How many Pea Puffers would you keep in a 10 gallon?

1. How many would you keep in a 10 gallon?

2. What diet do you give them, for those who own them?

3. Let’s see pictures of your pea puffer tanks!

Any other info about them you’d like to share is welcome!

Thank you all!

 

1. I think you can do 3 but not positive on that. Either 1 or 3.
2. Some of them can be finicky and only want live foods/snails
3. Zoomo has some I believe

 

I have a pea puffer, I will post photos soon.
1. you can keep three in a 10 gallon
2. Snails should be there diet
3. I have some and will post photos soon

 

Thanks ValerieAdams. Yes, I do have puffers. I have 4 in a 10 gallon, but one of them is a red tailed or red eyed, I forget which, and I call him pappa (do not know if he is a male), and he literally never comes out. It is like he is not even there. So many times I think he has died, and he shows up. He lurks so he does not bother the other 3 at all. I thought he was dead and bought more and then he showed up. I swear he hides in the gravel too. I have taken out every single plant/decoration looking for him and cannot find him, checked filters, etc., showed up later on that day. He tends to come out when the lights are off. Weird fish but I love him.

They eat pond snails mainly, some ramshorns (the smaller ones), and mine eat some MTS too (the small ones).

Because pest snails are becoming hard to find, I have ventured into feeding them Daphnia mixed with snails. Daphnia are so much easier to find right now and can live in freezing weather so they arrive alive, and they love them.

Love these fish although feeding them can be a huge pain in the butt, specially when you cannot find pest snails. Mine won't touch frozen worms or any kind of flakes/pellets.

I will try to take pics later. They are hard to see, so small, but they are in there. My puffer tank has a lot of plants, so the have plenty of hiding spots.

 

I have a gust one puffer in ten gallon because I didn’t want to deal with them if I got three that were constantly bickering but you could probably manage three in ten gallon. I starting breed ramshorn snails to feed him, along with freeze dried bloodworms.
Here a some pictures

 

They’re all so cute! Thank you!

I’ve just set up a 10 gallon with 6 plants and have a large piece of driftwood for the middle (just waiting for it to sink) and I’ve got frozen bloodworms and frozen Mysis shrimp to start with. Hopefully they’re not too picky as I’m not sure how kindly my family would take to me breeding snails or daphnia for them, haha. I might put a couple bigger ramshorn or something in there and when they start having babies, pop some puffers in. I don’t want to have tons of snails but feel like the puffers would eat them much faster than they could breed.

 

Mine loves blood worms

 

This thread really makes me want to accidentally get a couple of puffers in my 10 gal qt tank when I'm done stocking my 180. (I'm not allowed any more tanks, not even a walstad bowl with shrimp and plants only.)

 

This thread really makes me want to accidentally get a couple of puffers in my 10 gal qt tank when I'm done stocking my 180. (I'm not allowed any more tanks, not even a walstad bowl with shrimp and plants only.)

That’s where I’m at! I was planning on just running a 20 community and a 10 for a betta, then keep a 5 as a QT tank. Buuuut after watching the betta for a while he seems more content in the 5, leaving me an empty 10. I was going to just keep it running in case I ever came across a betta I had to have or something, but then I found out about pea puffers and long story short now I’m setting up a 10 gallon jungle.

 

Mine love blood worm. They also eat brineshrimp, daphnia and copepod. The LFS I bought them from fed them flake so I suppose they might even take that still.

 

There seems to be tank bred and wild caught in the market. My friend got some and had a hard time feeding them, I got some at a different place about the same time and they take flake food just fine.
I got 8, only because that’s all they had at the time, and will likely add more to my 10 gallon when they finally get a restock ... it’s been about two months now though.
They eat flake and freeze dried blood worms readily but only after they decimated the rams horn snails I’d been intentionally breading in preparation for having these guys. The are kind of aggressive and seem to stake out territories sort of, so lots of sight breaks and things for them to explore likely help out. I lost three out of the 8 within a week but the other five seem happy as can be.

I had this 10 gallon set up for about 5 months now and had been using it as a sort of nursery tank, they chase the mollies and neon tetras around even the ones quite a bit bigger than they are.
The guy at the pet store, I believe he’s an owner of some sort as he’s been there for atleast the 14 odd years I’ve shopped there, has 20 of them in a 15 gallon tank doing fine from the same batch as mine.

The hyper aggression may also be a wild caught trait, I’d check with the store you buy them from on what they’re feeding kn their or if they know if they’re wil caught or not, but I’d have 10 atleast in a 10 gallon as long as you give them love plants, rocks, and driftwood to explore. Stocking the tank with snails gives them some grazing and helps keep their beaks in check... they will most definitely eat ramshorns bigger than they are just not their shells.

Edit, all those snails in the pictures are gone now basically, theirs some eggs and one or two they haven’t gotten yet but the vast majority is gone.

