# 46g dwarf puffer tank!!!



## Neah84 (Jan 23, 2009)

Today I finally put the water and the substrate in the tank. tomorrow I will begin my fishless cycle. sunday or monday I will add some plants. I hear its good to add them while during the cycle. I am getting manzanita Driftwood hopefully within the week.
I think I will go with 9 puffers, a few ottos (2) maybe and i will try some shrimp in there once the plants have grown alittle so they have a place to hide as well. sounds good? or no? Tank is a 46g bow
Will add pictures tomorrow hopefully the water will celar a little before then.

I know they could eat the shrimp but i have heard of a few people with success with the shrimp!


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## onefish2fish (Jul 22, 2008)

granted your going to be wating out your cycle i would hold off on the ottos even longer. 

they are sensitive fish and need an algae growth for their survival. i would also add more then 2 as they prefer schools/shoals.


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## Neah84 (Jan 23, 2009)

i wasnt sure if more then 2 was ok i wanted 4 and i plan to wait on those til there is plenty of algea in there. would you think more then 4 would work in a 46 bow with 9 puffers?


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## veganchick (Jan 10, 2009)

OMG THATS MY DREAM TANK!!! lol! good luck with it! I was thinking about getting a single dwarf puffer in a 5.5 gallon sometime. They are so cool!


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## Neah84 (Jan 23, 2009)

Here are some updated photos of the tank so far.


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## veganchick (Jan 10, 2009)

Awesome! Is it going to be planted?


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## Twistersmom (Dec 9, 2008)

Nice looking tank!


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## Neah84 (Jan 23, 2009)

Yes its going to be planted but my LFS' plants look Horrible! so I am trying to find a good online plant website to get the plants, and the wood centerpiece I am waiting to ear back from a few people before I get that. Substrate is black eco complete planted and then a layer of red eco complete planted. I heard that the dwarf puffers natural habitat is a red tinted substrate!  just wish the cycle would start and finish already. Hoping to order my plants tomorrow if anyone has any trustworth plant sites


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## Neah84 (Jan 23, 2009)

I am having some trouble deciding what plants to put in there. I really want to order them today and get something in the tank. I have a picture in my head of what I want the tank to look like, but I am no artist and my drawings would be pathetic at best.

as for plants I was leaning towards:

giant Hygrophila - back/sides
Sagitaria Dwarf Narrow - leaf subulata
EDIT- Crptocoryne Lutea

Java moss - Growing on manzanita wood
OR
Riccia Fluitans - Growing on manzanita wood

Dwarf Baby tears - Hemianthus Callitrichoides - covering ground 
OR
Hairgrass - Elecharis - covering ground

Any other suggestions advice?
Lighting is about 2w/g


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## WaterBug (Feb 2, 2009)

looks really great! have you seen this website?


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## Neah84 (Jan 23, 2009)

yes I have.  its a great site for information and habitat. I never realized how addicting fishtanks can get! I gotta slow down and get plants and let them grow first. :-/ lol I decided to get the Giant Hygrophila x6 for now and slowly add more plants then fish.


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## WaterBug (Feb 2, 2009)

it sounds like it'll turn out really cool. i'd love a planted tank, but i can never keep them alive!


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## Neah84 (Jan 23, 2009)

This will be my first planted tank so I am a little worried but I figured I'd dive right in and see how I do? I am good with normal plants and pets. *fingers crossed on this though*


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## willow (Sep 9, 2006)

hi
what a fantasic size tank for your puffers.
fun fish to own,with oodles of feisty personality when they reach maturity.


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## aquakid (Jun 22, 2008)

sounds nice


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## Neah84 (Jan 23, 2009)

My lfs just told me that Giant Hygrophila is illegal to sell now along with the Green Hygrophila. They consider it a weed in MN.  Now I am back to square one. Anyone have any ides for a larger plant.


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## willow (Sep 9, 2006)

do you want a Tall plant.
large vallis are good for that.


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## Neah84 (Jan 23, 2009)

well puffers need dense planting since I am going to have about 8 of them in there so taller plants for the back of the tank that give plenty of cover


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## willow (Sep 9, 2006)

would you consider using ferns atached to wood,for different levels ?


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## Neah84 (Jan 23, 2009)

I would but I already ordered wood that will be comming in soon.  what kind of ferns though? right now I am open up to almost anything


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## willow (Sep 9, 2006)

hi
Freshwater Plants: Freshwater Aquarium Plant Species for the Home Aquarium
there are some nice plants here. 
the anubias.anacharis egeria densa,amazon sword.
although i have suggested these,i would wait for other members to offer help
with what if any particular lighting requirements would be needed.
i think the easiest is the cabomba.


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## Neah84 (Jan 23, 2009)

Finally added a few plants. Not sure if I like the middle one might return it. Water still is cloudy/tinted havent figured that out yet either.


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## WaterBug (Feb 2, 2009)

could you not order the plants you want from live aquaria or some other place online?
java fern and java moss are supposed to be really easy, you could attach those to a piece(or pieces) or wood. if the wood was long/tall enough you could just rest it against the back wall of you tank.


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## willow (Sep 9, 2006)

hi
i like the plant in the middle,i think if it were my tank,i would put it
on the right hand side next to the filter pipe.


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## Neah84 (Jan 23, 2009)

I was thinking of moving the filter to the middle of the tank. I have a glass top that I just bought so I can move it around. as for getting more plants. I kinda went WAY over my budget on equipment lol so I need to hold off on getting lots of plants in there for now. I also have wood comming friday or saturday so that will change the way things look too.


