Murder Beans

[Meep556]

Was curious if a heavily planted 15g cube would be good for a group of pea puffers. I’ve always wanted to get a group but have been iffy on it. 
 

The picture is the tank in its current state. All fish in there though have been removed and added into a 40 gallon tank. 

[Kunersbettas]

On 6/4/2024 at 8:47 AM, Meep556 said:

Was curious if a heavily planted 15g cube would be good for a group of pea puffers. I’ve always wanted to get a group but have been iffy on it. 
 

The picture is the tank in its current state. All fish in there though have been removed and added into a 40 gallon tank. 

Yes, a school of pea puffers would be ideal. Just make sure to provide some snails for them to wear down their teeth on, and don't get any other fish unless they are cleanup. And yes, moving that angel to a 40 breeder is a good idea. He looks a little cramped!

[Meep556]

On 6/4/2024 at 12:05 PM, Kunersbettas said:

Moving that angel to a 40 breeder is a good idea. He looks a little cramped!

 
Ok awesome I was thinking 5-6 maybe? 

I know he was. But that was the only option at the time. He was in there for quite a while to be honest. Just couldn’t afford any thing else. If you go back into the introduction part of the forum I explained why lol. I named him Bubba after his incident. 

[Kunersbettas]

On 6/4/2024 at 9:10 AM, Meep556 said:

 
Ok awesome I was thinking 5-6 maybe? 

I know he was. But that was the only option at the time. He was in there for quite a while to be honest. Just couldn’t afford any thing else. If you go back into the introduction part of the forum I explained why lol. I named him Bubba after his incident. 

Hey, it's all good! I think a good amount for that tank would be 3-5, no more, no less than that range.

[EricksonAquatics]

I think three would be your best bet. They really are murder beans… too many and you’ll have a pea battle zone😂😂

[AllFishNoBrakes]

On 6/4/2024 at 10:05 AM, Kunersbettas said:

Just make sure to provide some snails for them to wear down their teeth on,

One of the ideal things about Peas is you don’t have to constantly grind their teeth down. This is unique to Peas and makes them ideal entry level Puffers. Snails are great live foods for them, though. They don’t crunch the entire snail. Instead, they hover, and then strike, removing the snail from the shell. Mine get snails snacks several times per week. 
 

I have 6 in a 29. I would suggest 3 in a 15. Maybe 5 tops, but 3 is what I would do. Give them lots of places to hide and explore and enjoy them! They’re super fun. 

Edited June 4 by AllFishNoBrakes

[Meep556]

Ok thanks for all the replies. I’ve got some drift wood that I’ve hollowed out so I’ll get some rocks glued to it and drop a couple extra pieces in there. And you can’t really tell but there’s 100s of snails in that tank. And I have thousands in my grow out tubs lol. So I have an abundance of food for them. Should I also add in blood worms every now and then also? 

[AllFishNoBrakes]

Mine get bloodworms all the time. I know people say it’s “bad” but I haven’t seen anything negative come from it whatsoever. I supplement with snails. I’ve had mine for about 3 years and they’ve thrived for me the entire time. 
 

My girlfriend was kind enough to let me fill the house with tanks. Worm cultures all over the house are another story. 

Edited June 4 by AllFishNoBrakes

[Lennie]

Mine are very peaceful. With a group dynamic of 3m:8f. I think if your stock is just like mine you can keep them there. I have 11 in a shallow 15g

but I know people having issues with keeping them together. So I cant tell you exactly you can keep them there. But in my experience, mine are peaceful

[Meep556]

I figured that would be the case @Lennie  But I have no idea how to sex them. From what I hear it’s on the tricky side. 

[clownbaby]

On 6/4/2024 at 9:10 AM, Meep556 said:

 
Ok awesome I was thinking 5-6 maybe? 

I know he was. But that was the only option at the time. He was in there for quite a while to be honest. Just couldn’t afford any thing else. If you go back into the introduction part of the forum I explained why lol. I named him Bubba after his incident. 

So keep in mind that pea puffers are actually schooling fish despite their aggression! I would say start with one male and two or three females. 5 should be fine, but again, start slow. Start with 1 male per every 3 females. But start low and see how your individual puffers are - some are more peaceful than others. And of course as always bigger numbers = less aggression. 

Also, really any live food is good for them. Bloodworms, pot worms, tiny baby earthworms, mosquito larvae, scuds, daphnia, brine shrimp; I have even seen videos of them taking down dragonfly larvae! And as others mentioned adding in some driftwood they would appreciate, but not necessary, your tank is good to start with. 

Unfortunately I hear sexing is really hard. If you have a LFS that sells them, they might be able to help identify the gender for ya! 

Here is a thread about pea puffers I started. I decided against it, as I realized the main reason I wanted pea puffers was so I could have an excuse to culture aquatic bugs. Then I realized I could just have some pet bugs and didn't need an excuse! 

 

[Meep556]

@clownbaby yea from what I seen online, sexing them can be tricky. And when they’re young the male and females look alike lol. And I follow the same gender ratio with every fish I get. 1 male to 2-3 females. Learned that from my guppies lol.

My LFS is a 50/50 chance. It’s a bunch of young people, not saying that’s a bad thing. They just lack the experience. I’ve even helped them out a few times lol. They genuinely care though and try their hardest so it’s all good. I’ve got the 3 big box pet stores around me but I refuse to buy animals from them for obvious reasons. Thought about ordering some offline if you know any good online shops. 

[Rube_Goldfish]

On 6/4/2024 at 1:02 PM, Meep556 said:

And you can’t really tell but there’s 100s of snails in that tank. And I have thousands in my grow out tubs lol.

For what it's worth, Mrs. Goldfish's first pea puffer was a true murder bean; she would kill bladder snails seemingly for the sport of it, eating only a small portion or even none at all. She seemed to take their presence in her tank as an affront. Her current pea only seems to hunt when hungry, though.

I mention it because there's a chance a group of peas might clean out the current snail population faster than you might be thinking, and also that it's good that you're "farming" them elsewhere. It would be a lot harder for us, anyway, to keep any pea puffers without separate tanks full of snails.