Pea Puffer in 5 Gallon

[theotheragentm]

In my office, I have a 20 gallon long (see photo) and an empty 5 gallon. I was considering putting a pea puffer into this 5 gallon, but I had a few questions for those of you that have kept them.

1. This is an office tank, meaning I'm gone on weekends, potentially up to 4 days off without food because no one will be in the office. Anything longer than that, and I have someone in the office that can fill in for me. Any issues with this particular fish and skipping meal days?
2. The 20L has pond snails in it. Can I feed the puffer on that alone? I plan to use Vibra Bites to supplement if necessary. Should I move snails a few at a time as to eliminate the chance the puffer would massacre and not eat the snails, leading to ammonia problems? How many would you move over at a time?
3. What kind of cover do they like? I have a clump of Subwassertang that would cover the bottom of the tank about 3/4" deep. Would that do well in this tank? My concern would be the snail being able to find snails in the clump or losing them after biting into them. My other options would likely be crypts.
4. What kind of flow do pea puffers like? This tank has a false back with a tiny circulator, but I can always just use a sponge filter instead.

Any other thoughts/tips?

[H.K.Luterman]

18 minutes ago, theotheragentm said:

In my office, I have a 20 gallon long (see photo) and an empty 5 gallon. I was considering putting a pea puffer into this 5 gallon, but I had a few questions for those of you that have kept them.

1. This is an office tank, meaning I'm gone on weekends, potentially up to 4 days off without food because no one will be in the office. Anything longer than that, and I have someone in the office that can fill in for me. Any issues with this particular fish and skipping meal days?
2. The 20L has pond snails in it. Can I feed the puffer on that alone? I plan to use Vibra Bites to supplement if necessary. Should I move snails a few at a time as to eliminate the chance the puffer would massacre and not eat the snails, leading to ammonia problems? How many would you move over at a time?
3. What kind of cover do they like? I have a clump of Subwassertang that would cover the bottom of the tank about 3/4" deep. Would that do well in this tank? My concern would be the snail being able to find snails in the clump or losing them after biting into them. My other options would likely be crypts.
4. What kind of flow do pea puffers like? This tank has a false back with a tiny circulator, but I can always just use a sponge filter instead.

Any other thoughts/tips?

1. I'm not too sure about this question. I do know that fish do fine fasting, but I don't know if fasting so often would be ok long term. Two days fasting every week, as long as it's normally well fed the rest of the week, would be fine. But 4 days fasting too often... ehhhh, someone else may have to give you more opinions on that.

2. Pond snails are excellent; I feed pond, bladder and ramshorn snails just because I have so many snails in all my tanks. Don't 100% count on your puffer ever taking to Vibra Bites, mine refuses to eat anything but snails and mosquito larvae. But it is definitely worth a shot in trying to get other food options. You can also try frozen blood worms (the smaller ones if you can get them. The regular sized ones seem to be too big).

3. They like a lot of cover, and things to explore. Rocks, wood, plants; stuff to hunt around in. They're one of the more intelligent species of fish and like a lot to do. Mine is also very timid, and likes places to hide.

4. I have the same tank for my pea puffer and just have the little filter pump on about half power (you can adjust the flow with a dial on the side). They're strong little swimmers, but do naturally hunt by hovering, so I would suspect too much flow might cause issues. He's been in there three years now and seems happy.

Here's some video of my set up. Hope that helps!

 

Edited February 15, 2021 by H.K.Luterman
typo!

[theotheragentm]

It looks like our tanks would be very similar in appearance based on the plants I would move over from the 20L. Does your puffer destroy all the snails or will he only eat as necessary?

[FrozenFins]

My thought would be to add a bunch of snails to the pea puffer tank on weekends/ days that you are gone that way he has a continous food supply that he would eat to prevent him from fasting every week.

[H.K.Luterman]

10 minutes ago, theotheragentm said:

It looks like our tanks would be very similar in appearance based on the plants I would move over from the 20L. Does your puffer destroy all the snails or will he only eat as necessary?

I've never seen any survive too long. I do add them when the lights are off to give them time to hide so he can have some fun hunting them. But I doubt any make it more than a few hours.