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Hi, I know its not catfish but i baught them yesterday from the lfs for a ten gallon iv had settup and empty for a while. Before i took them home i made sure they were infact dwarf puffers by checking in a couple books at the lfs. That said, Im trying to figure out the best settup/food for them. Right now they are in a 10 gallon with a sand bottomb, two pieces of driftwood, some java moss, and a h.o.t filter. I have two other tanks but only one of which is a possibilitie for them. Its a 35 gallon half hex, its planted, lit brightly,the fish are neon tetras,black neon tetras,pristella tetras,kuhli loaches,3 arched corys,two three line corys,one small striped raphael,one gold ram,a cherri barb,and three zebra danios. The tanks a little crowded but i could move some of the fish in this tank into the ten gallon to make room as id rather have the puffers in the thirty five. Will any of the fish i mentioned bother the puffers?? I know the puffers will nip fins but im not too worried about any of the fish that are alread in there, just worried about the puffers.

Zac,
My wife bought a dozen of those 2 month's ago from my work they are mean little sh*t's they've killed 3 clown pleco's 4 cory's and a few other tank mate's the one's they don't kill they strip of fin's!!!there pretty much best kept alone I think .. we even had them picking on each other...

Alright thanks, Looks like they'll be getting their own tank then. Did you find any prefferences as far as foods??

They seem to enjoy bloodworms, though it takes them an awful long time to finish one.

Thanks silirus, i fed them lastnight on bloodworms,brineshrimp and flakes. I tryd very small portions of all to see what they went for and they seemed to preffer the bloodworms over the flakes and brine shrimp.

I have a dwarf malabar puffer, and judging from all the replies I've heard of these guys, I got lucky! My puffer is the smallest thing in the 20 gallon tank he inhabited (apart from the trumpet snails), and was not added first to the tank.

His tankmates include 4 emerald cory cats, 2 ghost shrimp (both over an inch long, which has me wondering), a golden wonder killifish, 3 epiplaties dagi killifish, and 2 mollies (guess where their babies are going, hehe).

Though I use the pronoun without certainty: I think my puffer is a female, judging by its belly color. Love brine shrimp, blood worms, and is rather uncertain about snails....

Am I mistaken or are dwarf Malabar puffers a highly endangered species?

Dinyar

dwarf puffers also enjoy a snail or two, it helps keep their beak trimmed.

they are best kept in a species tank, you can keep two in a 5 or 6 gallon pretty easily.

Thanks guys, Theres two of them and they are in a 10 gallon with two upside down cats. I give them bloodworms,shrimp pellets,flakes,brine shrimp, and i will get some snails from the lfs (they had an explosion of them in their planted tank).

Am I mistaken or are dwarf Malabar puffers a highly endangered species?

No, they're not. However, shipments have been known to arrive containing two very similar species: <i>Carinotetraodon travancoricus</i> (which is more common) and <i>C. imitator</i>.