JS Fish 5 gal pea puffer journal

[JS Fish]

I started this tank a few days ago

I got it from a science teacher who's leaving my school.

I recently put some sand, river rocks, and wood in and the tanks is also cycling!

I'm hoping to plant with valisernia and some types of crypts and maybe anubis nana petite.

For inhabitants, I'm planning a type of snail and a pea puffer 

[NOLANANO]

On 3/18/2024 at 8:20 AM, JS Fish said:

For inhabitants, I'm planning a type of snail and a pea puffer 

If you plan pea puffer(s) then you won't have snails for very long.

[Odd Duck]

On 3/18/2024 at 9:57 AM, NOLANANO said:

If you plan pea puffer(s) then you won't have snails for very long.

Truth.  The longest survivors in my pea puffer tanks were horned nerites (their shell projections appear to be fairly effective protection) and marble limpets (these have all their flesh tucked under a helmet but if they fall off the glass onto their backs they will be eaten).  Even adult mystery snails can’t withstand pea puffers.  They will lose their antennae and bits off their foot until they spend most of their time hiding and not eating.  You will have to intervene and move the snail to another tank.  MTS can survive if the group is sufficiently established before the pea puffer goes in but an individual likely will not survive.

Lone pea puffers tend to spend a lot of time hiding, by the way.  I hope you’re OK with not seeing your pea puffer much.  Pea puffers in general excel at hiding, so be aware that you may not see it as much as you expect.

[JS Fish]

On 3/18/2024 at 1:44 PM, Odd Duck said:

Truth.  The longest survivors in my pea puffer tanks were horned nerites (their shell projections appear to be fairly effective protection) and marble limpets (these have all their flesh tucked under a helmet but if they fall off the glass onto their backs they will be eaten).  Even adult mystery snails can’t withstand pea puffers.  They will lose their antennae and bits off their foot until they spend most of their time hiding and not eating.  You will have to intervene and move the snail to another tank.  MTS can survive if the group is sufficiently established before the pea puffer goes in but an individual likely will not survive.

Lone pea puffers tend to spend a lot of time hiding, by the way.  I hope you’re OK with not seeing your pea puffer much.  Pea puffers in general excel at hiding, so be aware that you may not see it as much as you expect.

Thanks for the advice! I'm fine with it hiding, I'm planning bladder snails and to very heavily plant the tank. The bladders will most likely get a while to populate the tank before I get the puffer!

[Odd Duck]

On 3/19/2024 at 7:11 AM, JS Fish said:

Thanks for the advice! I'm fine with it hiding, I'm planning bladder snails and to very heavily plant the tank. The bladders will most likely get a while to populate the tank before I get the puffer!

I tried this in my 29 gallon with 9 pea puffers. The ramshorns, bladders, and MTS were all established for at least 2 (edit to add - I checked my post in the 29 G and it was closer to 3 months from snail and plant add to pea puffer add) months before moving the pea puffer colony into the tank. All but the MTS were decimated within a couple weeks. I still had to grow snails in separate tanks to feed them. 

Edited March 20 by Odd Duck

[JS Fish]

On 3/20/2024 at 12:06 PM, Odd Duck said:

I tried this in my 29 gallon with 9 pea puffers. The ramshorns, bladders, and MTS were all established for at least 2 (edit to add - I checked my post in the 29 G and it was closer to 3 months from snail and plant add to pea puffer add) months before moving the pea puffer colony into the tank. All but the MTS were decimated within a couple weeks. I still had to grow snails in separate tanks to feed them. 

Ok, thanks, I'll make sure to set up ano tf he rdd tank for the snails!

[Rube_Goldfish]

On 3/20/2024 at 12:06 PM, Odd Duck said:

I tried this in my 29 gallon with 9 pea puffers. The ramshorns, bladders, and MTS were all established for at least 2 (edit to add - I checked my post in the 29 G and it was closer to 3 months from snail and plant add to pea puffer add) months before moving the pea puffer colony into the tank. All but the MTS were decimated within a couple weeks. I still had to grow snails in separate tanks to feed them. 

