Pea puffer water hardness?

[Ambassador]

We are looking at setting up a pea puffer tank and I am on well water. If run through our water softener our GH is about 25ppm and the KH between 120-180ppm.  I've seen lots of conflicting info about ideal hardness for them. Should I be mixing this softened water with RO to reduce the KH or is this pea puffer appropriate?

[Jennifer V]

I know there are always recommended parameters but mine live in very hard water and are just happy as can be. As long as the parameters stay stable, I think they'll be fine. You may want to check the parameters they are in now to see how they differ from yours, but mine came from very different water and I didn't have any problems acclimating them. 

Do you have your tank set up yet? 

[Hally M.]

Aquarium Co-op has a video about pea puffers. However after re watching it it doesn't specify the water hardness they need but has other possible useful tips. 

Edited June 7, 2022 by Hally M.

[Ambassador]

Yes I believe I've watched that video but he doesn't seem to talk about hardness, mostly PH (or I missed it, which is entirely possible.)

The tank is setup and running and has been doing so for a few weeks. My local fish store doesn't have any puffers in stock yet so we are just patiently waiting and trying to make the new tank as appropriate as possible. I'm wondering now if perhaps my KH is okay but the GH is a bit soft and I should be up in the 70-140ppm for GH. It would easy enough to adjust the softener to reach that but I just can't seem to find consistent numbers anywhere.

[Jennifer V]

Aqua Huna has pea puffers in stock. That's where I got mine and they are a lovely company. You can even call them and talk to a specialist ahead of time about any questions you have. I think I called twice before I ordered! Ha! Your gh is in range, so I wouldn't worry about it too much. 

I would love to see pictures of your setup! 

Edited June 7, 2022 by Jennifer V