Pea Puffers

[NikkiRae]

Does anyone have experience with pea puffers? I have a 15 gallon that I have been planting and cycling and I don't know what I want in there. Pea puffers are so cute and it is the perfect size for them but I don't want to end up only being able to have 1 tiny fish. Are they hard to feed? and are they as ferocious as people say? 

[FLFishChik]

Ah, Pea Puffers. Well, you *can* technically keep up to 4 in a 15g tank (5g for the first one, additional 3g for each Puffer after that.).

Pea puffers can become territorial… so you will need to provide sight breaks and vegetation for them to be comfortable.

Feeding… they prefer Live foods like Bladder Snails and Ramshorn Snails and it’s a good idea to have an established source for these as each Pp will eat 3-5 at a feeding. I speak from experience on this. I had two 5g tanks set up to farm snails. 1 for Ramshorn and 1 for bladder snails. You’ll need a month or two to get a good population going before getting your pea puffers.

Pea puffers are NOTORIOUSLY difficult to transition to prepared foods like flakes or pellets. So you will need things like Frozen Blood Worms, Frozen Brine Shrimp, Frozen Mysis Shrimp etc. to supplement the snails. You can also culture your own white worm, black worm and grindal worms if you are up for it.

They are also *mostly* wild caught and even when they aren’t, they tend to come with mega intestinal parasites (again… speaking from experience) you WILL need to quarantine and most likely deworm them regardless if the original breeder has “dewormed” them previously.

though they are promoted as “beginner” fish, they are not. They are “beginner” if you’re experienced with other fish and are looking to get your feet wet in the puffer realm, but they are work.

 If you take the time to prepare in advance, do your research, make sure you have the necessary tank requirements, the necessary meds for your quarantine and deworming process, and the necessary foods your puffers will need and keep the water pristine, then yes- you can have more than 1 Pea puffer in a 15g tank.

Trust me when I say that the better prepared you are BEFORE your Puffers arrive, the better off both you and they will be.  
 

I do not say any of this to discourage you at all… but I want to try and save you the heartbreak I suffered when trying to save 8 puffers after having been told they had been “quarantined and dewormed “ only to lose all 8 in a months time. I mistakenly thought that would be enough. By the time I realized and started treating, it was too late. @Odd Duck can probably give you the step by step on how to do the initial quarantine and deworm because they were very, very helpful when I was desperate to save mine 

Edited April 21 by FLFishChik

[AllFishNoBrakes]

Lots of excellent info from @FLFishChik

I’ve had my 6 Pea’s in my 29 gallon for the past couple of years. In my experience, they haven’t been overly difficult. 
 

Mine get fed bloodworms and snails. I haven’t been able to transition them to commercial foods, nor have I taken the time to give it an honest attempt as I simply don’t have the time. 
 

In my personal experience they have been easy. I dewormed them, feed them well, and they have lots of space in their 29 gallon with tons of plants. They’re super personable and lots of fun, but I know not everyone has that experience with them. 

[NikkiRae]

This is the tank I have started that I was thinking of putting them in. The grass and tiny leafs were started from seeds just a couple weeks ago and if I let that tank keep growing, it will be HEAVILY planted. I have 2 glow lights that were being bullied in it, and 1 Otocinclus, but they are temporary residents. I have tons of ram shorn snails in all tanks except this one. They are excellent algae eaters. I am constantly doing population control so I have a great food source. I am going to hold off for a while, but they are so cute so I am putting in serious consideration. Thank you!!

Edited April 21 by NikkiRae

[Lennie]

Pea puffers are fairly easy to find tankbred. Or at least the first source I found was importing the tank bred ones. I have 11 in a 50 liter shallow tank (50x40x25cmh). I personally don't observe aggression with crowded numbers. They school when they are stressed but otherwise they don't. I have 3 males and 8 females if I am not mistaken. Male female ratio is important.

 

I did not need to deworm mine as tankbred ones were unlikely to have parasite issues if fed with good cultures. I had no sunken bellies or parasites but I still kept them in a barebottom planted and decored tank to observe their behavior and poops to make sure.

 

Feeding them is fairly easy as long as you are willing to keep live food cultures and hatch bbs. 

 

Here is a great guide you can check:

https://www.thepufferforum.com/forum/library/puffers-in-focus/dwarfpuffercare/

Also be careful. Wild caught ones, besides all ecological and parasitic problems, may come with mixed species from what Ive seen. You may get C. imitator instead of C.travancoricus or a mixture of both which may result in possible issues Idk?

