# more dwarf puffers



## Kezzab (18 Apr 2017)

the kids saw the article in this months pfk and asked if they could get some. Maybe I said. Then went into the lfs for something entirely different and they had them in stock. Seemed churlish not to, so got a trio.

they are currently in a nano tank in their bed room, but will be upgraded to bigger quarters soon. Kids love em.


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## greenmac75 (19 Apr 2017)

you need to keep an eye on them if they're going into a community tank, I found them very nippy.


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## Kezzab (19 Apr 2017)

hi, they'll be on their own, with maybe a couple of carefully selected companions.

they are interesting to watch, I'd say they appear to be stoned most of the time.


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## Lindy (29 Apr 2017)

Kezzab said:


> hi, they'll be on their own, with maybe a couple of carefully selected companions.
> 
> they are interesting to watch, I'd say they appear to be stoned most of the time.


Haha don't let them fool you! 

Sent from my SM-G920F using Tapatalk


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## zozo (29 Apr 2017)

Kezzab said:


> hi, they'll be on their own,



Still keep a close eye, than can be very picky and nippy to eachother..  They have a rather individual personality.. How they ae generaly discribed is very short summary. Oftenly stated they only need 20 or 30 litre per individual.. But this can be very untrue if you happen to get 2 together who just do not like eachother. There actualy is no general way to describe these fish.

I happen to get 2 in a 110 litre tank.. According found information more then enough.. But it wasn't.. They can be extremely dominant towards eachother and restlesly chase the sub dominant around. HAd to remove the sub dominant because he was blowing off steam and frustration towards the other tank mates. Dominant puffer was picking on him, he was picking on his term on the others. It took the dominant about 8 months, to turn from a peacefull little cute honeybunny into a awfull agressive little moster, he owned on his own a 110 litre tank.. First hunted the pumila's around all day long, i took the pumilas out. It took him  a few weeks to find everything else had to go as well and started hunting them aroumd. He stressed 2 barbs to dead.

Also, there is no saying what their gender will be. In the first few months of their life they have no gender, this they develop while maturing.. It seems the ones develop to be male first release a hormon to prevent the other from turning male. But still the ones i had probably simultaniously decided to become male.

Males can be extremely agressive towards eachother.. Males can even extremely agressive towards females. It all depends on the mood they are in.. They realy sleep and if they wake up on the wrong fin, it's chaos all day long till bed time.

They can be a monsterous as they can be cute.. No saying what you will get. They not only need a species only tank, they need to monitored closly in what ever setup you put them..

Anyway, if you happen to get a few getting along in such a small setup as above.. Consider yourself extremely lucky..


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## Kezzab (29 Apr 2017)

hi zozo, thanks for the wise words. The tank is too small and will be changed soon. But so far they seem ok. 2 of them hang around together and the third is a loner. They occassionally have a wee chase, but not much. Will keep a close eye.


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## zozo (29 Apr 2017)

They develop these characteristics slowly with getting adult and more confident.. Juveniles school, likely for protection, but slowly grows apart to go and establish a territory, which is fiercly defended once they have it. They love to pick a fight and are very aware of their capabilities. In my case i try to keep him together with roaring dwarf gouramis.. But these strated breeding and then become also bit territorial and protective. Papa Pumila decided to chase puffy away, he only did it twice and Puffy decided to switch the roles around. And started chasing all pumilas around all day long.. Nobody picks on Puffy, Puffy is King.

Watch the first 15 seconds closely.. You'll see what kind of a backstaber he was. With his googly puppy eyes and the devil hiding behind it. 


It became much worse after that.


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## Progen (29 Apr 2017)

Start a tank, pail, basin or whatever with snails. They love snacking on them. Don't make the mistake of thinking that the snails can reproduce fast enough not to die out. The snails need to be in another container.

These little munchers have a nasty habit of killing just about everything smaller than them and nipping others that are not that much bigger.


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## Kezzab (23 Jun 2017)

I upgraded this to a slightly higher 25l tank, lost one puffer along the way.

It's now running simply on daylight (light is just for pics) and java fern, Anubias, crypts and bolbitis are growing well, tank seems to have settled.

Running on 2x50% wc a week, no ferts, co2 or what have you.



Fish happy, voracious little fellas.


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