anyone keep dwarf puffer fish?

[pharaoh2653]

ive just ordered 4 of there guys through my lps. just wondering if anyone has any experience with them

 

[Finntroll86]

I saw some of these cool lil dudes in a LPS but they were labeled pea-pod puffers. I was planning on getting a couple for a xmas present to my sister...but sadly no experience.

There is a forum like this one but focused on large, aggressive fish and oddities(like dwarf puffer) called monsterfishkeepers its very helpful.

And of course there is a website dwarfpuffers.com that is helpful as well.

 

[KyuZo]

dwarf puffer or pea puffer fish, they are the same. I kept them before and they are neat lil guys. they like a planted tank along with live food. some will eat frozen blood worm or even flakes, but that's not common.

if you keep them along with other fish, make sure that they are well fed, otherwise they'll nip off your other fishes fins. it's also recommended that you give them small snails to help keep their beak trim.

this is a tropical species so a temperature ranging from 73-85 F is recommended.

 

[pouchedrat]

If I remember correctly, aren't these guys brackish water fish? I could be wrong, but I know a lot of small puffers for sale in LPS are brackish water fish.

/edit- according to the site it said they're 100% freshwater.. huh, maybe the info I remember is old news now and inaccurate. It happens, sorry.

 

[ErinKelley]

These are really cool, but yea as someone else said they can be nippy. I remember them being so nippy that I never kept anything but them in an aqaurium. And mine woud never be interested in anything that wasnt frozen food like bloodworms and brine shrimp. They were pretty cute

As far as salt, I never kept them in brackish but I would keep salt in the water. I think the dosage is a tablespoon to like 5 gallons. I can't think of the word right now but at this dosage it's just to help gill function and slime coatings and I think this is still considered optional to many.

 

[ZergFront]

I had these kept with bumblebee gobies in freshwater. Both have the really weird, scaleless skin. Basically what the others said, feed them shelled fish at least once in a while to keep the beak trim.

I wouldn't stress them too much because actually puffing up isn't all that good for them. I got mad when my brother tried to get one to do it. He said he actually had to try real hard to entice it to puff up..

Finally lost all the fish but one goby because someone had unplugged the air pump and didn't put it back!

 

[UrbanJungles]

I keep 2 figure 8 puffers with some Mudskippers.
For long term success, you should kepe them in brackish water...I keep mine between 10-15 ppt (weak brackish) salt water, been 3 yrs now and they are doing great although as mentioned, they are very quarrelsome and pick at everything.

I had some bumblebee gobies for a while but the puffers picked them off over time...puffers eat so MUCH!!!!

 

[dtknow]

This particular species is 100% freshwater occuring in rivers in india. Occurs alongside of Etroplus canarensis(interestingly, another fish with close relatives adapted to brackish environs).

Keep them warm in a well planted tank and they may even surprise you with eggs.(might see baby puffers in the plants)