Pea Puffer Feeding

[NanotankBank]

Hey y’all,

im putting together a 7-8gal pea puffer aquarium. Going to house just 2 pea puffers. And it was going to be filled with ramshorn and pond snails. Would feeding by hand (like frozen bloodworms or such) need to be done if the population of snails is adequate enough? Or will the snails be all the need?

[AllFishNoBrakes]

I have 6 Pea Puffers in a 29 gallon tank. I’ve had them for about a year and a half. 
 

I believe that the snails will sustain them for a certain amount of time, but eventually they’ll hunt down all the snails and will need supplemental feeding like bloodworms. 
 

Mine get bloodworms daily, and then snails on top of that 3-4 days per week. One cube of mini Hikari bloodworms gets split between 6 tanks daily, and then I’ll drop in 7-10 Ramshorn snails 3 or 4 times per week and the snails are gone by the following feeding of bloodworms the next day. 
 

Pea Puffers may be small, but don’t underestimate the amount they can eat on a daily basis if you let them. 

[Odd Duck]

I suspect you will find that you can’t sustain pea puffers fully on an in-dwelling snail population, especially in that size tank.  I have had pea puffers in 5 different tanks and have not managed yet to get them fully self sustaining.  My first try was a complete flop in a 10 G and it was how I learned they will kill adult mystery snails slowly, bite by bite and kill each other.  I tried the single, surviving male in a 6 gallon tank with ramshorns and bladder snails plus plenty of scuds and still had to feed blackworms and whiteworms.  Then I tried a shoal of 9 (2 males, 7 females) in a heavy planted 20 long that was well established with rams, bladders, scuds, and some blackworms but still had to supplement and the blackworms didn’t survive long at all.

Then I tried giving the scuds and snails much more time to establish before adding peas.  Also added a bunch of MTS since they were starting later than the rams and bladders and far more blackworms (over an ounce into the tank who still didn’t last long at all) and still had to supplement feed even as they picked each other off down to 4 peas.  Now I have just 2 (one male, one female) in a 10 gallon is absolutely choked with plants and that has long had scuds, rams, and bladders established but I still have to supplement.  I’ve been trying to get live Daphnia and Ceriodaphnia established by squirting them directly from the culture tank directly into a dense growth of susswassertang.  I don’t think it’s likely to happen but I’m trying.  I’m still supplementing with bladders and rams grown in culture tanks and intermittent feedings with whiteworms, blackworms, and scuds from cultures and/or other tanks.

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

What a fiasco @Odd Duck

[FLFishChik]

I think I just saw my pea Puffers Aquarium life flash before my eyes. 
 

So… for my 29g tank with 6 Murder Beans, I’m going to need

1 - 10g tank overrun with bladder snails

1 - 10g tank overrun with Ramshorn Snails

1 - 10g tank of a well established Daphnia culture

a stacked tote system of black worms, another for white worms

a small chest freezer of frozen Blood Worms and another for Brine Shrimp

an alter to the Bean Gods with a eternally lit candle and perpetual offerings of incense and daily pledges of loyalty until death.

Got it 😳

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

On 4/20/2023 at 12:44 PM, FLFishChik said:

I think I just saw my pea Puffers Aquarium life flash before my eyes. 
 

So… for my 29g tank with 6 Murder Beans, I’m going to need

1 - 10g tank overrun with bladder snails

1 - 10g tank overrun with Ramshorn Snails

1 - 10g tank of a well established Daphnia culture

a stacked tote system of black worms, another for white worms

a small chest freezer of frozen Blood Worms and another for Brine Shrimp

an alter to the Bean Gods with a eternally lit candle and perpetual offerings of incense and daily pledges of loyalty until death.

Got it 😳

But they are so cute though

those little pea puffer faces

Edited April 20, 2023 by Chick-In-Of-TheSea

[mattk87]

I have a pea puffer in a 5.5 gallon and she demolished the established snail population pretty quickly.  I think she went on a killing spree after she was full.  I feed her scuds, pond snails, and ramshorns that I scoop out of another tank.  I also feed frozen bloodworms with tweezers in hopes that she won’t become completely dependent on live food.  She oddly gets along with my cherry shrimp culls.  I don’t see many baby shrimp so she might be getting some.  

[Randall H]

On 4/20/2023 at 11:44 AM, FLFishChik said:

I think I just saw my pea Puffers Aquarium life flash before my eyes. 
 

So… for my 29g tank with 6 Murder Beans, I’m going to need

1 - 10g tank overrun with bladder snails

1 - 10g tank overrun with Ramshorn Snails

1 - 10g tank of a well established Daphnia culture

a stacked tote system of black worms, another for white worms

a small chest freezer of frozen Blood Worms and another for Brine Shrimp

an alter to the Bean Gods with a eternally lit candle and perpetual offerings of incense and daily pledges of loyalty until death.

Got it 😳

Reflective listening for the day...What I am hearing you all say is I need more tanks.

[Sharon M]

This is why I hesitate to keep little pea puffers: I worry about feeding them. 

 

[Odd Duck]

On 4/20/2023 at 11:44 AM, FLFishChik said:

I think I just saw my pea Puffers Aquarium life flash before my eyes. 
 

So… for my 29g tank with 6 Murder Beans, I’m going to need

1 - 10g tank overrun with bladder snails

1 - 10g tank overrun with Ramshorn Snails

1 - 10g tank of a well established Daphnia culture

a stacked tote system of black worms, another for white worms

a small chest freezer of frozen Blood Worms and another for Brine Shrimp

an alter to the Bean Gods with a eternally lit candle and perpetual offerings of incense and daily pledges of loyalty until death.

Got it 😳

Now you’ve got it!  And I’m only partially kidding.  But I’ve learned a LOT about culturing live foods.

[AllFishNoBrakes]

Don’t overthink it. Bloodworms with snails when you can pull some should be just fine, at least in my experience with my 6.