 

Out of

There seems to be tank bred and wild caught in the market. My friend got some and had a hard time feeding them, I got some at a different place about the same time and they take flake food just fine.
I got 8, only because that’s all they had at the time, and will likely add more to my 10 gallon when they finally get a restock ... it’s been about two months now though.
They eat flake and freeze dried blood worms readily but only after they decimated the rams horn snails I’d been intentionally breading in preparation for having these guys. The are kind of aggressive and seem to stake out territories sort of, so lots of sight breaks and things for them to explore likely help out. I lost three out of the 8 within a week but the other five seem happy as can be.

I had this 10 gallon set up for about 5 months now and had been using it as a sort of nursery tank, they chase the mollies and neon tetras around even the ones quite a bit bigger than they are.
The guy at the pet store, I believe he’s an owner of some sort as he’s been there for atleast the 14 odd years I’ve shopped there, has 20 of them in a 15 gallon tank doing fine from the same batch as mine.

The hyper aggression may also be a wild caught trait, I’d check with the store you buy them from on what they’re feeding kn their or if they know if they’re wil caught or not, but I’d have 10 atleast in a 10 gallon as long as you give them love plants, rocks, and driftwood to explore. Stocking the tank with snails gives them some grazing and helps keep their beaks in check... they will most definitely eat ramshorns bigger than they are just not their shells.

Edit, all those snails in the pictures are gone now basically, theirs some eggs and one or two they haven’t gotten yet but the vast majority is gone.

Out of my 4, only one I would even consider aggressive is the one I think is a male, not pappa that hides, the other 3, one is a male I think and he just chases them from food, no injuries, they don't hide from him, etc. So, I just have to make sure food goes all over and not just in the middle front of tank.

 

Out of



Out of my 4, only one I would even consider aggressive is the one I think is a male, not pappa that hides, the other 3, one is a male I think and he just chases them from food, no injuries, they don't hide from him, etc. So, I just have to make sure food goes all over and not just in the middle front of tank.

They do seem to have a hierarchy of sorts... some of the most fun to watch fish I’ve ever owned, I’d love to just have a 55 gallon or so with about 60 of them blooping around. They hid pretty quickly when the water shakes though which is fairly often in this old apartment building

 

I really want puffers too but feeding them scares the heck outta me. This is a great thread. I live in the boonies where going to the lfs is not an option. Setting up another tank just for snails, uhh that's a bit much. I don't want out of control snails in my shrimp tanks. If my puffers fail,I'm stuck with snails in my tanks...will they eat pond snails? I crush those daily before they get big. They are the worst!

 

I really want puffers too but feeding them scares the heck outta me. This is a great thread. I live in the boonies where going to the lfs is not an option. Setting up another tank just for snails, uhh that's a bit much. I don't want out of control snails in my shrimp tanks. If my puffers fail,I'm stuck with snails in my tanks...will they eat pond snails? I crush those daily before they get big. They are the worst!

Yes, mine love pond snails most, and then ramshorn, and then MTS if small enough. I have a tank set up for breed them but I use them too fast for them to breed. So, I have to order them online and right now nobody seems to be selling any on the normal places, here, Ebay, and Aquabid.

They do seem to have a hierarchy of sorts... some of the most fun to watch fish I’ve ever owned, I’d love to just have a 55 gallon or so with about 60 of them blooping around. They hid pretty quickly when the water shakes though which is fairly often in this old apartment building

Me too, but feeding them is very difficult, IMO. Right now waiting on an order of Daphnia, supposed to be here today but my mail service stinks and they claim they tried to deliver it but there was no secure location to leave them (what they do when they don't feel like coming to my door), so now I have to hope they deliver them tomorrow. The hardest part I find about the pond snails is pulling out enough from my snail tank to feed to the puffers. They are a pain to pick up (the pond snails). They either free fall to the gravel and then you cannot find it or they crush when you grab them. I find it very difficult to feed them and spend a ton of money on shipping.

 

I really want puffers too but feeding them scares the heck outta me. This is a great thread. I live in the boonies where going to the lfs is not an option. Setting up another tank just for snails, uhh that's a bit much. I don't want out of control snails in my shrimp tanks. If my puffers fail,I'm stuck with snails in my tanks...will they eat pond snails? I crush those daily before they get big. They are the worst!

You can do snails in a 5 gallon bucket with an air stone to be honest. Get a cutter bone or even cleaned eggs shells, throw in some blanched squash or what not from time to time and they’re good. I’ve also had very good luck with snails from eBay personally. The major websites that ship live fish and carry pea puffers only seem to have wild caught though, which seem to be the ones that are picky eaters ... it does present problems for you though for sure. Personally I like snails in my tanks so it’s not a thing I’ve worried about.

