Considering buying small puffers

**KuYaWill** · 07-12-2011, 07:53 AM

Since I donated my 10 gallon tank to my moms school I was looking online and found these amazing looking puffers! I'll buy a 10-20 gallon soon and start it running. I desperately tried looking all over the internet though for the care of dwarf puffers also known as pea puffers. And I have many questions

What's the PH and hardness for pea puffers? I saw websites saying 7.0, 8.3, 7.5, etc. And it's really confusing...

How many can I fit in a 10 gallon or a 20 gallon? Research from websites telling me I can only fit a pair, five of them, etc again confusing

What should the decorations/substrate be? (this is really dependable to my first question)

Anything else I should know?
I plan on buying a few Ramshorn snails and letting them produce in there, I'll have great filteration and do daily 10-20% water changes

**KuYaWill** · 07-12-2011, 07:55 AM

OH! And I forgot compatible tankmates? I was leaning towards species only + Ramshorns but I'll see

**genocidex** · 07-12-2011, 08:17 AM

i understand puffers in general are quite aggressive and in a 10g 1 dwarf puffer might be all you should keep in there, also they need to be fed some sort of invert with a shell most likely some snails if you can. i heard their beaks can over grow if they dont chew on something with a hard shell. the dwarf puffer is a completely fresh water puffer i think the only puffer in the trade that is so i would think the ph would be on the neutral side ie 7.0 - 8.0 and im seeing kh of 5-15.

this is all the info ive uncovered myself and im just spewing it back lol.

**KuYaWill** · 07-12-2011, 08:36 AM

No salt? some articles on the internet said they're brackish

Yeah that's what the Ramshorns are for, males typically have aggression and they're fairly easy to sex. What if I got a few females then?

I'm so not buying a 10g tank for just a 1" puffer :(

**genocidex** · 07-12-2011, 12:05 PM

"The ideal set up for the Indian Dwarf Puffer is a planted aquarium of at least 30 gallons with plenty of hiding places. Unlike the other puffers in this family, the Indian Dwarf requires freshwater with no salt content. The males are very territorial and only one per aquarium is suggested unless it is a large system."

considering this maybe 3 puffers max in a 10g but you might have aggression issues. again these are the only puffers that are 100% fresh water lol