How do I get a puffer fish?

Question

I am interested in getting a puffer fish, and I am SO excited!! But I have some questions about it.

I don't want to get a fish that will end up being a foot long, so what are the puffer fish that stay fairly small?

What are the "personalities" of these small fish?

I know that they cannot be kept with other fish, but what if I got two puffers? How well would that work?

In your opinion, do they do better in fresh or salt water?

What is the easiest thing to feed them?

I would love it if you could answer any or all of these. I think the greenspotted puffer is the cutest, but don't know how mean it is, or anything else. Please help! I really appreciate it.

Answer 1

Don't keep any salt water fish if you don't have any previous fish keeping experience.

Also, puffer fish that will stay small are usually of the brackish or freshwater variety.

The Indian Puffer, or The Dwarf Puffer will grow to 1' in length. It's the smallest of the puffers, and the ONLY puffer that will thrive happily in fresh water.

Dwarf Puffers have also been known to do well in community tanks if given the right amount of space because they are the least territorial, and have the least aggression issues.

Other than that all puffers should be kept in same species tanks unless provided the proper amount of space.

The Green Spotted puffer will thrive best in brackish water (A mixture of salt water and fresh water). Although they can be kept in fresh water tanks, they are more vulnerable to illness and it will shorten their life expectancy. In other words, they won't be as happy. Green Spotted puffers tend to be aggressive of nature, like many of the puffers. If you're not experienced in keeping fish, I don't reccomend keeping a Figure Eight puffer because you should only keep a brackish water fish tank if you have had some experience in both fresh and salt water, in my opinion. (So you know the ropes of what's works for you and what doesn't.)

I would go with the dwarf puffer. You can keep two in a ten gallon tank, because although the general rule is 1 fish per gallon, a puffer requires about five to live comfortably. You'll also need a water heater, and some fine gravel. They like lots of places to hide, so lots of wood, cave like rocks and plants should be good.

Puffers do not have scales, meaning that if they are wounded they are more prone to disease and death, and heal slower. So make sure your puffers have a good amount of space and can establish their territories harmoniously, if that makes sense :]

Puffers like a variety of food.

Anything from freeze dried tubifex worms, plankton or blood worms, a basic tropical fish sinking pellet staple, and crushed snails. They love those and they make a great treat!

You don't want to look for what the EASIEST thing to feed them is, because to keep them healthy they require a good variety.

I hope this helps! Best of luck to you.

Answer 2

Pet smart or pet angle

Answer 3

wal-mart has them.. and they are fairly small...

but wal-mart fish never last long...

Answer 4

dwarf puffer fishes r cheap and tiny, but they need a lot of room. u can get it at petsmart for like 5 dollars.

heres some care information

Personality:

      Dwarf Puffers are very interesting, intelligent and active fish. They are very observant fish, noticing everything outside of their tank. In time, they will come to know their owners . As soon as we walk into the room they swim right up to the glass, staring at us with those big eyes! They’ll stay in one spot for hours, observing everything you’re doing. One way to stop their staring is to feed them. They are ‘big’ time beggars for food!!

      All my puffers are males and have no problem with territory. There is of course a dominant male in the group, but that was to be expected and he only claims dominance at feeding. Once in a while I'll see some chasing. The fish are not stressed with this chasing, it seems to be a natural behavior.

The Dwarf Puffer is from Malabar, India. It is found in the wild in water that is slightly acidic or slightly alkaline. It is a scale-less fish, so care must be taken when using medicines. It is advisable to keep some aquarium salt just in case, to use as a medicine to treat the puffer. It is also best to keep the puffers in a ratio of 1 male to 2 females, as male aggression between the puffers can lead to fighting and death.

Water

The dwarf puffer is a freshwater puffer and does not require a high pH like their brackish cousins. I keep my water with at least a pH of 7.0, and change 30% weekly. Temperature should be between 24ºC-27ºC as it is a tropical fish. I keep mine at 27ºC (80ºF) to ward off ich or prevent it from occurring in my aquarium.

Dwarf puffers do well in a wide range of water and temperature conditions, but it is best to keep the water slightly alkaline and slightly warm, to prevent ich.