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## willow (Sep 9, 2006)

look forward to the next set of pictures then 
you could put the filter in the middle if you wanted,it won't harm.
and you could always put a tall plant infront of it,if you didn't like to see it.
the water will clear,looks liie a algae bloom to me.


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## lilgirlkat (Jan 18, 2009)

how exciting!

Your tank will be amazing. Planted tanks usually are. I have my first planted tank right now. It's only a 10 gallon, but it's got a TON of different plants in them. I've found that my little dwarf puffers LOVE the ferns and leafier plants. At night you'll find them sleeping either IN the ferns or on one of the broad leaves of the plants. 

Good luck with your tank!


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## Neah84 (Jan 23, 2009)

lil you have any pics of your tank? I'dlove to see all the DP fish pics I can!  they are just too cute


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## lilgirlkat (Jan 18, 2009)

I do. I have some errands to do, but I will upload them to this thread (or link you to the thread I start) when I am finished!


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## veganchick (Jan 10, 2009)

I like the looks so far! Maybe you could add some driftwood, that would look really cool!  Keep us updated!


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## Neah84 (Jan 23, 2009)

Driftwood should hopefulyl be here today  I am looking out the window all the time for the mail man lol


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## aspects (Feb 1, 2009)

wow thats pretty big for a dwarf puffer tank. looking good so far.


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## lilgirlkat (Jan 18, 2009)

I think I said I'd post my dp tank for you? here is is (after quite some delay)


















































have you made progress on your tank? got pics?


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## Neah84 (Jan 23, 2009)

First picture is of how it looks now, its really not that cloudy in my tank i swear. lol I took it the second the wood was in the tank so there was a few substrates stirred up.

Second picture is what it looked like at first.

Third picture is a close up from my cellphone of the hairgrass. surprisingly it took a better picture then my normal digital camera 

I will take new photos of the tank after work. Hopefully they will turn out more clear.


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## lilgirlkat (Jan 18, 2009)

niiiice~

I got addicted to plants way too quickly.. my tank was a little overgrown.


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## Neah84 (Jan 23, 2009)

Just wish my camera would do the tank justice. Might have been the lighting. Hopefully I can get a better pic today of the tank. Trust me, if I had way more money to spend on the tank right now that tank would be FULL of plants. but since I dont I have to pick and choose what plants I get and where to place them. I am hoping that the hair grass will grow well, or the microsword. if they dont, my backup plan is to try to get some stones covered in java moss in there. and some moss on the wood if I cant get green algea to grow on it.


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## lilgirlkat (Jan 18, 2009)

I bought a little tiny thing of java moss.. and it's HUGE now.


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## Neah84 (Jan 23, 2009)

As promised Updated photos of my tank. Went to the LFS well 20 miles away one.  and they had a sale of amazon swords 3 for 5.50 so i got 6  and some java moss which i wrapped on some of the manzanita wood. Also the one picture you see one of the new snails. his name is winston. Chester is bigger but he dissappeared lol Winston is about the size of one of the faces on here


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## Neah84 (Jan 23, 2009)

is it finally planted enough for 8 dwarfs?


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## lilgirlkat (Jan 18, 2009)

why not? 

are you going to get them all at the same time?

I got mine at different times. If you do it the way I did, make sure you rearrange and add more plants/rocks etc when you add the new little guys. They can be territorial. 


tank looks gooooooooooooooood!!


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## Neah84 (Jan 23, 2009)

My mom has been bugging me for a birthday list, so I told her if she wanted to get me something to get me the puffers for an early bday present. lol so she said YES!  I just bought some "feeder" shrimp. They were selling them a dozen for 3.99 so I did that to kinda eat whatever they wanted that was in the tank. and I got some snails for free at the LFS. They have been going crazy on the glass and a few plants. I purposely didnt clean the back or sides of the tank of diatom after the photo was taken. There are like 15 pond snails in there I believe. Hoping they lay eggs at least once before I get the fish so there is some snails to snack on as a housewarming present for them. Hoping to get the puffers this saturday or next. so more picturse are on the way. 

Any idea with the plants or are they good? I wanted to kinda make a jungle but not cluttered. Hoping when the hair grass or micro grows out it will look much better.


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## lilgirlkat (Jan 18, 2009)

my tank got cluttered quickly, but then again, I'm just working with a 10gallon. I wish I had a 40+ gallon tank for my little ones! 

I mentioned it in another thread, but the snails won't last long, at all. Not only will they hunt/kill all the little ones, but they're work on the big ones. 

My tank just had an ammonia spike from too many half eaten snails. The puffs would gang up on the big snails (twice their size!) and kill them, but only eat as far as they could get in the shells. They got a massive water change and all the dead snails picked out. They're happy as can be now!


I can't wait for your pics!


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## Neah84 (Jan 23, 2009)

lol Yeah I dont plan for these little guys to make it very long. Once they start getting picked on I will get some ottos in there *after tank is mature enough* maybe


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## lilgirlkat (Jan 18, 2009)

It seems that I've gotten most of the LFS around here snail-free. I'm trying to breed them in a five gallon, since the DPs made it impossible for them to breed in the 10gal.


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## Neah84 (Jan 23, 2009)

yeah I am getting a smaller tank just for breeding snails and having it sit by the window  Check your PM


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## lilgirlkat (Jan 18, 2009)

nice. They're gonna love it. You'll have some extremely lucky little fishies!


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