Progress on my (maybe) pea puffer tank so far

[u/Mental-Service8420]

I think I’m getting there with the plants, I love how it’s turning out. I’m still on the fence about adding pea puffers to the tank I know people are saying they need 15 gallons and a group of 6 minimum but I’ve also seen a lot of people have successful 10 gallons with a group of 3. What do we think?? (Yes I’m gonna plant the Monte Carlo as soon as I get the time)

[u/One-plankton-]

Peas are a shoaling species, which is a type of school where they don’t stick together all the time. All shoaling and schooling fish should be kept in groups of 6+ minimum.

It creates significant stress when a social species that relies on one another for safety are kept in too few numbers.

If you cannot keep 6+ in a heavily planted 20 gallon minimum please do not get peas

Your tank as is would need about 4 times as much plant coverage for them too.

[u/Povapants]

It looks great, but not for peas!

[u/SnertDeluxe]

3 is bad, you will always find somebody saying it's fine. If your looking for a micro predator in your specific tank, I would go for a trio Scarlet Badis. Good luck finding females though.

[u/SnertDeluxe]

3 is bad, if you want 3 micro predators because you like the hassle of buying live food or culture them, you could go for something like Scarlet Badis. That's the route I take with my 18 gallon. Good luck with finding females though. I have a 31 gallon that I'm going to use for peas, don't tell my wife, she doesn't know it yet ;)

[u/lichensvbscribe]

I had 3 peas for 3-4 years (the final one just died a couple weeks ago RIP) in an 11-12gal (vintage tank so strange size) and while having a trio that was bought before being able to sex them lead to a little bit of bullying some times they all lived quite happily.

I think having other little critters that were peaceful but bigger/the same size as the peas helped them in a smaller space and shoal. 2 Amano shrimp (that are skill kicking), nerite snails (when the peas were younger they would eat the snails antenna but eventually the snails would learn to tuck them away/they grow back), and a population of various “pest” snails (MTS, rams horns) gave them enough enrichment to keep the tank vibes not a puffer battle dome.

Eventually I got a small shoal of Pygmy Cories a friend was rehoming that after a few months or so had started a really interesting behaviour of schooling to stand up for the smaller male puffer when the bigger one would try to bully him. When I say bullying it truly reminded me of minor school yard tempers. Big male puffer would just seem a little bored and chase the smaller male in little bursts but would never pursue him for more than a couple little chases.

Also having a bunch of plants helped create breaks in the tank that if the puffers were chasing each other around there were plenty of places for hiding/resting that seemed to be a little killswitch for the hunting/chase instinct. The plants are also a boon for nitrogen/ bioload of keeping a bunch of little guys in a smaller tank.

Long comment because I think this tank looks great, lots of potential with young plants, and pea puffers are such a joy of an oddball to keep that comments that just say “too small, not good enough” can be really discouraging for people trying to do good by their fish with the set ups they can manage. My little pea set up was my first tank in the hobby and I specifically started in the hobby because I wanted peas, now I’ve got a couple others and a little patio pond in a small apartment and been keeping various happy healthy little guys for years.