My betta died...I need a new fish.

[FlareBettaGuy]

My betta died. Even though i'm still recovering from the loss, I plan to get another fish or few in the near future. And dwarf puffers intrest me a lot. They look cool, and they can be in groups. I saw, in the fish store, one tank holding large dwarf puffers, and one tank holding small dwarf puffers. The small ones are babies. So should I get the babies or the teenage ones? They can live for a long time, so I don't have to worry about old age anytime soon.

Do they need warm or cold water? And what should I feed them regularly? Do they need a lot of space? Did you make any past mistakes on the dwarf puffers that you wish you have known sooner?

 

[Alien Anna]

Dwarf puffers would be a good fish for a small tank, provided you knew what you were doing (and I'm sure people would be glad to help you on this group).

You'd need a minimum 10 gallon tank with a filter (puffers need good water quality and that isn't really possible in a smaller tank). You can get some pretty good deals on tanks with filters and lights and everything all included, particularly second hand. Don't feel you have to have expensive equipment.

Puffers are definitely tropical fish so would need a heater (again, a lot of small tank sets come with a heater included). Most require some salt but apparently some are true freshwater species.

Definitely do your research - you have learned a lot from your betta experience, but of course puffers are a little more "advanced".

 

[ginamoore]

i dont know everything about puffers but i have a saltwater puffer the freshwater puffers are cool but they are brackish fish so they do like a little salt in there water. I think around 1.012-1.016. but the can live in reg. freshwater.
if i am wrong someone correct me.

 

[FlareBettaGuy]

Yeah, thanks. Soon, i'm gonna have to research and learn just about everything on hundreds of different types if fish if my fish keep dying like what happened to Mr. Betta yesterday. 10 gallons, eh? And lights? I heard that they need some plants, too. And a bunch of other stuff to hide in. That's lucky, cause I have so much "stuff" lying around that I haven't gotten a chance to use yet. Well anyway, are dwarfs saltwater or freshwater? And should I get the babies or teens?

 

[FanOFish]

Of course if you move to a puffer, you will have to change your name...Hmmmmm how about Pufferdude?

 

[KimmyFishy89]

The thing with puffers is, if they are unconfortable in a smaller tank they puff out. Although cute, it attracts other fish to come nip them. And the puffers don't take that from other fish so they fight back. They also nip at flowing fin fish (Angels, bettas etc.).

From what I know they get along nicely with platys and other similar species. Hehe, them live bearers get along with everyone

 

[Lithril]

Have a look at the pinned section at top at Puffer Species, pufferpack has answered a lot of questions on there and its well worth a read. Dwarf Puffers are fresh water but are also one of the more aggressive. Another one you're likely to see (our LFS always has them) is the Colomesus Puffer aparently they're less likely to start taking chunks out of prospective tank mates.

If you're going to get puffers you'll need to make sure you've got plenty of caves and hiding holes and preferably some plants to break up the line of sight in the tank. The other thing to look into is food, puffers need some crunchy foods like snails to keep their evergrowing beak worn down.

 

[FrankSlapperinni]

Didn't You post this already?

 

[Pufferpack]

Hi FlareBettaGuy

Sorry to hear about the loss of your little Betta .
Dwarf Puffers were the fish that hooked me on fishkeeping. We bought 6 for the community tank (on the advise of the lfs that they did well in a community ) Well after about 10 mins in the community tank they discovered how much fun it was to latch onto one of the Dwarf Gourami's tails or fins and ride it accross the tank until they were ripped free (along with a generous portion of the poor gourami). Well seeing as the gouramis were my wifes favorites she was, to say the least, a littl ticked off and threatened to send them into the swirly hole of doom. The little gaffers were so cute and personable that I couldn't see them destroyed. That day I went out and bought my first tank (remember I knew nothing about fishkeeping), filled it with de-chlorinated water and luckily I had also picked up a bottle of "Cycle" and added it to the tank as per the directions. I truly believe that it was the Cycle that saved my little puffers lives, because as I started to research their needs I found that they usually do NOT survive the tank cycling process as they are scaleless and extremely sensitive to any chemicals in their water. through the use of Cycle to speed up the bacteria build up, and constant monitoring and frequent water changes all 6 survived nicely. They are still my favorite fish (I am now also the manservant for South American and Target puffers as well) and are IMO the most personable fish of any we have (closely followed by our many Cichlids).

I would be inclined to go for the slightly older Dwarfs,because it should be easier to differentiate between the males and females (males have a more streamlined shape and a dark line running down their bellies from lip to tail, while the females have a flatter forehead and rounder bellies) A ratio of 1 male to 3 females usually works well but there is no guarintee (my most aggressive Dwarf is XP, the smallest female - that's her in the last pic in my signature) and you are correct that they live a long time, 15+ years, so be prepared because that have a tendency to get grumpier as they age.
As Lithril mentions check out the 2 posts "Pinned" at the top of this section " Keeping Fresh & Brackish Water Puffers" and "Puffer Species" we have managed to cover a wide range of questions regarding the care of our little puffer buddies.
The best advise I could give has already been mentioned by Alien Anna...do a lot of research before buying, and also please do NOT rely on advise from the lfs as there is a disturbing lack of proper information on the care of these delightful little fellas being put about by most (IME) employees of fish shops.

edit:

the freshwater puffers are cool but they are brackish fish so they do like a little salt in there water. I think around 1.012-1.016. but the can live in reg. freshwater.
if i am wrong someone correct me.

Hi ginamoore there are quite a few FW puffers that don't do well in BW, the Dwarfs being one of them, as well as Targets, Fahakas, South Americans etc. although they can survive in BW their lifespans are shortened and they are prone to more disease. There is so much conflicting information floating around that it can be quite confusing, which makes it all that much more imperative that a person do a lot of research and try to get advise from puffer keepers with personal experience with the species they wish to care for.
HTH
Don.

p.s. feel free to PM me with any questions you may have.