can get them locally this tank will
also be a low light planted tank with DIY CO2 if CO2 will be a benefit
to a low light tank.

Any and all help greatly appreciated.

Thanks
John (AKA)

-= Gandalf =-

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~o~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
o
o
/ \ | \ (( -
\| \/ / o
| / | o
\ | / - ))
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

On Fri, 30 Apr 2004 11:46:01 GMT, "Colleen Dawe"
wrote:

Before you get them from the store ask them if they have them housed in
brackish water, if they are in fresh ask them how long they have had them
in the store this way you know how hardy they are.




That's good to know... I will remember that when I'm ready to get
them.


snip


-= Gandalf =-

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~o~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
o
o
/ \ | \ (( -
\| \/ / o
| / | o
\ | / - ))
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

There's a great web site on them here, by a guy who has bred them:

http://www.rr.iij4u.or.jp/~kohda/en-index.htm

- Rob

"John -^)) " wrote in message
...
I'm thinking of setting up a species tank, a Dwarf Puffer (Pea Puffer)
tank to be exact. All the info I found on the web about these little
fish has just confused me. I need to make sure I know what I'm
getting into before I go out and get some. I also need to know what
kind of water to have.

I need the following cleared up please.

Common Names: Dwarf Puffer, Malabar Puffer, and at Big Al,s Pea
Puffer

Are these fish Brackish or Not?..... Some sites says they ARE Brackish
and will NOT do well in fresh water, others say they ARE NOT Brackish
but are FULL fresh water fish. Which are they PLEASE?

They will be going into a tank just for them, no other fish.

The Max size of these fish are around 1.5"?

Would a max of 7 be OK in a 20 Gallon Tank? or are we going to be over
crowding and asking for disaster? don't forget they will be the only
fish in this tank.

I've done a search on the Tropica site for plants (Brackish) and have
come up with a few choices. If I can get them locally this tank will
also be a low light planted tank with DIY CO2 if CO2 will be a benefit
to a low light tank.

Any and all help greatly appreciated.

Thanks
John (AKA)

-= Gandalf =-

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~o~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
o
o
/ \ | \ (( -
\| \/ / o
| / | o
\ | / - ))
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Rob" wrote in message
news:q7Dkc.307972$Pk3.59080@pd7tw1no...
There's a great web site on them here, by a guy who has bred them:

http://www.rr.iij4u.or.jp/~kohda/en-index.htm

- Rob

And for somone doing this in small tanks claiming these 'are not proud
tanks.'....it demonstrates the level of tank aquaculture common in Japan I
think. They look very good to me for what they are intended to be!

"John -^)) " wrote in message
...
I've done a search on the Tropica site for plants (Brackish) and have
come up with a few choices. If I can get them locally this tank will
also be a low light planted tank with DIY CO2 if CO2 will be a benefit
to a low light tank.

Some additional CO2 will help plant growth in even a low light tank. DIY
CO2 is the way to go in small low light tanks. Just dont add additional
ferts unless you're looking for an algae jungle.

Graham.

On Sat, 1 May 2004 23:41:25 +1000, "Graham Broadbridge"
wrote:

"John -^)) " wrote in message
.. .
I've done a search on the Tropica site for plants (Brackish) and have
come up with a few choices. If I can get them locally this tank will
also be a low light planted tank with DIY CO2 if CO2 will be a benefit
to a low light tank.

Some additional CO2 will help plant growth in even a low light tank. DIY
CO2 is the way to go in small low light tanks. Just dont add additional
ferts unless you're looking for an algae jungle.

Graham.


I was thinking that it would help a little but not enough to make it
worth the effort. I believe I've read in other places, including
these NG, that the Lighting has to be at a level that photosynthesis
is going well, supply needed trace minerals, K2SO4, KNO3 then you will
need CO2. I have a 1 year old heavily planted 33g tank that has about
3w/g that I add all of the above to and if I stop giving any one of
the mentioned CO2, K2SO4, KNO3 and Tropica Master Grow my plants slow
right down and some start to die back. I some times have a hard time
just keeping NO3 between 5ppm and 10ppm. There have been a few times
were NO3 was at 0.

Anyway the jury is still out on this one I haven't made up my mind yet
whether CO2 is worth it. If I put 3w/g or more on this tank then I'm
quite sure CO2 and other ferts will be needed.

John