Pea Puffer Care Guide 2023

Pea puffers are amazing tiny fish. They have a lot of personality and are very different in appearance to other fish you commonly see in this hobby. The way they swim is mesmerising and they will quickly become your favourite nano fish once you see them in person. They are called pea puffers because they will only get to around the size of a pea when fully grown. These puffers look best in a planted tank with lots of live plants and areas to explore.

Tank setup

In terms of tank size, a 5 gallon can house a single pea puffer. If you want to keep more than one pea puffer add an extra 5 gallon for each additional puffer to the group. Pea puffers are normally sold as juveniles. Although it hard to tell the sex of pea puffers when young, you want to aim for 2 or 3 females for every male puffer to reduce aggression. Keep this in mind and plan when setting up your tank. Ensure your tank and filter is well cycled and keep your tank at a normal tropical fish temperature range (74F – 82F). In terms of the actual aquascape, a low tech planted tank is perfect with lots of natural décor like wood and rocks, aim to create lots of areas to hide while leaving some open space. Plant dense stem plants towards the back which will give female puffers an area to hide away if they need to.

Tankmates

As mentioned above take care when stocking multiple pea puffer as you will want a correct ratio of males to females. Although you may have seen some people online seemingly get away with keeping pea puffers with other fish species it does not usually work long term. It is best practice to keep these fish in a species only tank. Although juvenile pea puffers may tolerate other fish temporarily, once mature males will become very territorial so its best to only keep them with other pea puffers.

Feeding

Pea puffers will not accept any ready made foods like pellets or flakes. Frozen bloodworm and brine shrimp are good choices, they will also eat shrimp and snails. Unlike other puffers you do not need to worry about trimming their beak.

AQUAnatur

AQUAnatur was created by an established UK aquarium installation and maintenance company near London which has been running for over 25 years! Our team are very experienced and happy to help offer advice with any aquarium questions. We are always available via phone or email Monday -Friday, feel free to contact us, we would love to help! AQUAnatur supply a range of aquariums and aquascaping products. If you have a question, please leave a comment or contact us via phone or email.

By Alasdair McPhail