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Dwarf puffers tank layout

28K views 307 replies 11 participants last post by  Chesh 
#1 ·
Ok so went into the lfs today and asked then to order me some of these lil beauties, will be a few weeks though which is really good actuakkynas gives me a chance to get their tank properly 'furnished' before their arrival. They will be in the tank attached below.

This tank is fully established, but I want to scrap it and start afresh. The substrate I think should be changed for play sand and then plants in there won't be used, they will all be new ones depending upon suggestions etc. Tank size is 24 x 12 x 12.

Know they need a planted tank with different areas to break up line of sight and establish territories etc. What else do they need though? Is caves a necessity? Tank has wood which you can see but if there is a better layout am happy to get new in to suit it better.

Any suggestions and even better pictures of established puffer tanks would be greatly appreciated!

Nile
 

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#3 ·
Lots and lots of plants. Puffers do not need open swimming areas, so the tank can literally be thick with plants.

If your cabomba in the pictured tank is doing well under your light (this plant needs good light), this is a good plant. And Wisteria would be another, also needing light and fast growing. Floating plants with dangling roots (Water Sprite) are good. All of these mentioned are fast growing and will need weekly tgrimming/pruning at the water change obviously.

Byron.
 
#4 ·
Well therein lies my problem Byron. It currently has a 9w house energy saving bulb in. BUT I got some kitchen LEDs today and am about to change them from hardwired to plug in! Give me 30 and I'll post up a pic if I don't blow my houses electrics!,

Th cabomba though will be going. I hate how much it sheds! It's already been ommitted from my bigger tank and replaced with echinodorus blaheri! So I definitely need an alternative for this!

Good to know that they don't need open swimming areas! Will make planting it much easier!

And Jen, all the plants in that tank now are cabomba, singles are just some off cuts I kept to see how they did under the low light, plant on right is just bunch of them!
 
#6 ·
Th cabomba though will be going. I hate how much it sheds! It's already been ommitted from my bigger tank and replaced with echinodorus blaheri! So I definitely need an alternative for this!
Ah, then the light is insufficient at least for cabomba. This is what happens when stem plants do not receive sufficient light, they slowly fall apart. I have no luck with cabomba for this reason, but I have no intention of increasing my light just for one plant, so I go with those that will manage.

And among stem plants, Brazilian Pennywort is very good for moderate light. Most others will not last.

Swords also work, though most get rather large, but if you can find the chain sword (not the pygmy chain sword, it is smaller) this is one option. Corkscrew Vallisneria will also work if you have medium hard or harder water, and with decent light.

What fixture do you have, an incandescent (screw-in bulbs) or fluorescent tube? Assuming incandescent, how many bulb sockets?

To move along to the answer...if it has two sockets then 2 CFL bulbs will work fine. You can get "Daylight" bulbs, GE make a good one but so do Phillips and Sylvania, and they come in various wattages and here the higher watts is more light. I use two 10w Daylight CFL over my 10g and 20g tanks; Cabomba failed in the 10g, but everything else is thriving. Two 13w bulbs might work.

Byron.
 
#5 ·
Ok, I did it. Daddy has new toys. Haha. Pic below.
12 lights on each strip, 4 strips. Description just says 'hassle led strip light 0.8w'

Any idea if these will grow low/med/high plants?
 

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#7 ·
I agree much more plants are needed. How many puffers did you have them order? Your tank is 15 gallons and I wouldn't recommend more then 3 in there at the most.
Caves are not really needed as much as plants and driftwood or any decor to break up the line of sight. What type of filter do you plan on running on this tank?
 
#8 ·
They havent ordered them yet, i will get a call before Wednesday with the price for them and then i order what i want. I was thinking 3/4, quite a few people said get 4, and i did kind of want 2 and 2, though i am now thinking 1 male, 2 fems.

