5 Gallon Dwarf Puffer Setup

[nikkifro8994]

[background=rgb(248, 248, 248)]I've had various tropical fish for about 5 years, but I really want to keep a DP. I have a 5 gallon tank just screaming to have a DP in it. I am going to set it up tomorrow afternoon and get it cycling. (DP will be added after tank is fully cycled for 1 week minimum) I have a 10 gallon filter to run the tank. I also have a DIY sponge filter that has been running for about a year in my platy tank (along with an HOB). I figure I can use that to help cycle the new tank. I also have a 25 watt heater.[/background]

[background=rgb(248, 248, 248)]The tank is going to be our centerpiece of the kitchen. It's going to sit on the back of the table by the wall. Since I can only have 1 DP in a 5 gallon, I want to add a lot of plants to make things interesting to look at and great for the DP to explore and hunt.[/background]

[background=rgb(248, 248, 248)]I want to use some type of sand for the substrate. Should I add a plant substrate and then the sand? Or could I find a plant substrate that looks like sand? Or will plants do just as well in only sand?[/background]

[background=rgb(248, 248, 248)]As far as plants go, I have NO green thumb. Most of my plants die after a month. What are some good plants that grow pretty well?[/background]

[background=rgb(248, 248, 248)]I have 3 small caves for him to hide in. Do I need anything else?[/background]

[background=rgb(248, 248, 248)]Thanks![/background]
[background=rgb(248, 248, 248)]Nikki[/background]

 

[techen]

A DP in a 5 gal sounds abit overkill room wise or it could just be me.

 

[nikkifro8994]

How mant would you do? I don't want to make it too crowded. And I'll most likely add an oto as well.

 

[Questions?]

1 dwarf puffer would be as much as you could go unless, you get 2 females?(can an expert help there?) what he meant by overkill was they could actually be put in a smaller tank. but if you want other inhabitants you should keep the 5. otos are schooling fish so you would want to get at least 3. they also need a constant source of algea which might be hard if you feed your DP just snails since the otos would be competing with the snails until the DP eats the snails.
I would do
1 DP
3 otos (if you could provide a constant source of algea and a ph of about 6.2)

 

[nikkifro8994]

The snails would be coming from one of my other planted tanks about 2 each week. What could I have other than Otos? None of my lfs sell Pygmy corries.

 

[Questions?]

i dont think you could, since shrimp would be a no no, same with most other fish except for otos in that small of a tank. since the DP would bully and probaly kill others. ONly reason i would recommend otos is because they are shy, and a lot of people have had sucess keeping DPs and otos together. it all depends on how your DPs temperment is

 

[Salam]

I have three otos and two female dwarf puffers in a 5 gallon tank. All has been going well for many months. Good luck with the project, they are fun to watch and have so much personality. Come to the front as soon as I enter the room.

 

[nikkifro8994]

I did run into a small issue. My tap water has 2ppm ammonia. My filters can process it in a few hours, but will it harm the DP? I know they are sensitive to ammonia and nitrite. I use Prime conditioner which claims to bind the ammonia to make it less toxic. Will the DP be ok with this? How do I remove the ammonia if he isn't?

 

[Paradise3]

DP's are aggressive for their size and if you're keeping it in a 5 gallon then only get one and no other tank inhabitants. Once a DP reaches it's full size and matures it will attack any other fish in the tank, this is what happened when I had my 2 DP's. They matured, 1 attacked the other and killed it. I had my 2 in an 8 gallon tank so plenty of room. Loads of caves and plants for them to hide in and get away from each other and one still killed the other. They get very territorial when they reach maturity. You can feed them bloodworm, small brineshrimp, daphnia, blackworm, mosquito larvae and snails. Make sure the snails are no bigger than the puffers eyes as they can't eat them if they are. The reason you feed snails is to keep the puffers beak trimmed down as if it overgrows the puffer can't eat anything at all and dies. I'll agree Oto's can work but not in a 5 gallon tank. I wouldn't recommend keeping oto's in anything less than 10 gallons and a group of at least 5-10 because they like to group together(safety in numbers) because they are shy. Shrimp will be attacked straight away as they are a natural food source for puffers.

This is all from experience so I hope it helps.

 

[nikkifro8994]

Test results from this morning

Tank

 

[Paradise3]

Tank

I'd take the plants out of the pots, split them into decent bunches(maybe 2) and spread them around to make the tank look fuller.
I can't find the picture of my tank when I put them together but here's the tanks when they were split up to begin with. They were only split up because I hadn't got enough plants to feel safe with putting them together. The tanks look bare because they were newly cycled and set up and I had just bought the puffers. They got put together when I had built up more plants and because my 5 gallon started leaking

Tank 1

Tank 2

Puffers

 

[nikkifro8994]

rearranged the plants and attached the anubis to the wood

[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/72370440@N08/8402510681/][/url]
[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/72370440@N08/8402510681/]Untitled [/url] by [url=http://www.flickr.com/people/72370440@N08/]nikkifro8994 [/url], on Flickr

 

[Questions?]

looks great

 

[nikkifro8994]

 
 

 

[Paradise3]

Looks good Would say to still add a bit more plant life but obviously build it up slowly so that the plants have time to adjust