Pea Puffers, Misunderstood?

[NanotankBank]

Visited a LFS about 2.5 hours from my house, first tank I noticed was a display tank (I’d say 36gal bow front) right at the entrance. Decently planted, but not too crazy. However, this specific tank had (what I could count) 25 pea puffers. The owner said he’s never had issues with them and I need to know if anyone else has ever had luck? I love the little guys, and would 100% have a tank dedicated to them if I could, but I don’t want a massacre to occur. Please let me know if this is a thing that I just didn’t know about! 

[TOtrees]

They don’t play so well with others, but if the tank is the right size for the number of puffers, and it’s reasonably well planted (or furnished with decorations), you can keep quite a few together. I had 4 in a jungle like 10 gallon with no issues. 

[AllFishNoBrakes]

I keep 6 in my 29 without a single issue. There’s also 2 male Platy’s that were born in that tank and I couldn’t get them out as fry when I was moving in the Pea’s. I for sure thought there would be a Platy fry massacre, but they’ve all just grown up together without a single issue. 
 

I’ve often thought about making my group of 6 bigger, but don’t want to invite issues into something that has worked so well for so long. 

[NanotankBank]

On 1/28/2023 at 6:59 PM, AllFishNoBrakes said:

I keep 6 in my 29 without a single issue. There’s also 2 male Platy’s that were born in that tank and I couldn’t get them out as fry when I was moving in the Pea’s. I for sure thought there would be a Platy fry massacre, but they’ve all just grown up together without a single issue. 
 

I’ve often thought about making my group of 6 bigger, but don’t want to invite issues into something that has worked so well for so long. 

That’s awesome, I’d love to have something like that. 

[AllFishNoBrakes]

@NanotankBank It’s one of my favorite tanks. The Pea Puffers are super fun, and I took the knowledge from my previous tanks and put it towards this one. I’m glad I set this one up in my bedroom 

[TeeJay]

I have always thought about a five gal with a single pea. My concerns were getting them to eat and I hear they can be more prone to sicknesses to start 

[AllFishNoBrakes]

@TeeJay My personal experience with them is they’ve been pretty easy. I definitely don’t do the most with several different live food cultures and other things people might tell you is absolutely necessary. I was definitely hesitant to try them at first, but they’ve done well for me. Hit me up with a message if you wanna chat further about them!

Edited January 29, 2023 by AllFishNoBrakes

[Tactical Error]

Will they hunt MTS?   And/ or will they leave the bigger snails alone, like a Nettie and mystery snail?

[mynameisnobody]

@Tactical Error They’ll hunt anything. I’ve seen pp’s chomp of a mystery snails antenna. If it moves then they are inspecting it. Don’t put anything in with them that you don’t mind loosing. With that said, they’re more than enough entertainment for 1 tank. Clean up crews are a hassle in such a setup so I would gravel vac when need be. 

[Littlefish]

I had one in a 75 w 4 angels, 2 gbr, a sae, and assorted tetras.  No problems and he was my favorite fish.  Fed him blackworms and mosquito larvae.  Well, he did destroy the shells on 2 nerites, but they kept living.  Actually, I couldnt jeep amano, and he is pbly responsible for that, too.  So cuc might be a problem.

[Matt B]

We have 2 Peas in a 10 gal. Turns out they are both females. Recently added 4 small Guppy/Endlers to see what would happen. 3 females 1 male.

The Peas started swimming together more than they had been. Really showing their colors and watching the newcomers. It appeared to me that they were trying to figure out if the guppies were a threat. 8 days later and everyone is getting along just fine. 🤔  One of the female gups gave birth to a few fry, I was expecting the Peas to attempt to eat them. Out of 4 fry there are still 3 , have not observed the Peas takeing any interest in them. I have not changed the food for the Peas ( baby brine shrimp and blood worms) . Have been feeding the guppies a tiny bit of guppy pellets,  but they also eat the brine shrimp.

So far, So good. We will see how this plays out. 😄

[Sharon M]

I cannot remember where I read this, but the author hypothesized that pea puffers are a schooling/shoaling fish. 

It makes sense.  They're so tiny, so safety in numbers boosts their chances of survival.

At some point, I'm going to have a species specific tank just for them. 

They are enchanting!

 

[Biotope Biologist]

Puffers get bored very easily. Intelligent creatures with little to do usually resort to violence. It’s well documented in many social animal species, so it’s not at all surprising that most people think they are little serial killers… 

 

Interact with them or give them something to do and you should be good. Of course being intelligent means that the odd sociopath is bound to come up. So watch for one and separate if need be ☺️

[Odd Duck]

They absolutely are considered a shoaling fish, and they are intelligent hunters, and they are also vicious little murder beans.  Even in the wild, the other fish that cohabit with pea puffers will have pea puffer mouth sized scoops out of their fins.  I wish I had book marked all the articles and studies I read after I rescued my first murder bean - he truly fit that description very well.

I made 3 separate attempts at getting him integrated into a shoal, but after he immediately grabbed and shook the nearest male like a rag doll at the last attempt, I stopped trying with him.  He was for sure a sociopath murder bean and I’m not certain if it’s because he was a solo pea for months before I ever got him or if I just missed my timing window in his development on socializing him.  He was almost twice the size (and 3 times the bulk) of my other peas that were mature enough to sex and breed by the time he was added to the tank (for about 30 seconds anyway, murderous little bugger).  He lived out his life as a solo pea until he yeeted himself out of his tank one day during a cleaning and I missed it.  😢 

I have heard of sometimes having success with them in community tanks as long as there’s lots of room, all the other fish are pea puffer sized or larger, there are loads of live plants, lots of sight breaks, enough peas that intra-species aggression was diffused, and tank mates were very active and fast plus abundant enough to diffuse inter-species aggression, AND you’re willing to tolerate (and treat if needed) occasional fin damage to tank mates.  I’ve tried a shoal of 9 peas (that grew up together) in a 20 G long (mixed species - the otos and ember tetras didn’t do well thanks to the peas - I finally removed the otos and what was left of the embers 😠) and in a 29 gallon as species only (with LOADS of snails of multiple species and some Amano shrimp) and I’ve slowly ended up down to only 2 peas in the 29 now with the Amanos.  Started at 2 males, 7 females, still have 1 male, went gradually down to 3 females, now down to 1 female, and there’s no sign of breeding despite plenty of room and plenty of cover for fry.  Bunch of sociopaths.  I won’t be getting more pea puffers.  But that’s just me.