Pea/dwarf Puffers

I am considering setting up a desktop setup for pea puffer(s) after seeing them at my LFS. I prefer biotope style tanks and wondered if anyone had any advice:

1. I see mixed things about their ability to live with others of their own species or other species - ideally I picture having something like a couple of ottos as 'cleanup' as puffers are such messy eaters. Could that work?
2. Tank size? 5gal/20 litre?
3. Any other things to keep in mind? I don't want to be one of the people who ends up with a fish I have no clue with.
4. I know ideally it's heavily planted - Indian biotope plant ideas?

Ironically I just treated my main tank for an MTS overload...

Cheers!

 

I've heard different things as well. Both that they are a species only fish and that they school, but also that they are rather territorial and don't school. I do however, after reading up a lot on them am leaning towards 1 per 5 gallons without other types of fish. Hopefully someone else that keeps them can offer more insight

 

Oto's are really Algae and veggie type feeders, where puffers prefer meaty tidbits like snails and worms. I wouldn't expect the oto's to clean up after puffer's too well. They might nibble the occasional bloodworm though!

 

I love pea puffers. Their big eyes make them adorable. They are also very smart inquisitive fish. The way they will quickly curve their tail to say "What, who, me? I wasn't about to murder anyone." is cute as can be.

There are some drawbacks.
1. The puffer purchase is the cheapest part of the experience. They require LIVE food so you may spend more in food per week than you did on the fish.Do not think you will get them to take flake/pellet, frozen can be iffy.
2. They are made out of murder. They look cute as can be but love killing things (food, tank mates, the tip of your finger, each other). So if you want more than one get a big tank, plant it heavily, add caves, and expect losses. Your puffer is not lonely as this article explains Alone But Not Lonely
3. They are filthy fish. The problem is their love for murder and they will often kill for fun then leave the bodies rotting at the bottom. Expect lots of 1/2 snails rotting at the bottom of the tank. Filter and/or clean accordingly.

Live food is the killer when it comes to cost. Where an Mbu may cost more to feed than you do, with pea puffers you can grow the food yourself. Make a snail pail or infest your tanks with pond/bladder/ramshorn snails. For a snail pail get a large plastic trash can, foam filter, airpump, and maybe a cheap 24/7 light for algae growth. Then throw in vegetable waste like carrot tops, wilted spinach, etc (no onions and such).

This is what the substrate of your tank will be after a year with a pea puffer or two living in it.

 

I love pea puffers. Their big eyes make them adorable. They are also very smart inquisitive fish. The way they will quickly curve their tail to say "What, who, me? I wasn't about to murder anyone." is cute as can be.

There are some drawbacks.
1. The puffer purchase is the cheapest part of the experience. They require LIVE food so you may spend more in food per week than you did on the fish.Do not think you will get them to take flake/pellet, frozen can be iffy.
2. They are made out of murder. They look cute as can be but love killing things (food, tank mates, the tip of your finger, each other). So if you want more than one get a big tank, plant it heavily, add caves, and expect losses. Your puffer is not lonely as this article explains Alone But Not Lonely
3. They are filthy fish. The problem is their love for murder and they will often kill for fun then leave the bodies rotting at the bottom. Expect lots of 1/2 snails rotting at the bottom of the tank. Filter and/or clean accordingly.

Live food is the killer when it comes to cost. Where an Mbu may cost more to feed than you do, with pea puffers you can grow the food yourself. Make a snail pail or infest your tanks with pond/bladder/ramshorn snails. For a snail pail get a large plastic trash can, foam filter, airpump, and maybe a cheap 24/7 light for algae growth. Then throw in vegetable waste like carrot tops, wilted spinach, etc (no onions and such).

This is what the substrate of your tank will be after a year with a pea puffer or two living in it.

View attachment 577460

I am currently cycling my tank for my pea/s. I have seeded it with media from my two year old main tank which should work fine for puffs as they've never been treated with any copper etc. I'm then over feeding the tank daily with cheap flake for an ammonia source.

I know that peas are sensitive to perameters so I absolutely won't add them until my tank is totally cycled. What I'm wondering is whether once it is cycled I could borrow a couple of the harlequin rasbora from my main tank to increase the bioload my BB can deal with prior to getting peas to avoid a minI cycle. Or is that a terrible idea?

