Pea Puffer

[chrisharvey1160]

After seeing the little guys at the pet store..I took a liking. 

So I've decided that my 35 is going to be a puffer tank. 3 may be 4 puffers. Tank mates, planted.

I guess my question is 

Would a dutch style system or a conventional system be a better home for the puffers. 

Also being heavily planted..I'll require a better clean up crew. Puffers love snails it appears, do they enjoy a shrimp as well?  Or can shrimp evade them.

Otto' s should be able to evade them , nor would they wont harm the puffer..right?

I guess I'm looking for feed back. Everyone's experience or things they have observed. 

Thank You everyone!

[JettsPapa]

I have two in a 40 gallon breeder tank.  As you said, they certainly keep the snails under control.  The tank has plenty of plants for shrimp to hide in, so they've maintained a population, but I assume the pea puffers pick off a juvenile once in a while.

There aren't any otos in the tank, so I can't address that.  I haven't noticed them interacting with the other fish at all.

[chrisharvey1160]

What other fish do you have in your aquarium?

[JettsPapa]

On 9/6/2022 at 9:34 PM, chrisharvey1160 said:

What other fish do you have in your aquarium?

Twelve pearl gouramis, along with 8-10 or so each of serpae tetras, pristella tetras, and Corydoras trilineatus.

[chrisharvey1160]

That's impressive..👍.

Wow..I never thought a gourami would turn down a snack like that..

[Jennifer V]

For pea puffers, the more the merrier, so I would consider getting six of you can. They're a shoaling species so they demonstrate the best behavior and have more longevity in groups of at least six. 

Tank mates can be tricky. It depends on the temperament of the peas. Some will tolerate other fish and some won't. From what I know, it's best to have fast swimmers so they can get away from the peas easily but I know a lot of people have happily kept a variety of fish with them, including otos and it's been just fine. You'll just need a backup plan in case things go south. I tried cherry shrimp with my peas and a nerite snail and it ended badly for both but I have a smaller tank than you're planning. 

As for Dutch style versus conventional, it seems to me that as long as there are tons of plants to break up sight lines and allow the peas to establish their own territories, it wouldn't really matter much. 

Something to consider is feeding. They're often picky and require a variety of foods. I'm not yet experienced enough to culture a supply of live food, which is ideal, so I feed mine frozen bloodworms, frozen brine shrimp, ramshorn and bladder snails and live daphnia when I can get them. I set up a separate tank for the snails so I can keep the population up. You'd be surprised how quickly peas will go through an entire tank full of snails. Sometimes they just pick at them for fun, so you'll need to watch your water parameters and do frequent water changes. They're messy little beans! 

So excited for your new adventure! 🐡

[JettsPapa]

On 9/8/2022 at 6:39 AM, Jennifer V said:

 . . . They're often picky and require a variety of foods. I'm not yet experienced enough to culture a supply of live food, which is ideal, so I feed mine frozen bloodworms, frozen brine shrimp, ramshorn and bladder snails and live daphnia when I can get them. I set up a separate tank for the snails so I can keep the population up. You'd be surprised how quickly peas will go through an entire tank full of snails. Sometimes they just pick at them for fun, so you'll need to watch your water parameters and do frequent water changes. They're messy little beans! 

So excited for your new adventure! 🐡

I haven't tried frozen bloodworms in quite a while, but when I did one of the pea puffers would eat them (if it could sneak in and grab one before the other fish got them all), but the other one never did.

[chrisharvey1160]

I considered white cloud minnows, but..the water is too cold for peas..

I also considered Ottos they quick little guys. 

I dunno.. 

But the idea of playing wheres Waldo everytime I look in to find the little guys kinda intrigues me..  

But I do have a 20 gallon back up.  I'll have a plant quarantine tank where a rejected tank mate can hang out..or..if one pea is particularly hard to get along with.

I guess I'm going to have to get up to speed on sustaining and propagating live foods ..best I ever did was baby brine shrimp. 

I can see me claiming more of the laundry room! Maybe a hostile take over..

May need back up...

[Jennifer V]

On 9/8/2022 at 8:31 AM, JettsPapa said:

I haven't tried frozen bloodworms in quite a while, but when I did one of the pea puffers would eat them (if it could sneak in and grab one before the other fish got them all), but the other one never did.

They're soooo picky! Mine eat the bloodworms if I fast them a couple days but otherwise they refuse and insist on the brine shrimp. 

[JettsPapa]

On 9/8/2022 at 1:35 PM, Jennifer V said:

They're soooo picky! Mine eat the bloodworms if I fast them a couple days but otherwise they refuse and insist on the brine shrimp. 

All mine get is what they can catch.  I toss a few live snails in the tank once or twice a week, and they jump on them pretty quick.  I assume they pick off a juvenile shrimp, or maybe amano shrimp larvae, but I don't know for sure.  Apparently that's enough because they always look like little spotted footballs with eyes.