Pea Puffer tank mates

[Chester]

Nice I like those little guys. Mine will sometimes eat snails but they are spoiled with the frozen bloodworms I feed them. Did you ever put any of those bulbs in your bow front from like petsmart or petco or anything like that?

[mistahoo]

If you take your filters and put them on the 40B... Instant cycle.

[mr big87]

Chester, I'm sure the fiancé probably did, but I don't recal. Never had any luck with those in the past. Really a beautiful plant. And they eat frozen blood worms pretty well. You ever have any luck with frozen brine shrimp?

Mistahoo, that's the plan with the filters!

[troy tucker]

Very cool!

[LooksLater]

Aw...such cute little guys. I miss my pea puffers! The ebi is looking great, too.

My pea puffers weren't real big on snails, loved bloodworms, and would never touch brine shrimp no matter how hard I tried. Doesn't hurt to give it a shot, though- some will, some won't!

If you take your filters and put them on the 40B... Instant cycle.

Honestly, I disagree..puffers are so much more sensitive than a lot of fish. I'd give it some time to settle and stabilize, the pea puffs are so touchy- and might not make it through even a mini cycle. Just IMHO. Maybe add some stability and give it a week or so, then transfer them if all your params are reading right?

Good luck, looking forward to seeing this tank!

[mr big87]

Aw...such cute little guys. I miss my pea puffers! The ebi is looking great, too.

My pea puffers weren't real big on snails, loved bloodworms, and would never touch brine shrimp no matter how hard I tried. Doesn't hurt to give it a shot, though- some will, some won't!



Honestly, I disagree..puffers are so much more sensitive than a lot of fish. I'd give it some time to settle and stabilize, the pea puffs are so touchy- and might not make it through even a mini cycle. Just IMHO. Maybe add some stability and give it a week or so, then transfer them if all your params are reading right?

Good luck, looking forward to seeing this tank!

Will take note of that, thanks!

[LooksLater]

No problem!

[mr big87]

Anybody have luck feeding pea puffers ghost shrimp?

[mistahoo]

Honestly, I disagree..puffers are so much more sensitive than a lot of fish. I'd give it some time to settle and stabilize, the pea puffs are so touchy- and might not make it through even a mini cycle. Just IMHO. Maybe add some stability and give it a week or so, then transfer them if all your params are reading right?

Good luck, looking forward to seeing this tank!

I've done this several times with many other fish including pea puffers. Two canisters fully established > Seachem Stability. Never get a mini cycle. Cycling is basically getting your bacteria colony up to convert ammonia to nitrite to nitrates. If your canister is already cycled, then you're done. Even more so if you have no substrate. Substrate (when added) would be a huge chunk of your BB. You can't really cycle what's already cycled.

[mistahoo]

Anybody have luck feeding pea puffers ghost shrimp?

It's possible if they're mean enough. I have some with Amano shrimp which are about the same size. They don't bother them. I have them with some CRS too, but they don't touch them either. They're more interested in nipping fins off my other fish.

[mr big87]

I really want to see them hunt down some live prey! They are so freakin cute and goofy lookin it's hard to believe how vicious they can be. They destroyed a petco snail I forgot was in the tank. Got inside his shell and ate him from the inside out.

[black_knight]

It's tough to really get these nanos cycled. Be diligent on water changes they'll be ok. Just a tip pea puffers very sensitive to temp fluctuations. Your group will need plenty of plants to break line of sight.

[LooksLater]

I've done this several times with many other fish including pea puffers. Two canisters fully established > Seachem Stability. Never get a mini cycle. Cycling is basically getting your bacteria colony up to convert ammonia to nitrite to nitrates. If your canister is already cycled, then you're done. Even more so if you have no substrate. Substrate (when added) would be a huge chunk of your BB. You can't really cycle what's already cycled.

Agreed, it works most of the time with most fish. Just giving my opinion, with really sensitive fish it's better to be safe than sorry. The rest to get cycled is the actal tank- substrate, decor, tank walls, etc. Building up the bacteria colonies there can make a big difference.

Anybody have luck feeding pea puffers ghost shrimp?

Mine used to pick off cherry shrimp and shrimplets...I noticed they'd leave the ghost shrimp alone, the ghosts were a little more feisty in defending themselves and would psych the puffs out! lol. It was pretty funny to watch.

[mr big87]

Went ahead and transferred them over today as I had a buyer for the 20L they were in. Doin great so far. I'm doin 25% water changes a couple times a day. Eating blood worms like pigs. Have a 2217 on back and a 2215 from their old tank on front, but thinking I won't need the 2215 and might sell it. Don't see myself doing any other tanks (other than nanos) for awhile. Water still murky from the fluorite but its clearing up nicely. Wish I would have painted the back of the tank black now. Also got about 20 cherry shrimp in my Fluval ebi!




Not too happy with the scape but will change it up when I get more plants. Plan to line the back and edges with taller plants, and have a nice driftwood center piece with some Anubias and moss on it, maybe some smaller plants around it. I'm new to the whole planting thing! May have to host a pizza and beer party to get some help over here!

also, the fiancé wants some endlers. Think I could get away with a school in the puffer tank? Would the puffers keep the population in check?

[mnemenoi]

They can keep them in check, but just depends on each ones temperament really. Ours would occasionally pick off smaller cherry shrimp, but ignored the larger adults. Filtration sounds awesome, with an established filter you should be good to go. Just be sure and leave it on for awhile until your readings get to normal. Once you start achieving a Nitrate reading with no Ammonia or Nitrite you should be fully cycled. They are certainly fun, just wish there were more species that share their native habitat available. About the only one I came up with were Malabar Danios and I would worry about them making a snack out of any smaller puffers.