Byron, did you see the new lights? Got some yummy LED's now for it which should definitely make a difference, as they seem so bright! Still no cabomba though!
Was thinking of some anacharis maybe, and yes, some swords. I am going to finally order some echinodorus tennelus for my big tank, so was thinking of putting a few of the baby runners into the smaller one maybe later. Also thought about Heteranthera zosterifoli. I'd also like a nice stem plant or 2, and the luwiga is a good option! About as far as i've got with the plants plan. I'm really still trying to learn the plant side of things tbh. I suck at names!

Was definitely thinking of dropping one of the 3 pieces of drift wood in the tank though for more plants too. Just hope these new lights will support them;

these are the bulbs;
B&Q Select Apex Under Cabinet White LED Lighting Kit, Pack of 4, 0000003744628
 
#9 ·
Oh the filter BB that i currently have in there is a fluval U2. I have thought about possibly upgrading this, though would prefer not to.
 
#10 ·
Males are aggressive to each other especially if females are present. I had 2 males attack one another and one ended up dieing. A 15 gallon isn't big enough even being heavily planted for 2 males. I would go with 1m and 2 females. Also do you know what you plan on feeding your puffers? If you don't already know theses puffers can be really picky eaters.
 
#11 ·
Ok, so 1 male and 2 females then :)

food? i was going to gift them flakes and algae wafers.

haha, no i've looked into the complexity of their eating and how fussy some/all of them are! I know it is very likely to be all live foods, but i'll still be hoping i can convince for frozen too ;-)
 
#12 ·
LoL ok then you already know that you might need live foods. Good.
Blackworms or white worms are accepted by most and so are snails.
I have mine on Frozen bloodworms now but live blackworms were needed at first and I got them to switch over after some work. As before getting live foods in my area was next to impossible.
 
#13 ·
I know, you even had to beg the local lfs guy for some of his personal supply he was using to feed his/shops fish! ;-)

Shop i'm getting them from has a decent supply of live food tbh, cant remember them all but am SURE there is blackworms there. There actually a major chain of fish shops BUT aren't like walmart etc, they are really quite good tbh. Called maidenhead and out of the local lfs's probably the best - plus i know a guy who works there and i HAMMER him for info :)
 
#14 ·
LoL guessing you have read some.of my post I take it.
I have since gotten some Blackworms and started my own culture. Will never run out again as long as I can keep it going. Other worms you can look for are Whiteworms and Grindal worms. They might even eat Microworms,Banana worms, or Walter worms if they have them.
Posted via Mobile Device
 
#15 ·
Well i have NO idea what them last 3 are but i'll look them up.

And yes, ive read through your post :) And looked at your aquarium. Which confuses me, both you and byron say heavily planted, but i wouldnt class your tank as such, seems to be a lot of open space there?
 
#16 · (Edited)
I only have one puffer in my tank. The smaller the tank and the more puffers you put in there is the issue. What thread of mine have you looked though? This one http://www.tropicalfishkeeping.com/aquarium-photography/puffer-tank-118860/page21/#post1380805 There are more plants in there then you would think. I have about 6 anubias that you can't see from the pics that are in the middle and in the back of the tank. Though I can see where you are coming from. Its not as planted as I would like it and I need more.
 
#17 ·
Oh god, I wasn't being critical etc, just wondered what people's idea of heavily planted was really.

LESs for tank not quite done yet. Having the saw through and file flat sections in the lid, in the centre from front to bottom of lid there is a thin strip of plastic if you know what I mean. And don't want the light having to go up and over, want them flush to the lid! Very annoying though!
 
#19 ·
Right with these LEDs I've got, and the fact that they literally plug into each other and are flexible, I could quite literally cover my hood in lights, aka grow what I want. I'd like to have something that doesn't look the same as tom, dick and Harry's tank so is there any suggestions of plants more rare/less used etc. Maybe even with some colour thrown in, though I do like all green still.
 