 

I’ve kept pea puffers in a 20G, thinking that 4-5 would be okay. However 2 has been the maximum that I’ve been successful with in a 20G. They are very territorial and kill each other. As far as other fish to keep them with - they are completely fine with small tetra like species, and a couple of peacock gobys. The gobys and puffers ended up claiming their own territories. They squabbled here and there but didn’t harm each other. Pea puffers love pond snails but it makes a mess of the water parameters. They’ll take a few bites of the snail and leave the rest to rot. They love both live and frozen bloodworms (at least mine do). Lastly they are so smart and fun to watch! Their personalities are similar to larger puffer species.

 

I have a ten gallon pea puffer tank with 3 females and a male.

I suggest if you are getting more than one, to do all female or 3 to one. Also, get them all at the same time. I got mine together and I’ve had them for a little over 9 months and have not had issues. However, a friend of mine got one first and then tried introducing, and they keep killing each other.


As far as other species, I wouldn’t do it. I had ottos with mine, but they do not cleanup at all. They however didn’t mind the ottos. I’ve also tried other species such as guppies and Cory cats , and The pea puffers were very aggressive to them. Right now I keep them just as a species tank ( it’s what’s working better for me).


Also, I tried feeding my MTS, they won’t eat them. Mine do well with pond/bladder or ramshorn. They eat them better if I crush them for them.

 

I have a ten gallon pea puffer tank with 3 females and a male.

I suggest if you are getting more than one, to do all female or 3 to one. Also, get them all at the same time. I got mine together and I’ve had them for a little over 9 months and have not had issues. However, a friend of mine got one first and then tried introducing, and they keep killing each other.


As far as other species, I wouldn’t do it. I had ottos with mine, but they do not cleanup at all. They however didn’t mind the ottos. I’ve also tried other species such as guppies and Cory cats , and The pea puffers were very aggressive to them. Right now I keep them just as a species tank ( it’s what’s working better for me).


Also, I tried feeding my MTS, they won’t eat them. Mine do well with pond/bladder or ramshorn. They eat them better if I crush them for them.

I've now got a pea puffer (Puff Daddy) and he's living up to all the traits I expected. He's learnt the long tweezers mean food and is pretty tame in some ways. He loves bladder snails and will hunt them reliably, I supplement with MTS from my big tank but he'll only get those if they're crushed. He isn't great with frozen bloodworm, artemia or daphnia which is annoying. Any suggestions with how I can encourage him/ other foods? I'd do live except that my lfs isn't very local so it'd be a pretty difficult thing to source regularly unless I could keep them alive myself. My snail tank is OK but struggles to keep up with demand!

 

Maybe try a little garlic in with the bloodworm, I just put a bit of diced garlic with the bit of food I'm thawing out. Then I wiggle the worms 1 at a time at the water's surface for the puffer to grab. If the worm just sinks to the bottom, Hootie ain't going after it.

I've never tried it myself, but blackworms aren't supposed to be too difficult to keep.

 

If you want to keep other fish with pea puffers then I would set the tank up first, get it well established with plants, snails, and the (small) fish you wish to keep them with then add the puffer. It’s worth getting a culture of white worms going, super easy and cheap. I’d even consider having a healthy colony of cherry shrimp in the tank. I feel the puffers won’t go after adults but babies are fair game.

If I was willing to take the risk of my pink/blue rams, rabbit snails and cherry shrimp colonies being eradicated, I’d try adding a few pea puffers to my planted 36gal. But I do like my invertebrates so I’ll wait till my 10gal opens up after the betta passes

 

If you want to keep other fish with pea puffers then I would set the tank up first, get it well established with plants, snails, and the (small) fish you wish to keep them with then add the puffer. It’s worth getting a culture of white worms going, super easy and cheap. I’d even consider having a healthy colony of cherry shrimp in the tank. I feel the puffers won’t go after adults but babies are fair game.

If I was willing to take the risk of my pink/blue rams, rabbit snails and cherry shrimp colonies being eradicated, I’d try adding a few pea puffers to my planted 36gal. But I do like my invertebrates so I’ll wait till my 10gal opens up after the betta passes

When I tested a pea with adult feeder ghost shrimp all 5 were dead and left to rot in ~10 min.
Different puffers have different temperaments, you can get some feeder ghosts to test yours. Or send a few cherries in as test if you have piles of them.

 

When I tested a pea with adult feeder ghost shrimp all 5 were dead and left to rot in ~10 min.
Different puffers have different temperaments, you can get some feeder ghosts to test yours. Or send a few cherries in as test if you have piles of them.

I have no puffer to start with The idea would be to let the tank become established with a colony then introduce the puffer, much like one would do with a betta. I feel there is less of a chance for all the shrimp to be killed off if they are in high numbers and able to hide in a well-established planted tank. Of course this does not apply to nano tanks, I'm talking 20gal+.