Female Betta Tank Or Dwarf Puffer Tank?

[penguinpimp1990]

I have a 29 gallon aquarium and Im undecided as whether to make it an all female betta tank or all dwarf puffer tank. What would you choose? The aquarium will be planted heavily and since its kinda small It will be easy to pamper and look clean and perfect.... (descret heater cable, matching black stand and canopy, everything top of the line, you get the idea the whole nine yards).

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

There aern't any puffers that you can be sure to successfully mix with each other in a community tank for any long period of time, so if you went for a puffer tank i'd only advise one puffer in it- but thats great if thats what you are looking for.
The more female bettas you have the more likely they are going to get along, like tiger barbs, the more you have the more it disperses the agression between them.
Personally i would go for a female betta tank, you could fit a large amount of female bettas in a 29gal and you could also get some really stunning colors in them- female bettas also really appreiciate heavily planted tanks, although im not sure puffers do on average.

 

[bogwood]

Personally, I'd go for the DPs... much more interesting and entertaining... but harder work... make sure your filter is up to the job as DPs are messy... and be prepared to one day look in your tank and see... carnage... as juveniles, DPs are fine in a group... but there is NO guarantee they will stay like this...

A ratio of 1 male and 3 females would be good (to save the females getting continually hounded and to cut down on one DP getting all the grief from the dominant one)... most DPs are too young to sex when you get them... later, the males produce a brown line down their bellies and some have 'wrinkles' behind their eyes...

Here is a link to an excellent DP site: www.####

 

[penguinpimp1990]

im fully aware that puiffers arent community fish, what i meant by "all puffer tank" was the tank was only to be stocked with dwarf puffers. And dwarf puffers can be kept together provided they have at minimum of 3 gallons per fish, so in my tank i could get 9. And a ratio of 1 male to two females has worked succesfully for me in the past in a 20 gallon tank, and these fish were adults.

 

[bogwood]

How do I add a link... didn't work in my above post...

 

[penguinpimp1990]

youre not allowed to post links to other sites, but the site im guessing you were posting was dwarf puffers. com, ive known of it for quite some time and find it quite useful

 

[bogwood]

youre not allowed to post links to other sites, but the site im guessing you were posting was dwarf puffers. com, ive known of it for quite some time and find it quite useful

thats the site... why no linking?... what happened to the idea of 'freedom to share information'...

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

im fully aware that puiffers arent community fish, what i meant by "all puffer tank" was the tank was only to be stocked with dwarf puffers. And dwarf puffers can be kept together provided they have at minimum of 3 gallons per fish, so in my tank i could get 9. And a ratio of 1 male to two females has worked succesfully for me in the past in a 20 gallon tank, and these fish were adults.

Its actually a minimum of 5gals, though people can keep them together very successfully alot of the time, it doesn't change the fact they are still very terotorial/agressive little fish and cases of them killing/attacking each other even in ideal tank situations aern't that uncommon.
You will also need to trim their teeth every once in a while too;

http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=90950

If you want an easy to keep clean/low maintanence tank, they aern't the best fish for that sort of tank even if its not a large tank, they are still quite high maintanence fish in comparison to most other fish- of course what you go for is entirely up to you, these are just my personal opinions .

 

[Synirr]

You will also need to trim their teeth every once in a while too

DPs are an inch long... I'd love to see someone try to safely anesthetize and trim them. It's logistically near impossible. With DPs, you really only have to feed them snails every now and then to keep their teeth worn down. It doesn't take much, since they are so tiny and their teeth are so thin. Mine gets snails about once every 2 weeks and her teeth are in tip top shape

 

[soritan]

Dwarf Puffers and Female bettas both have the same aggression problems when put in the tank with other fish, from what I've read, neither is more social than the other. I've read many posts on this very forum where an all female betta tank turned into a little bloodfest of territorialism.

I think a species tank of DPs is a fantastic idea, wholly achievable if you've the will and the way.

However, if I were you, I'd advise with a betta tank.

Here's why I'd get the bettas:

1) Their diet is less selective than a betta's, so it's easier to hoist them off onto a pet sitter when you travel for 5+ days.

2) Visual stimuli, you are able (even though it's technically better to have all sisters, having nonsibs in a tank together is achieveable) to get many colors and put them into the same tank to achieve a little more variety (if that's your thing, I actually think 5 or so DPs would be a cuter site... but I'm a huge DP fan).

3) If a war does break out, it's fairly easy to put a female betta into a smaller bowl and maintain their health, wereas having to seperate out 5 dps into smaller bowls will cause a whole mess of issues, since they're so messy they'll each need 5g each, and since they aren't community fish, none of them can remain in the 29g (unless you want the most spoiled, unseen DP, ever). You can also leave a female betta in the tank and fill with community fish, if she's of the disposition... that's generally not an option with DPs.

Of course, those are my opinions. Both fish are valid options, if you're willing to see to their needs. If a DP tank is on your personal, "omg want" list, I'd say go for it. It's doable.

 

[Dorkhedeos]

i would just get one bigger species of puffers if you wanted to go with puffers. dwarf puffers dont really need teeth trimmings. give them a snail once in a while and they will be fine

 

[Opcn]

Java moss and caves, more specifically lots of caves with java moss at the enterences, It is speculated that rubbing there bellies up against plants such as java moss stimulates breeding in DP's, which would be cool, and other DP's know to steer clear of breeders, Plus DP's are so much cooler than bettas, bettas are just like little bass, DP's are radically different.

 

[Erised]

Much as I absolutely love dwarf puffers, I think you're better off going with a female community tank.
While it is true that dwarf puffers can get along just fine, it will always be a risk you take. I'm aware it's like this with female bettas as well, but they tend to be a bit more accepting and not usually fight to the death. Plus they're less easily stressed, where the stress of arguements could lead to death for the puffers, the bettas will be alright.

About the 3G or 5G a puffer, there's many supporting the 3G, and many supporting the 5G. On this forum however, there's more people that support 5G (that I'm aware of at least) than 3. Ofcourse this will be completely up to you, but aren't you better off being safe rather than sorry? I really recommend you keep just 6 dwarf in that tank if you're willing to give it a try. And make sure you can get your hands on 5 5G back up tanks in case needed. Have 1 ready at all times.

I'm not keen on the idea at all though. I started off with 3 dwarf puffers in my 15G (heavily planted on anyones opinion, plus loads of rock caves) and am now down to 1 because of aggression. Perhaps I simply had bad luck, but who says you won't have the same amount of luck? It really does just come down on the puffers and their personalities. You can get lucky, or it can go completely wrong ... but there's nothing in the middle.

Seeing as you have kept them before though, I understand you know what you are doing =) Yet I still stick to my opinion, and I'd say go with female bettas.

 

[Opcn]

wWhile 3-5 gallons may be enought to support a DP physiologicall mentally they need something more, the risk of fighting is just as high IMHO but the female bettas would be just as fine in a few smaller tanks sitting on a desk. Its up to female betta personallities to the same extent.

 

[jkrekord]

i would say dwarf puffers(i love them) they are interesting cute lil things and are amazing to watch female bettas are nice but i would go for dps they should be ok if you provide plenty of hiding spaces buy them young so they grow up together
in a 29 gallon you could keep 5 dpsi wouldnt riskkepping any more than that