# Planting a 5 gallon Dwarf Puffer tank?



## Walking_Target (Jul 16, 2008)

Hey all... Need some suggestions for some easy-to-grow fast growing plants. 

Tank is a 5 gallon with a Whisper 20i (actually a Whisper 2-5, the predecessor to the current whisper line) it was 'insta-cycled' with a filter pad that was seeding my biowheel. 

So far, i have some growing rhizomes of Crytocoryne Beckettii, Water Wisteria, Cobomba and some Java Moss and Java Fern. Also have a small Anubia in there and what i think is hornwort. No fertilizers other than some old tank water and just under 2wpg of CFL light. 

The only tank resident immediately is a solitary Ghost Shrimp (his buddies were too fast to catch, another will be nabbed at the next feeding) 

The little Dwarf Puffer won't be showing up for a couple weeks, not until i'm sure the tank is 100% cycled and stable. Until then, i plant to grow, grow, grow.


----------



## epicfish (Sep 11, 2006)

Fast growers? Hygrophila sp., Ludwigia sp., Rotala sp. are pretty fast stem growers. Baby tears is also pretty fast. In a few weeks you'll have a pretty full tank.

There's obviously a ton more, but when you mentioned easy and fast, those popped into mind.


----------



## chase127 (Jun 8, 2008)

you cant really use the WPG rule over a tank that small. what light are you using? my 5.5 with a 6500K 26 watt light grew the prettiest rotala rotun like a weed. get some and you wont be disappointed. 

if you want to go high light, you should get the 27Watt Hampton bay desk lamp from Home Depot OR get a regular desk lamp with an standard light socket and put a 26W 6500K GE compact fluorescent in there. both work great for me :thumbsup:


----------



## Walking_Target (Jul 16, 2008)

currently it's using a GE 13w Spiral CFL, not sure on what K rating it has, but it's 'warm'.

I'll head out and see if i can't find some Ludwiga.

Oh, i forgot to mention substrate.... I'm using Laterite-enriched silica 'play sand' It withstood the vinegar test and was fully sterilized and rinsed, no water clouding. Laterite was introduced by crushing about a tablespoon of 'first layer laterite' and using that on the very bottom of the tank. 

It's interesting that you mention Hygrophila sp though, i had 3 stems of Hygrophila Corymbosa; one just died, the other two aren't doing so hot; meanwhile my java fern has been reproducing like a tank full of guppies.


----------



## chase127 (Jun 8, 2008)

probably cause warm light is lower on the Kelvin scale. its really yellow, right? plants use light the best in the 6500-10000K range. you should go out and get 6500k daylight bulbs.


----------



## Walking_Target (Jul 16, 2008)

Nah, my Hygros were in my 10g with around 2.5wpg worth of 6700k Hagen CFL lights. One kinda melted and the other two have stunted growth. It's been two months and they've each gotten a new pair of leaves; after which the old pair just dropped off.

Checked my water parameters, found iron wanting, dosed with Flora Pride (one month mark) and still nada. Mg is fine, other traces should be fine, macros are all fine (again, as evidenced by my java fern on crack...)


----------



## chase127 (Jun 8, 2008)

my low hygro melted too. i wonder if theres such thing as a hygro melt lol?


----------



## Walking_Target (Jul 16, 2008)

it was odd, it was stem melt, not leaf melt.

Thinkin i might go and see if i can't buy the brown crypt from the good LPS... they think it's aluminum plant and it's huge... and 4.99.


----------



## chase127 (Jun 8, 2008)

haha my LFS had dwarf neon rainbows in the platy tank and i picked up the last two for 1.99 each since the guy didnt know the difference


----------



## Aquarist_Fist (Jul 22, 2008)

Mind if I throw in a question? How many puffers are you planning to put into the tank? Can they be happily kept alone? I have a 5 gallon here, which I primarily use to grow moss on wood, but I might as well buy a filter and a heater, and make it a puffer home.