Edited April 21 by Lennie

[AllFishNoBrakes]

I will say that my Pea Puffer tanks requires the most manual cleaning/algae scraping as snails are snacks. I have successfully kept Nerites with them, though, and that has been super helpful. My other 13 tanks I basically don’t have to control algae. My Pea Puffer tank I do 

[Little Guys]

On 4/21/2024 at 9:22 AM, NikkiRae said:

Does anyone have experience with pea puffers? I have a 15 gallon that I have been planting and cycling and I don't know what I want in there. Pea puffers are so cute and it is the perfect size for them but I don't want to end up only being able to have 1 tiny fish. Are they hard to feed? and are they as ferocious as people say? 

Hi NikkiRae,  I don't know about puffers except that they eat snails.  If you are in the Seattle area I can give you a few dozen snails to get you started.

[NikkiRae]

I’m I. Northern Mn, I have a lot oh rams horns but I appreciate you generosity 

 

[MontanaJohns]

On 4/21/2024 at 10:25 PM, FLFishChik said:

Ah, Pea Puffers. Well, you *can* technically keep up to 4 in a 15g tank (5g for the first one, additional 3g for each Puffer after that.).

Pea puffers can become territorial… so you will need to provide sight breaks and vegetation for them to be comfortable.

Feeding… they prefer Live foods like Bladder Snails and Ramshorn Snails and it’s a good idea to have an established source for these as each Pp will eat 3-5 at a feeding. I speak from experience on this. I had two 5g tanks set up to farm snails. 1 for Ramshorn and 1 for bladder snails. You’ll need a month or two to get a good population going before getting your pea puffers.

Pea puffers are NOTORIOUSLY difficult to transition to prepared foods like flakes or pellets. So you will need things like Frozen Blood Worms, Frozen Brine Shrimp, Frozen Mysis Shrimp etc. to supplement the snails. You can also culture your own white worm, black worm and grindal worms if you are up for it.

They are also *mostly* wild caught and even when they aren’t, they tend to come with mega intestinal parasites (again… speaking from experience) you WILL need to quarantine and most likely deworm them regardless if the original breeder has “dewormed” them previously.

though they are promoted as “beginner” fish, they are not. They are “beginner” if you’re experienced with other fish and are looking to get your feet wet in the puffer realm, but they are work.

 If you take the time to prepare in advance, do your research, make sure you have the necessary tank requirements, the necessary meds for your quarantine and deworming process, and the necessary foods your puffers will need and keep the water pristine, then yes- you can have more than 1 Pea puffer in a 15g tank.

Trust me when I say that the better prepared you are BEFORE your Puffers arrive, the better off both you and they will be.  
 

I do not say any of this to discourage you at all… but I want to try and save you the heartbreak I suffered when trying to save 8 puffers after having been told they had been “quarantined and dewormed “ only to lose all 8 in a months time. I mistakenly thought that would be enough. By the time I realized and started treating, it was too late. @Odd Duck can probably give you the step by step on how to do the initial quarantine and deworm because they were very, very helpful when I was desperate to save mine 

Well, I have a 15g tank, and you suggested that I can put up to four Pea Puffers in that. I will do that, thank you for the help. If you are a student, then, let me help you also. I am a student and If I tell you, I hate essay writing to solve the problem, I use this https://academized.com/essay-for-sale website which is a professional writing service provider. I mostly them to use to buy essays from there. I am still using them because they are very affordable. If I tell them about their work, they are amazing and they do it very professionally. You can also visit them to write assignments, thesis, and many other things for you.

Thanks for the info, I appreciate it.

Edit: Thanks again, it helps me a lot.

Edited yesterday at 07:37 AM by MontanaJohns

[Scaperoot]

I have 3 Pea Puffers in a 40 breeder community tank. They love eating frozen worms and snacking on ramshorn snails. I love the way they follow me with their eyes when I'm near the tank. They'd be a great choice! 

[Littlefish]

On 4/21/2024 at 4:38 PM, AllFishNoBrakes said:

I will say that my Pea Puffer tanks requires the most manual cleaning/algae scraping as snails are snacks. I have successfully kept Nerites with them, though, and that has been super helpful. My other 13 tanks I basically don’t have to control algae. My Pea Puffer tank I do 

1 pea puffer caused my 75 g to become imbalanced as almost all cuc were slowly broken down by shell (nerites) or one foot at a time (amano)

[AllFishNoBrakes]

@Littlefish Good to know. I have some shrimp in with mine (neocaridina culls) and I see them from time to time. That being said, the tank is pretty heavily planted, and there’s definitely not a thriving colony. I’m sure the shrimplets are snacks. 
 

Mine have done well with the Nerites. No issues thus far.