Tank Size

Tank size is up to the fishkeeper, but to really enjoy the size and scale of this fish it is better to keep it in a 10-gallon, where you can observe it easily (and not lose sight of it in a bigger tank!). The dwarf puffer grows up to 1-inch long, but do not underestimate it! It can easily shred the fins of a larger fish, so a species tank is generally best, although you can try keeping them with otocinclus and other fish that keep a low profile. It's best to go 1 fish for every 2-3 gallons, because they are very territorial.

Habitat

A heavily planted tank is essential  for your dwarf puffer. As it is a very intelligent fish, it needs to be able to explore its surroundings and hide behind plants from the aggression of other dwarfs. Planting the tank with Hygrophila polysperma, Java fern, and Java moss will help the puffer feel safe and secure in its new home. I have noticed that when puffers go to sleep they like to rest upon the moss and the broad leaves of Hygrophila polysperma, so the plants help to provide security and a resting place. The dwarf puffer does not require any salt in it’s water, it’s a completely freshwater fish. Adding salt will do more harm than good. Small as they are they are extremely aggressive and should be kept in species only tanks. They’ll need a minimum of 5 gallons each and when having more than 1 in a tank this rule should not be stretched to fit slightly more in. The tank should have a sand substrate, seeing as puffers often like to sleep on sand and sometimes even burry themselves in it. Gravel often has sharp edges and will lead to the puffers cutting themselves. When keeping more than 1 puffer the tank it will need to be heavily decorated to break up the eye-sight of the puffers and give them plenty of opportunities to hide from and lose the other puffer that is following them. You can do this by using plants, rocks and bogwood. Dwarfs establish their own territory as well so caves or other hiding places they can call theirs are a must.

Tank-mates

I have kept my dwarf puffers with some otocinclus and a Chinese hillstream loach* . Dwarf puffers are not as pugnacious as others in their family, and ignore the otocinclus and loaches. They seem to be interested in looking around the tank, and waiting for you to feed them. Do not keep neon tetras or long-finned active fish with puffers, as the puffers will find this distracting and attack them. They can shred the fins of a zebra danio overnight, and cause much damage to their tank-mates with their teeth.

*It is not really recommended to keep Chinese hillstream loaches with dwarf puffers, as the puffer needs higher temperatures to avoid diseases, while the loach prefers cool and well aerated tanks with a big current. However, I see no aggression issue between the two species of fish that suggests that they are incompatible when kept together.

Feeding

Dwarf puffers love to eat bloodworms. I feed mine a steady diet of bloodworms, and also snails that infest my other aquarium. Snails normally come in a steady supply when your tank is infested, and I find myself catching them and dumping them in my puffer tank. The snails' shells help to wear down the puffers' teeth. If care is not given to provide them with a steady diet of snails, they might become unable to eat due to their teeth becoming too large. Dwarf puffers will also need their teeth looked after. They keep growing and can overgrow if not being grinded down by snail shells. If this happens, the fish will not be able to eat anymore and will eventually starve to death if the teeth don’t get cut. For this reason you’ll have to feed your puffers snails at least once every 2 weeks. The rule for this tends to be "it will get crushed as long as its smaller than the size of the puffers eye", anything larger than that will simply get it’s head bitten off.

They become very excited when you feed them, and give the impression that they are ‘begging’ for food. It is wise to measure the amount of food you give them everyday, to avoid overfeeding or starvation. They eat rather messily, so I use a dropper to squirt small amounts of bloodworm into their mouths. They sometimes attack the dropper and ‘suck’ out the bloodworms like a straw!

Sexing

The dwarf puffer is relatively easy to s*x, as the male shows a black horizontal stripe on its belly whenever it displays aggression to other males, or when displaying for courting females. Another sign is the patterning of the spots. Males usually don’t have as many spots and overlapping colour variation. Males also have creases and wrinkles behind their eyes, whereas females do not.

These sexing methods can be used to determine the s*x of adult puffers. It is difficult to spot these signs on juvenile specimens, except maybe in the case of using the spot technique.

Miscellaneous Information - Summary

1. The dwarf puffer will do well in a heavily planted tank

2. It is best to keep one dwarf puffer to every 2-3 gallons of water.

3. Try to keep more females than males in an aquarium.

4. Good tank-mates include otocinclus and other inactive algae eaters.

5. Feed them live foods only; they rarely accept flake or other dry food.

6. Do not overfeed these fish, as it may lead to constipation.

Answer 5

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