10 Gallon Dwarf Puffer Biotiope-ish Setup

[magpie]

I say biotope-ish because I'm not going to be overly strict - am going for general geographic area for plants, will likely use oak leaves as bottom litter to make them feel like they're in something close to their natural habitat, and will probably try some cherry shrimp in with them, too. If the puffers go after the cherries I'll put them in my work tank.

So... my plans are:
- 10 gallon tank, low tech planted
- Aquaclear 30 filter with sponge or pantyhose around the intake to protect puffers. (I have heard good things and I can adjust the flow rate so the puffers don't get blown around but yet get good filtration.)
- Unsure about lighting - thinking 2-3 wpg. Open to recommendations. Right now just have the stock light, not sure what the specs are.
- Planned temp: 80 deg
- My water tends to run 6.5-6.8 pH, and very soft. I believe this is OK for the puffers.

Plants: I am going off a list on a dwarf puffer website - plants generally from India/Sri Lanka.
- Crypts - lutea, wendtii or willisii
- Java fern
- Java moss (good for shrimp, too)
- Hydrocotyle sibthorpioides (love the look of this, never used before)
- Hygros - difformis, polysperma, or corymbosa
- Vallisneria tortifolia (dwarf vals - will probably definitely use as foreground?)

And I would like a floating plant - puffers like dim light, and I've found that most of my fish are comforted by floating plants. I think my options are:
- Salvinia natans
- the Hygro difformis (wisteria)
- or use one of the lotus plants and let them go to the surface (Nymphaea lotus or stellata)

Anyone have opinions with these plants? What about the floaters? I've never used lotus before. Would that be a good or bad idea for surface cover? Or I could keep them trimmed short so they don't reach the surface.

I'm mostly concerned with finding plants that will look right in proportion to the small size of the tank.

Substrate.
I want to go with a darker substrate, for looks but also because that was recommended for the biotope. Dark with some red/clay mixed in was what was specifically recommended, but not sure if I need to go that crazy. If I could find something fairly easy that would work, great.
- Are there any dark brown / red (iron red, not fire engine red) substrates that work well with live plants?
- I am considering: Eco-complete (planted red?), Flourite black sand, or any other fine substrate that looks even more natural than black - I'm thinking a dark brown / red or even a mix of two different color sands?

Food.
- Puffers love live blackworms, frozen bloodworms, occasional brine shrimp treat, and snails. I have a LFS that has the DPS so I'll find out what they eat.
- What do your puffers eat? How often do you feed snails? Do you feed them every day or every other?
I actually don't have any pest snails now since I had that pair of Laetacara - they were snail assassins. I only have MTS in my tank now, and I think I read that the puffers can't really get these guys. I could get some pond/pest snails and put them in my main tank, I guess. I really don't want to have a dedicated snail tank if I can help it. If I had to feed them regularly I would work it out, but if it only needs to supplement their diet, I'm sure I could take them off the hands of my LFS and / or pick them out of my 65 gallon if I put some in there and let them go to town.

I think that's it. Thanks for reading my novel and I'd appreciate any insight!

OH - one more thing - 2 puffers for a 10 gallon? Or should I try 3? I have read both and would love to know what your first-hand experiences have been.

Thanks!

 

[magpie]

Oh, and some people say they love caves, others say they don't use them. Do your dwarves use caves and if so, what kind of caves?

 

[Chad]

I've kept lots of these little guys. They never cared much for caves but rather liked to hide behind the tall plants. They like to have their line of sight broken from other puffers in the tank.

 

[magpie]

Great - there will be plants!

How often did you feed snails?

 

[magpie]

It won't let me edit....

Do you think 2 or 3 puffers in a 10 gallon?

 

[Chad]

1 male and 2 females would work just fine in a properly planted tank (meaning tall plants spaced into zones).

 

[Electric Warrior]

I dont have puffers, but what you are doing is exactly one of the things I want to do in the future - a small species tank with 3 or so SAP's. As for your question about floating plants, I have salvinia natans in my tank and it does really well. I originally got it for the hatchetfish I was getting, but they actually prefer to swim under the lights in the open water in my tank for some reason. My angelfish love to eat it/pick at the roots. One thing though, is that you will need to pluck a bunch out of your tank every week, because it grows/spreads like crazy! You want to make sure that it doesn't cover the entire surface of your water and deplete oxygen, as well as block out all of the light to your other plants. As for the substrate, you could use some Seachem fluorite, or laterite would work as well if you want a substrate for a planted tank.

 

[Chad]

I like frog bit (Limnobium spongia) and have it in my 6 gallon tank. It too grows like mad but is easier to remove than something like duck weed (which I love and hate at the same time).

 

[Electric Warrior]

I use some dwarf water lettuce as well and it doesn't seem to grow as mad or quickly as the s. natans.

 

[magpie]

I like the looks of the salvinia so I'll probably go with that, then. In my large tank I have brazilian pennywort floating, and also water sprite, and I have to weed them back weekly, too. That is much easier than the darn DUCKWEED which I hate. It's horrible, it quickly covers the surface of my water and is a pain in the #14### to get out. At least with the larger floaters you can get big chunks out at once. I love the look of duckweed but I despise it.

I'd love to give SAPs a try in the future but am starting my puffer escapades with the dwarves - I hear they're a good place to start. (I'm also scared to do dentistry!)

 

[Electric Warrior]

I'd love to give SAPs a try in the future but am starting my puffer escapades with the dwarves - I hear they're a good place to start. (I'm also scared to do dentistry!)

My hope is that if I decide to do it, my puffers will really, really love snails. I would be waaaaay to scared to try and sedate with clove oil or something

 

[magpie]

If you do keep them I'll be watching. I wonder if my LFS would be willing to do it for me. I would happily grow a dedicated snail tank if it meant never having to do it! There's the other stuff that's supposedly safer, it's a bunch of letters / numbers but still you have to sedate and clip and hold them out of water - I got nervous just watching a video on it and the fish was totally fine.

 

[Electric Warrior]

Yeah I would try and get into breeding snails. I can see it now... Me walking into a vet with a transport tank and a nervous, bucked tooth, puffer in it.

 

[magpie]

Hahahahaha....

 

[Chad]

I've done the teeth trim thing. The first time was a bit nerve-racking but after that it was easy. I've only had two puffers I ever had to do it on the rest would eat like they were supposed to but these two just wouldn't eat the right stuff. One was a GSP and the other was a marine valentine puffer. There's a video on my YouTube channel of the GSP trim with a link to how-to. It's not so bad but shouldn't be necessary. With dwarf puffers it's not if that's what you plan on getting.