I've got one pea puffer each in two of five tanks, and snails in the other three. They don't call them "murder beans" for nothing! That said, if I feed a little too much into the other tanks, I figure "well, I'm just feeding the puffers' food".

They also love grindal worms. One of them loves baby brine shrimp and frozen blood worms; the other will eat both but doesn't seem very enthusiastic about it.

[JS Fish]

On 3/20/2024 at 5:21 PM, Rube_Goldfish said:

I've got one pea puffer each in two of five tanks, and snails in the other three. They don't call them "murder beans" for nothing! That said, if I feed a little too much into the other tanks, I figure "well, I'm just feeding the puffers' food".

They also love grindal worms. One of them loves baby brine shrimp and frozen blood worms; the other will eat both but doesn't seem very enthusiastic about it.

Food wise, I unfortunately only have access to frozen brine shrimp and frozen blood worms from my stores. Bladder snails would be something I start breeding as a food source

[Rube_Goldfish]

On 3/20/2024 at 7:47 PM, JS Fish said:

Food wise, I unfortunately only have access to frozen brine shrimp and frozen blood worms from my stores. Bladder snails would be something I start breeding as a food source

Like I said, I farm them in my other tanks, something I was doing anyway, whether I wanted to or not! (Truth be told, though, I like the snails in my tanks, so I never really tried to get rid of them.) You might get lucky with frozen foods, and if not, snails are easy to culture!

[Schuyler]

I've heard that the flow on those marine land portrait tanks is pretty strong. Are you planning on slowing the flow somehow?

I guess I'm assuming pea puffers like low flow but I'm not sure.

[JS Fish]

On 3/20/2024 at 10:18 PM, Schuyler said:

I've heard that the flow on those marine land portrait tanks is pretty strong. Are you planning on slowing the flow somehow?

I guess I'm assuming pea puffers like low flow but I'm not sure.

Yep. I have the pump turned all the way down and I'm planning to put a sponge on the end to further slow down the flow

Also, I've been working on the tank some more. I added java moss and some micro sword. 

I'm thinking dwarf sagittarius or vaisernaria to put in back and also some anubis nana petite

[JS Fish]

I added some monte carlo and dwarf baby tear peices from my 20 gallon tank and also a pothos plant in the back and a little fossil!

[Whitecloud09]

Looking nice there @JS Fish! Are you planning on some taller plants too @JS Fish? Fishless cycling is the best way to cycle and gald you are showing respect to the fish as I call it by having the tank 100% ready! Nice tank 👍

[JS Fish]

On 3/21/2024 at 6:29 PM, Whitecloud09 said:

Looking nice there @JS Fish! Are you planning on some taller plants too @JS Fish? Fishless cycling is the best way to cycle and gald you are showing respect to the fish as I call it by having the tank 100% ready! Nice tank 👍

Thanks! Yep, I'm thinking valisernia and maybe an aquarium lilly

Edited March 22 by JS Fish

[JS Fish]

Update for this tank, I have gone through a fast roller coaster ride with it recently full of unexpected surprises.

To start, none of my local pet store have had pea puffers in stock. While I was waiting, I caught a small large mouth bass. I decided to keep him in this tank instead and named him Boomy.

After a while, I was having problems with him feeding. He refused frozen and freeze dried foods and the local pet stores didn't often have small enough feeder shrimp or feeder guppiez that he could eat. Since he was getting very skinny, I decided to let him go back where I found him.

Funny enough, one feeder guppy and two feeder shrimp he didn't eat were left behind and are currently living in the tank. The shrimp are keeping things clean and the guppy turned out to be pregnant and gave birth. I now have about a dozen baby guppies I'm currently raising. They are the first fish fry I've ever raised so I'm excited to see how it goes.

I'm planning to soon set up another journal covering the past and present of this tank in detail. If your interested in following this tank, I will post in here when I set up the new journal.

Thanks for reading and I hope you have a joyful day!