Anyone successfully kept pea puffers alone?

[Wiuev]

Hey, I've seen a lot of conflicting information regarding keeping pea puffers' housing requirements and I'd appreciate the insight of anyone who's had experience doing keeping them solo in a 5-10 gallon tank.

I've seen multiple sites them among their top solo nano tank picks and read many anecdotes of people who say they've kept them alone with no issue & little to no signs of stress. On the other hand, more recent discussions I've seen (mostly on reddit) say they should strictly be kept in groups of 6 or more and only in tanks of 15+ gallons.

I've also read that they shoal in the hundreds in the wild so I'm skeptical about how much sense it makes to keep one alone. I'd be curious as to what your verdicts are.

 

[Cyberfish]

They do fine alone. However, in 5-10 gallons, you could keep 3 in a 10g. In 5g you'd need to keep them solo.

However, they do get pretty bored without much attention or toys when they're in groups of fewer than 3, so I'd recommend getting 10g and a trio.

 

[Wiuev]

They do fine alone. However, in 5-10 gallons, you could keep 3 in a 10g. In 5g you'd need to keep them solo.

However, they do get pretty bored without much attention or toys when they're in groups of fewer than 3, so I'd recommend getting 10g and a trio.

Hi, thanks for the reply. Since they are a shoaling fish, would it not be similar to keeping a singular tetra or danio by itself?

 

[Cyberfish]

Hi, thanks for the reply. Since they are a shoaling fish, would it not be similar to keeping a singular tetra or danio by itself?

There's a difference between schooling and shoaling. Schooling is when they move together as one and stick close together, and shoaling is when they form a loose group. It would be similar, just not to the same extent. Think more of keeping a single rainbowfish or so, which they can do fine with.