Puffer/Dorm Tank

only sand in the tank for the gravel and i would say get a bigger tank then 5 or 6 gallon. i know your in a dorm room but consider a 20 gallon tall. would be much nicer.

A single dwarf puffer would be fine in a 5 gallon aquarium, provided you give it the proper care (filtration being the most important in that sized tank). For puffers, sand is usually recommended due to the lack of scales and a few species' tendancy to want to dig around in the substrate. I haven't kept dwarfs myself, but I know my fahaka loves to bury himself to sleep/relax after a meal/etc. You don't necessarily need sand though - gravel will do just fine if that's all you can get.

As far as availability of these guys go, usually PetSmart will carry them (if there's one in your area), but I haven't seen them around lately so maybe they stopped?

And, since I know Pufferpunk will be on here, I figured I'd get the one up on her and post a useful little dwarf puffer reference page for you: http://www.**************.com/forum/ug.php/v/PufferPedia/Freshwater/C_Travancoricus/

Let us know if there's anything else we can do for you!

yeah one dwarf puffer would be fine in a 5 gallon, when fully grown they're like 1.5 inches tops. You could probable put an otto in with it or maybe a ghost shrimp for cleanup crew. For feeding im pretty sure they need to be fed snails every once and a while.

The shrimp would eventually be food for the dwarf... or any puffer for that matter

Your 5g should be a nice tank for a singleton. Be sure you have lots of decor/plants to keep it interested in it's surroundings, a good cover (they are jumpers) & cycle the tank before you get him.

Make sure to have good filtration. Also gravel is ok- my dwarf does not dig. Get smaller, rounded gravel if possible just in case. I like gravel in smaller tanks because it is easier to keep clean than sand. Get a gravel vac- you will need it for cleaning up after the puffer. Remember too that puffers don't eat flake or pellet food- mostly frozen or live (ie-bloodworms, squid, mussel, brine shrimp). You will need somewhere to store the frozen food in your dorm room. You might also consider a 10g tank- doesn't really take up more room than the 5-6g, usually cheap to get and can hang a better filter on it than most smaller tanks. Oh Yeah the big bonus is you could have up to 3 dwarfs in it- make sure not to get all males- 2 female/1 male or all females. Here's a link for more info on DPs
http://www.**************.com/forum/ug.php/v/PufferPedia/Freshwater/C_Travancoricus/

kj fishy-finn;2172272; said:

Which tank would you suggest?

Click to expand...

I'd do the Eclipse 6 out of those choices (and it's really not even close).

kj fishy-finn;2172272; said:

How exactly do you clean a 5 gallon tank? Do they make a smaller gravel vac?

Click to expand...

http://www.petco.com/product/5913/Lee-s-Self-Start-Ultra-Gravel-Vacs.aspx
There's another PETCO link for you. The mini should be small enough for you to be able to move around inside of the aquarium without too much trouble.