Kimmers - DP help please

[gwenkat]

Hey there! I am thinking of converting my 10 gallon into a DP tank. I know you have been very successful with yours and wanted to get some advice. Right now there are some plants and bright colored gravel. I know I would need to add more plants and put in some caves for them to hide in. What other advice can you give me? Decor, number of DP, tank mates, etc? There are also currently about a dozen snails in the tank. Thank you for your help!!

[kimmers318]

Dp's are one of the few fish that can thrive in a 10 gal in my opinion. I have 3, 2 females, 1 male with 2 aquatic dwarf frogs, and 1 lone oto. Not too many fishy friends do well with dp's because of their nippiness. As you mentioned...loads of plants and several caves to decorate. This is to break up their lines of sight and give them lotsa of nooks and crannies to hide in and swim in and out. There seems to be more aggression when the fish can see straight across the tank and spot another dp. When young they can be hard to sex, so it is luck of the draw what you might get when you buy juveniles. The option is to start with 2, see what happens when they mature, and then try to add another of the proper sex, or get 3 and hope for the best, but be prepared to rehome 1 if there is too much aggression. Let me know how you plan on doing that and I can give you tips for settling in another one with minimal aggression. Sexing is easy once you have seen the differences in person. Males will always get wrinkles behind their eyes
http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h216/kimmers318/gizmo-1.jpg
they will also usually have a belly line, but have heard of females getting them also...the wrinkles are the sure indicator.
http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h216/kimmers318/gizmo.jpg
They are messy eaters so imagine the tank being a miniature of the larger carnivores....tank maintenance will be important.
Diet.....snails and frozen bloodworms are the preferred. Don't be surprised if they don't eat at first when you get them, alot of the time they are whacked about being in a new environment and need time to settle in. Besides....they will annihilate your snails quite happily at first! If you have another tank I would suggest putting some snails in there to start your own breeding program so you always have plenty. Also...most dp's I have seen in stores are seriously malnourished so don't be surprised if you see skinny dp's, they will plump up in no time. Other frozen foods have been suggested by various people...it is a toss up in my opinion. My original female, Missy, wouldn't touch anything but bloodworms, until I got the other 2....the competition makes her less picky. Frozen brine shrimp and mysis shrimp will also be taken on occasion.
I wouldn't recommend more than 3 in a 10 gal....suggestions are 2-3 gals per puff, and 3 is a nice number in my opinion.
There is also quite a bit of information at dwarfpuffers. com, which is a great site to learn from.
I have heard that internal parasites are fairly common in dps, but have not experienced it myself (knock on wood) so you might want to be prepared in case that has to be treated.
Good luck with your future dps....you won't be disappointed!

[gwenkat]

Thank you so much for the advice. I think I will go with 3 and an oto. I can relo a couple snails to the bigger tank to ensure a food supply for the dps. I will check out the site right away. I am so excited!! I will probably start with 2 to determine sex and then add another later. I'll let you know when I get started. It will probably be a little while since I still need to set up the big tank and cycle it before I can move the other fish and buy the dps. Thanks again.

[kimmers318]

Good luck....you won't be disappointed with dps unless you have problems with the stock. They are lively little characters who will soon learn to recognize you.