# How many dwarf puffers?



## Stoic_Southpaw (Oct 17, 2014)

I've got a 10 gallon tank that is cycled and ready for fish (I'll be getting them once I get on winter break), and I want to put pea puffers (dwarf puffers) in it. The tank is rather full of plants, but they don't do much to fill the tank yet because they haven't grown out very far yet. Also, I only have one place I know could be used as a hiding spot (a gap between two propped up rocks. I do have a large piece of spiderwood driftwood in the tank, which has lots of branches (potential line-of-sight breaker or hiding spots underneath?). How many puffers should I get?

With one puffer, I'm concerned about the tank looking empty (I'm going to try bamboo shrimp with the puffer, possibly).

With two, I'm afraid of two males constantly harassing each other or a male constantly bothering a female.

With three, I'm just not sure if I can keep up with the mess they'll make or if my ramshorn snail culture could even keep up with their appetites. Also, the gender imbalance is a concern again.

Any thoughts?


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## lamiskool (Jul 1, 2011)

I kept one in a ten gallon and even though it may look empty, whenever I can near the tank the puffer would swim right to the front of the glass and follow me which was enough for me. My thing with fish is their comfort/health comes first to my "desire" to keep them


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## Betta132 (Nov 29, 2012)

One would be the best idea. 
Bamboo shrimp are difficult to keep alive in a tank that size, plus they'll probably be slowly picked apart.


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## FlyingHellFish (Nov 5, 2011)

Quite possibility the smartest pet fish you can get. They are curious about everything and will even bug you for food when you're trimming. If you keep them fat, they can even be housed with adult shrimps (the babies are 50/50) so honestly, try it out but prepare to have another tank to house them.

My two puffers were best of friends, unfortunately one grew bigger and started getting nippy. I had to move one to another tank. 

In conclusion, I just wasted your time by providing you with a generic answer. Sorry.


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## Bryk (Feb 26, 2013)

I have 10+ in a 37G. The more you have the more the aggression is spread. 

Key as you mentioned is line of sight blockers. How tall is your spiderwood, does it go near the top? Are there clear "zones" to your tank with it in there? 

I would get 1 per zone. I wouldn't get more than 1 per 3g, unless it is very heavily planted, and stable. The more heavily planted the tank, the more they seem to be happy. They find all the best hiding spots in my tank.


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## newbieshrimpkeeper (Dec 2, 2014)

1. 2-3 if u have enough hiding places. 4-5 five if ALL ur puffers are friendly(i doubt that though) lol. personally i'd go with small shoaling fish though , well you could keep otos with them, if you have a heavily planted and heavily decorated(i mean caves and driftwood by this) tank.
for a very heavily decorated and planted tank u can have
a trio(1 male 2 female) of dwarf puffer
3 otos
snails(for the puffer's food lol)


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## wontonhands (Nov 15, 2014)

id get 3, 1 male 2 female. you can sex them males have a brown line down its belly and iridescent wrinkles behind the eyes, and lines instead of dots on the tail, females are generally smaller and the dots on females are darker.

Bump: also i would get 3 oto's


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

I'd suggest only 1. Though you can technically house 1 per each 3 gallons, they get territorial as they mature. I started with 3 in my husbands densely planted 12g long (1 m 2f). The male was always the skinniest of them but they were very well fed on live snails (bladder, ramshorn, and mts) and live black worms. However the male was the biggest [censor] and harassed one female into jumping to hear death on the desk (our bad- we didn't have a lid.. fixed that next day). Several months later (a few weeks ago) the male finally harassed the remaining female into jumping out of the only (very tiny) hole in the tank for the canister intake pipe.. so now he is the only puffer in the 12g long.
He has shared it with 3 otos (I've tried adding more but otos are very delicate and have high mortality from being wild caught) for a long while with no issue, and what is now a colony of cherry/rilii mix shrimp. The shrimp were tossed in as food but the stupid puffer never ate them (started with 5.. now I have no clue how many are in there!).
My experience does not dictate how all puffers act, some seem docile enough to tolerate groups, and ever form mated pairs (had hoped this would happen but instead I got a dried crispy female...), and some will destroy and eat any invert (even 3x as big as them).


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## garfieldnfish (Sep 25, 2010)

I had 3 dwarf puffers in a 15 gal. Two paired up and harassed the third one to death. I got another puffer, again they killed it off. I left the pair to themselves which lasted a few weeks and then I only had one female left. She was the only occupant in this 15 gal tank for a few months and then I added a CAE that had been misbehaving in another tank. Those two were a set for 4 years until the puffer passed away. They did not compete over the same food. The puffer was too small for the CAE to latch onto and the CAE could not eat the puffer. Great combo and a very clean tank. The CAE is now happily living in a 75 gal. I had many plants and decorations in the tank. Plenty of line of sight breakups but they still did not play nice. Unless you have a giant tank (50 gal and up) with many dwarf puffers and plan on breeding them, I would advise you to save yourself the heartache and get only one.


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## amcoffeegirl (May 26, 2009)

I agree on one puffer. Same type of experience with me. Bought two puffers then one was killed by the other added a new puffer and it was killed also. They are highly territorial. I always read that in a bigger tank it was one puffer for every 5 gallons of water.


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## Squrl888 (Oct 3, 2014)

Dwarf puffers are classified as "Vulnerable" (one step below Endangered) by the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) and overcollecting has definitely been cited along with habitat destruction as part of the reason they are classified that way. Their entire population has declined 30%-40% in the past 5 years.
http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/166591/0
I advise anyone who keeps them to atleast try to breed them in order to reduce pressure from wild sources. I've looked up dwarf puffer breeding on thepufferforum.com and a member who has bred dwarf puffers multiple times advises atleast a 20 gallon long for breeding with 1 male and 2-3 females in the tank.
They are one of the most intelligent and awesome fish, as people have pointed out.
Feeding them is hard. Be prepared to culture snails and blackworms/other live food.

Edit- apparently dwarf puffer farming has become a bigger supplier of dwarf puffers nowadays. I would suggest asking your LFS where they get their dwarf puffers from. The aquarium trade has certainly caused species to go extinct or almost extinct before. Look up Bala sharks and Red-tailed black sharks histories.
For an interesting review of aquarium fish collection from the wild read http://lkcnhm.nus.edu.sg/articles/dbs/aquarium_more.html . Some good information and focus on the collection of Bala Sharks, Arowana, Clown Loaches, and Harlequin Rasboras.


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