Yes, mine love pond snails most, and then ramshorn, and then MTS if small enough. I have a tank set up for breed them but I use them too fast for them to breed. So, I have to order them online and right now nobody seems to be selling any on the normal places, here, Ebay, and Aquabid.



Me too, but feeding them is very difficult, IMO. Right now waiting on an order of Daphnia, supposed to be here today but my mail service stinks and they claim they tried to deliver it but there was no secure location to leave them (what they do when they don't feel like coming to my door), so now I have to hope they deliver them tomorrow. The hardest part I find about the pond snails is pulling out enough from my snail tank to feed to the puffers. They are a pain to pick up (the pond snails). They either free fall to the gravel and then you cannot find it or they crush when you grab them. I find it very difficult to feed them and spend a ton of money on shipping.

I’d suggest the 5 gallon bucket or larger even to you as well, you can use a dish it’s feed and just pick the dish up to collect the food. Even with just the 5 in the 10 gallon and feeding them they eat them to quickly for the nerite or ramshorn reproduction ... I don’t have any pond snails or trumpets those are on the agenda.
While mine eat flake/freeze dried they definitely prefer the snails. I’ve started feeding the ones in my 55 gallon to help boost their numbers and will start Them in my 40 gallon Cichlid here in a month or so when it’s finally set up. I will likely start a 5 gallon bucket soon to perpusfully breed them as I will definitely be getting more of the puffers as soon as possible

 

1. One, the risk of dealing with or rehoming the others is very high. They are territorial and you are very lucky or new if they haven't fought yet.
2.Snails and shrimp. It eats a lot, a lot. If it doesn't take to frozen, have a plan. Breeding snails takes time to start. Did I mention they can eat some snails.
3.Here is last July

 

Here is my picture. Just took it. I tried to get closeups of the puffers but they are so tiny and the pictures just blur, but you can see one of them on the top left hand corner. Pappa is somewhere in there, the other 2 are around.

1. One, the risk of dealing with or rehoming the others is very high. They are territorial and you are very lucky or new if they haven't fought yet.
2.Snails and shrimp. It eats a lot, a lot. If it doesn't take to frozen, have a plan. Breeding snails takes time to start. Did I mention they can eat some snails.
3.Here is last July
View attachment 519576

Bolded by me.

Yup, once I thought if I put like 20 pond snails in the tank at one time, maybe even more, I forget, they will make and make babies, and then the tank will sustain itself by constant babies, but they just eat them all before they can breed and lay eggs.

 

These little puffers don't need their beaks trimmed occasionally, do they? Ive heard the bigger ones can if they don't have enough in their diet to keep them worn down.

 

by providing a diet of live snails, in shells, the beak stays trimmed. Don't have to worry about it with that method of feeding.
Direct answer (IDK), they're so small, even if you you did, how would you?

 

Haha, yes I have a small glass (in the hopes of it still being pretty) but I’ll grab something a bit bigger and pop an old heater and filter in there, grab some snails, hope for the best. I’m waiting on a replacement heater before I can get this tank going anyways, so they’ll have a little bit to breed. I’m hoping they’ll take to the Mysis and bloodworms too though, so they can have some variety.

These little puffers don't need their beaks trimmed occasionally, do they? Ive heard the bigger ones can if they don't have enough in their diet to keep them worn down.

From what I understand their teeth don’t grow quickly enough for it to be an issue, so no. They also slurp snails out, they don’t crunch the shells.

 

Also, for anyone interested, I got this picture of a little fella at my lfs on Sunday and he is SO cute I just wanted to share haha.

 

by providing a diet of live snails, in shells, the beak stays trimmed. Don't have to worry about it with that method of feeding.
Direct answer (IDK), they're so small, even if you you did, how would you?

Good point, lol

 

A bit off topic but not really. I wanted dwarf puffers ever since visiting my LFS and they had this huge saltwater puffer that was like a dog, followed me around the tank, etc. I fell in love with this thing but do not know one bit about keeping saltwater tank so looked for something similar in freshwater.

I went back to this LFS a week or so ago and my fish was not there, so asked the man about it and where it went, did they sell it.

Sad to find out one of the other fish in the saltwater tank killed it. He told me which fish killed it but I forget the name, all I know is it had like spines on it, long spines, black and white fish from what I remember.

 

A bit off topic but not really. I wanted dwarf puffers ever since visiting my LFS and they had this huge saltwater puffer that was like a dog, followed me around the tank, etc. I fell in love with this thing but do not know one bit about keeping saltwater tank so looked for something similar in freshwater.

I went back to this LFS a week or so ago and my fish was not there, so asked the man about it and where it went, did they sell it.

Sad to find out one of the other fish in the saltwater tank killed it. He told me which fish killed it but I forget the name, all I know is it had like spines on it, long spines, black and white fish from what I remember.

Oh no that’s so sad. So sorry to here about your puffy pup buddy