# Aquascaping for Dwarf Puffers



## SlimStretch (Feb 22, 2011)

I've been focusing on my puffer fish setup and I've come across some plants, wanted to know your opinion on them.

Cryptocoryne wendtii
Cryptocoryne willisii
Cryptocoryne walkeri var. lutea
Aponogeton crispus
Aponogeton rigidifolius
Limnophila aquatica
Cryptocoryne lucens
Microsorium pteropus (Java Fern)
Vesicularia dubyana (Java Moss)

But what are these big leafed plants in the back right? http://www.dwarfpuffers.com/images/5gal.jpg

I think I'm going to go with the Seachem's Flourite Red.
What would be a good way to make hiding places for the DPs other than the plants? Caves? Large Rocks? Driftwood? Which would be more accurate with the biotope?

Would you recommend using a C02 system?

The only thing I couldn't find where floating plants from the Sri Lanka area?

Do you have a link that could help explain what kind of lighting I would need?
What would be your recommendation on lighting?

Thanks in Advance!!

This is a 10 gallon tank.

Are there any bottom feeders like the otto that originates from the Sri Lanka Area?


----------



## Mad78 (Oct 23, 2007)

Ah yes, the wonderful DP buzz.

The little puffer's live in pool in small streams. If your really looking into accurately immitating their original habitat then I would look into a more sandy/gravel substrate mix. These guys do well in any type of lighting but if you want to successfully grow healthy plants then I recomend adding fertilizers and have at least 3-4 watts per gallon.
And for the plants in the back, maybe some sort of sword plant?


----------



## astrosag (Sep 3, 2010)

This is an interesting question as I have added dwarf puffers to my list of fauna that I plan on putting in my tank:

GBRs
Dwarf Puffers
Tetra (Cardinal or Rummynose)

I have a mountainscape that slopes to a field with driftwood and at least one tall tree. I too want to know how these little guys do! Thanks for asking slim!


----------



## SlimStretch (Feb 22, 2011)

astrosag said:


> This is an interesting question as I have added dwarf puffers to my list of fauna that I plan on putting in my tank:
> 
> GBRs
> Dwarf Puffers
> ...


I know from researching your probly going to want to do a species only tank or Just the Dwarfs and from what i've read Otto s. Even though they aren't the most aggressive breed of Puffers, they still are aggressive, maybe you will get lucky and get less aggressive ones but as they age, they will get more aggressive and possibly destroy the tetras physically or emotionally.


----------



## SlimStretch (Feb 22, 2011)

Mad78 said:


> Ah yes, the wonderful DP buzz.
> 
> The little puffer's live in pool in small streams. If your really looking into accurately immitating their original habitat then I would look into a more sandy/gravel substrate mix. These guys do well in any type of lighting but if you want to successfully grow healthy plants then I recomend adding fertilizers and have at least 3-4 watts per gallon.
> And for the plants in the back, maybe some sort of sword plant?


The Flourite red is pretty small gravel, and they don't have the red sand, only black sand, I really want to keep with the red look of the sri lanka. The flourite red I think would do the trick, I'm going to look at it in person today to see how large the pieces are, from what it looks like to me its pretty fine grade gravel.

Sword plant would work for the Biotope, Do you know much about the other plants? I only found a few of them in the plant database here on the site.

It seems like floating plants are pretty hard to keep? And I'm not sure I really like the look of them. 
If i'm unable to do a biotope I may just do a Geographic tank which would be very borderline Biotope.

I've been looking at a few possible alternatives to the otto but can't find much information on them.

Garra ceylonensis
Acanthocobitis urophthalmus
Lepidocephalichthys jonklaasi 
Lepidocephalus thermalis

Thanks for the Replies guys!


----------



## Jadelin (Sep 30, 2009)

All of your plants except for the L. aquatica can do fine in low light. Since the L. aquatica is your only stem plant (which do the best job of sucking up nutrients) you'll probably want to cater to its needs and get at least medium level light. (The other plants can all do fine in higher light as well.) On a 10 gallon, a fixture with two T5 bulbs would get you in that range.

My tanks are low tech and low light, so I'm much help with CO2, but if you have anything higher than low light CO2 REALLY helps with algae control and makes your plants grow faster and healthier. So it would definitely be something to look into.

The picture is kind of small so it's hard to tell, but I'm pretty sure the big-leafed plant is an Amazon Sword. I don't think that tank is a biotope, as the Amazon Sword is from South America, and that Anubias in front of it is from Africa.

The Banded Mountain Loach (Acanthocobitis urophthalmus) is from Sri Lanka and is a small bottom dweller. However, I'm not sure how they would do with puffers; you'd have to research that. I think they're also kind of hard to find.

For floating plants I couldn't find any that are specifically from Sri Lanka, but Duckweed, Riccia, Salvinia natans, and Hornwort all have pretty cosmopolitan distributions, so it's possible they grow there too.


----------



## SlimStretch (Feb 22, 2011)

I feel like I might not use the L. Aquatica, Do you know of any other stemmed plants from Sri Lanka?

Thanks for the info by the way! 

I would assume the Banded Loach would do just as well at the Otto? Neithier are aggressive and I think the Loach is a pretty fast yeah?


----------



## Senior Shrimpo (Dec 4, 2010)

I've had dwarf puffers and I personally didn't like them. They're really messy and ruined my white sand idea with detritus, ate/maimed most of the RCS I put into the tank and they like to fight with each other.

I like schooling fish better now, like tetras. My puffers did occasionally nip at the two ottos I had in the tank.


----------



## Jadelin (Sep 30, 2009)

I don't know of any stems specifically from Sri Lanka; this site is a good tool for helping find plants with specific characteristics (but it's not exhaustive): http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/forumapc/plantfinder/index.php
You can look by region. There is no region for 'Sri Lanka', but you can look in Southeast Asia, Australasia, Cosmopolitan, etc to give you some names that you can research.

It seems like L. aquatica is pretty hard to grow, so it might be a wise decision not to use it. If you did that, you could get away with low light. On my low light 10 gallon I have two desk lamps each with a 10 watt spiral compact florescent bulb. You could also do two 13 watt ones to have a little higher light. (Which is the beauty of that kind of setup; you can change your level of light quite easily.) 
You could also use a hood or light strip that was originally intended for incandescent bulbs and use the compact florescent. Or use the standard 15 watt florescent tube bulb that often comes in hoods, although would be the absolute lowest light you could use.

I don't know much about dwarf puffers or banded loaches, so I wouldn't really be able to comment on their compatibility.


----------