#21 ·
Here's another idea someone suggested to me. A puffer fish biotope. They come from th river panba India, BUT I cant find anything on the indigenous plants there:-/
 
#22 · (Edited)
Ok, so i managed to find a good list that matches others of plants that are found in the DP'S natural habitat/region.
these are;

Scientific Name Common Name Light Requirement Difficulty
Aponogeton crispus Crinkled or Ruffled Aponogeton 3.0 wpg Easy/Medium
Aponogeton ulvaceus Compact Aponogeton 2.0 - 3.0 wpg Medium/Challenging
Aponogeton undulatus 2.0 - 3.0 wpg Easy/Moderate
Cryptocoryne beckettii Beckett's Cryptocoryne 2.0 - 3.0 wpg Easy/Medium
Cryptocoryne walkeri var. lutea 1.0+ wpg Easy
Cryptocoryne parva Tiny Cryptocoryne 4.0 wpg Challenging
Cryptocoryne undulata Undulate Cryptocoryne 3.0+ wpg Medium/Challenging
Cryptocoryne wendtii Crypt Wendtii 2.0 - 3.0 wpg Easy/Medium
Cryptocoryne willisii 3.0 wpg Easy/Medium
Hydrocotyle sibthorpioides 3.0+ wpg Easy/Medium
Hygrophila corymbosa Giant Hygrophila 2.0 - 3.0 wpg Easy
Hygrophila difformis Water Wysteria 3.0+ wpg Medium
Hygrophila polysperma Dwarf Hygrophila 3.0 wpg Easy
Limnophila aquatica Giant Ambulia 3.0+ wpg Medium/Challenging
Limnophila sessiliflora Dwarf Ambulia 3.0+ wpg Easy
Microsorium pteropus Java Fern 1.0+ wpg Easy
Nymphaea lotus Tiger Lotus 3.0 wpg Medium/Challenging
Nymphaea stellata Red and Blue Water Lily 3.0+ wpg Medium
Rotala indica 3.0 wpg Medium
Rotala macrandra Giant Red Rotala 3.0+ wpg Challenging/Difficult
Rotala rotundifolia Dwarf rotala 3.0 wpg Medium
Salvinia natans Salvinia 3.0 wpg Medium
Vallisneria tortifolia Twisted Vallisneria/Dwarf Vallisneria 3.0 wpg Easy
Vesicularia dubyana Java Moss 1.0+ wpg Easy

This list actually gives me quite a few option that iv looked at and thought 'definitly!' so i think this, along with the opportunity to recreate somewhat their natural habitat would be great.

If anyone has any photos of DPs in their natural habitat, or anything else to chime in, feel free to post!
 
#23 ·
Ok, so picked up the sand today and have finally finished cleaning it after about 300 fill and rinses - HOW BORING is cleaning sand btw!?!? haha


Its obviously going to be a planted tank, how deep should the sand be? I've filled it with what i've cleaned and its approx 1.2 inches. More? Less? Or im hoping just right!!!
 
#24 ·
I'd go a little bit deeper just to make room for roots. My tank is around 2/3 inches, and I still have a bit of trouble with large root systems :p

Also just checked out that plant list. What about tossing in some Aponogeton bulbs? I can pick them up all day long at Walmart, you might have them cheap somewhere too :)
They grow super fast and provide good coverage on top.
 
#25 ·
hmmm so deep? I read once you went past 2 inches you start having to worry about the build up of anaerobic bacteria? This shouldnt be a tank where its too easy to stir up large parts of it as i aim to plant and fill it as much as i can - and keep my puffers interested!
 
#28 ·
Yeah, I read that too, which is kind of a bummer. I wouldn't do the whole tank super deep, just where you want big plants :p Sand roots really well, but in my shallower areas it's hard to get the roots in. That came out all jumbled...:p

Oooh, what type of sand is that? It looks like two different kinds?
 
#29 ·
No it's just plain old play sand, which my lfs sold me pretty cheap, even compared to big diy stores. They stock it ss they know people like a cheaper option to aquarium sand- as its basically the same. Lol. I agree it's pretty light coloured, but most were I looked at. Maybe the UK has better standards than you lot :p haha
 
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