----------



## Indignation (Mar 9, 2008)

To throw my two cents in - I have a solitary dwarf puffer in a 5.5 gallon heavily planted tank with co2 and EI ferts. As long as he has food, he is pretty happy. My frustration has been that i can't get him to eat anything except for live snails. I've tried almost everything, live and frozen blood worms and brine shrimp, mysis shrimp, flakes, pellets, anything i can think of. He did eat an Ancistrus Claro, and a couple Amano shrimp before i figured out his only other roommates could be Otos. YMMV.
As for the hardiness, mine has survived far more than he should have - ammonia spike, co2 spike (pale yellow on drop checker), broken heater. (88°, down to 70°) These fish are tougher than some claim. Just be careful moving them with a net, being in air can kill them pretty quickly. (their inflation bladder gets air in it that they can't clear.)


----------



## chase127 (Jun 8, 2008)

well they need 2-3 gallons each to be content. 2 can be housed in a heavily planted 5.5, they need plants to break their line of sight from one another. but as they get older they'll start to outgrow each other and might fight.


----------



## Walking_Target (Jul 16, 2008)

Okay... going from what i've researched and read.

Dwarf puffers are purely freshwater, so you can still grow moss on wood, and they like complex environments.

as fish, they're messy. They need 3 gallons per fish and over-filtration. In a 5.5 gallon, you could reasonably keep one Dwarf Puffer and two otos, or a couple ghost shrimp (till the puffer figures out ghost shrimp are tasty) 

Yes, one can be kept alone and very happy. Dwarfs will tolerate each other, but in a 1m/2f ratio at sexual maturity. they will nip at each other and are best kept singly. 

They also need live or frozen food. You can sometimes convince them to eat freeze dried, but it is not preferable due to nutrient content. Be prepared to feed a snail at once a week (common pond or ramshorn) this keeps their teeth worn down. 

They also require a bit of special handling. You absolutely cannot allow them to inflate above water. this can kill them. you have to net them underwater and transfer them to a holding jar/tub while underwater. If it sucks in air, the only hope is to hold it just below the surface and stroke it tail to head with a finger tip (gently) to help coax out the air.


----------



## Walking_Target (Jul 16, 2008)

Indignation: I'd been reading on this, apparently simulating live prey motions with a pipette in a food dish can convince them to eat frozen foods. they just need some motion to trigger that snatch and gulp reflex. 

And Chris, same thing i've been reading, two young ones can live in a 5.5 with lots of plants, but they tend to fight when they reach sexual maturity.


----------



## chase127 (Jun 8, 2008)

roud: roud: thumbs up for doing your research!!! thats how it should be done


----------



## rich815 (May 21, 2008)

I kept a little puffer in a 5 gal eclipse hex tank for a while. Also had 4 pencil fish in there and a couple haborsus cories too. Plants that did well and grew fast for me were cabomba, myrio and pennywort.


----------



## Walking_Target (Jul 16, 2008)

wow, that must have been one crowded tank! 

anyway though, i tend to research everything. Ever since i got back into keeping an aquarium, i've learned not to trust LFS people and to do my own research...


----------



## rich815 (May 21, 2008)

Walking_Target said:


> wow, that must have been one crowded tank!
> 
> anyway though, i tend to research everything. Ever since i got back into keeping an aquarium, i've learned not to trust LFS people and to do my own research...


Nah, the habrosus were young each about the size of a dime, the pencilfish maybe an inch. Pls the puffer. The plants grew well and I trimmed them about once a week. The fish seemed to like hiding in amongst the stems as they sort of spiraled around the hex. Like I said, I used to have, when they all got bigger they went into my 72 gal.


----------



## Walking_Target (Jul 16, 2008)

alrighty, added another small piece of cobomba and some more moss, added FloraPride and water from my plant growout... Added DYI Co2 at 1 bubble every 8-10 seconds; diffusion is through an air stone. (i count it as low tech, as DYI co2 is made from a pair of old soda bottles)

thinking i might take the powerhead from my Whisper filter and use that as a diffuser, but probably not (no suction cup)

anyway, cycle is Stable


----------



## PooN (Jul 17, 2008)

I have a 20gal community tank that im about to plant. I purchased a 10 to move the fishing y the 20 gets set up and cycles and ready to be a refurnished home. after im all done i think the 10 will get planted and be a home for the dwarf puffer.

The dwarf puffer is the only thing my girlfriend likes when it comes to me spending any time with the fish


----------



## Walking_Target (Jul 16, 2008)

Well, i'm growing several rhizomes of C. Beckettii but the petstore i'm getting my puffer from has a few wonderfully grown, bushy brown/bronze C. Wendtii for $5.99 each that are oh so tempting


----------

