Can you keep multiple pea puffers?

I like planning ahead, but I have the tank itself and have the idea. Can pea puffers live with other pea puffers in a 5 gallon heavily planted tank? Would 2 floatng beans do well? Specifically asking for 2 because my lfs has them but I can't sex them yet as they are juveniles. Planning on plenty of hiding spots.

 

honestly, pea puffers should be kept in groups of at least 5. They are in very large groups in the wild, and I personally wouldn't keep them in a 5 gallon. you get to see their personality way better when in larger groups

 

If they are already living together in the same tank, they will be buddies in your tank too. They are social and play together. I used to have a 20 gallon tank with 6 pea puffers. Very cute fish. Feeding them without polluting the little tank is the only hard part. Please just be careful not to overfeed them. These are tiny fish with lots of personality. They eat little crustaceans like brine shrimp and like to hunt too. For your 5 gallon, I would get good filtration to keep the water clean.

 

Would weekly 30 percent water changes suffice? Also could they live of a diet of frozen bloodworms and pest snails alternating every day? Looking for more dietary ideas.

 

Yes that will work.

 

Thank you so much!

 

Just to raise a note of caution, I have read/heard multiple accounts of the pea puffers going on murder streaks when kept in groups in smallish tanks. Is this not correct? Just want to make sure the OP doesn't stick 5 pea puffers in a 5 gallon and wind up with 1 after a week. (but have never kept them myself)

 

I want to keep a trio or a pair of beans to socialize with each other and not feel lonely. It would be very densely planted with lots of line of sight breaks.

 

Would weekly 30 percent water changes suffice? Also could they live of a diet of frozen bloodworms and pest snails alternating every day? Looking for more dietary ideas.

I have two in a heavily planted 40 gallon breeder tank. Only one of them has ever eaten frozen blood worms, but the tank has a healthy population of cull neocaridina shrimp, amano shrimp, and various species of snails. I don't directly feed them (other than adding extra snails occasionally), but they stay fat. I assume they eat small shrimp and snails, and maybe amano shrimp larvae.

 

pea puffers, like any aggressive/semi aggressive fish, can get territorial and /or fight over resources if keep in too small an environment. If you have the ability to do it bigger, even if you get to keep a larger group, they have means of getting away from aggressors and staking out their own hangouts. if it's too tight, they will interact but it will be fighting over something, and those little guys can really bite the heck out of each other. I'd say it's a bad idea to keep peas in 2.5 gallons of water per fish or less.

really, I'd say it's 5 gallons per pea puffer to keep a group of them and keep it relatively "pea"ceful. har har har.
You can probably do 3 per 10 gallon, 5 per 20 gallons. but once it's down to 3 gallons or less per fish of space, it gets sketchy, unless it's a long wide low tank with a lot of horizontal area, they don't seem to care much about vertical space. 3 of 4 inches of water is fine if they have lots or horizontal space and plant hides.

 

pea puffers, like any aggressive/semi aggressive fish, can get territorial and /or fight over resources if keep in too small an environment. If you have the ability to do it bigger, even if you get to keep a larger group, they have means of getting away from aggressors and staking out their own hangouts. if it's too tight, they will interact but it will be fighting over something, and those little guys can really bite the heck out of each other. I'd say it's a bad idea to keep peas in 2.5 gallons of water per fish or less.

really, I'd say it's 5 gallons per pea puffer to keep a group of them and keep it relatively "pea"ceful. har har har.
You can probably do 3 per 10 gallon, 5 per 20 gallons. but once it's down to 3 gallons or less per fish of space, it gets sketchy, unless it's a long wide low tank with a lot of horizontal area, they don't seem to care much about vertical space. 3 of 4 inches of water is fine if they have lots or horizontal space and plant hides.

The tank footprint is 18 by 7. The height is only 11 so it's pretty shallow. Would this be suitable for a trio? It will be very heavily planted in the back with stem plants and swords and in the front will be a carpet of s. repens and a centerpiece driftwood for epiphytes.