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Pea Puffer Tank Mates?


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I'm starting a pea puffer tank and I was wondering what other fish I put in there. The tank is a 20 gallon high and I was thinking of adding some dither fish like Celestial pearl danios or ember tetras or maybe even harlequin rasboras. I was also thinking of adding some julii corydoras or maybe panda corydoras. Or maybe some other fish completely. Let me know what you think.

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In my opinion, nothing. Every time I have had a pea puffer, they have just wreaked havoc on anybody and anything else in there. Thats the main reason why I won't be keeping them again anytime soon. I think your best shot would be something super fast, mobile, and short finned such as tetras. 

 

Some people have had luck with keeping them in a community tank, but personally havent seen this happen 😕

Edited by Keeg
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I agree with @Keeg. If you're going to have peas, especially in a smaller tank like the 20, it's best for all involved to keep the peas by themselves. They're called murder beans for a reason. Do a search on this forum and you'll get tons of great advice about them, how to keep them and what to feed them. There is a lot of information out there on the internet, but a lot of it can be misleading. I wish I had consulted the group before I got mine so I could avoid the mistakes I made when I got mine. They're living a happy life, but I would've done a few things differently. 

This might be helpful:

 

 

 

Edited by Jennifer V
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All good advice, generally speaking. That post really helped me understand what I was getting into. I'd add two things that are particular to me and my pea puffer. Your experience will be different but I think it's good to know at least. 

1. She's very docile for a pea puffer. I've added 5 ember tetras with no trouble at all. Cherry shrimp too, but the puffer takes out the shrimplets. Full sized, she won't pester them at all. I added Platy's for a week but they stressed her out so they went bye bye.

2. She's a finicky eater. It's live or nothing. Snails and baby brine shrimp are all I can get her to munch on. Frozen blood worms or brine shrimp were a frustrating no go. It's taken much more work to keep live food at the ready for her than I anticipated. I'm tired of my snail tank but my kid still loves her puffer and dang they are engaging and adorable little buggers. I'd say make sure you know what a thin puffer looks like to ensure yours aren't malnourished. I was worried about mine early on, turns out she's doing great but I couldn't tell since they look so different from other fish I've kept. 

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On 5/22/2022 at 10:46 AM, da_Fishylover said:

Thanks @Chadfor the advice. I have a little pest snail colony growing in my 55 gallon tank so that I can give them to the puffers.

Ah, good move. Enjoy and good luck, they're harder work than my tetras but I'm glad we have one.

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