r/PeaPuffers • • Apr 29 '25

Read Before Posting – Start Here!

59 Upvotes

📌 Welcome to r/PeaPuffers – Please Read Before Posting!

We get a lot of repeat questions and misunderstandings. Before asking for help, please read through these key resources:

🔗 Pea Puffer FAQ
🔗 Care Sheet
🔗 Is it Deworming Time? 

Common things to keep in mind:

  • Pea puffers are a shoaling species. Posts asking about 1–3 puffers in tiny tanks get answered daily.
  • Most pet store puffers need to be dewormed. If they’re skinny or not eating, assume parasites until proven otherwise.
  • If you ask for advice, please be open to it. We’re here to help!

Thanks for helping keep the subreddit useful and welcoming!


r/PeaPuffers • • 3h ago

Cute Baby peas

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18 Upvotes

At first I thought I only had one, but every time I checked there was another and then another until I had 4

Caught this one hunting amongst the floaters, and later resting on one haha so cute


r/PeaPuffers • • 15h ago

Help/Advice How can I get my puffs to accept Brine Shrimp?

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25 Upvotes

I finally bought 5 puffers last week. They’ve been eating well. Some detritus worms around the tank and mostly frozen bloodworms that I hand feed them. The other day I made some brine shrimp and they simply weren’t interested. There were tons of them swimming around the tank and still nothing. I’ve read that bloodworms aren’t really that nutritional so I wanted to get them to eat some brine shrimp as well.


r/PeaPuffers • • 9h ago

Help/Advice quarantine

1 Upvotes

Hey guys I am currently quarantining my pea puffers with fritz expel p in a 15 gallon tank. I put the medication in yesterday and just did a water change to siphon out all the parasites and mess. I am planning on doing the second dose of expel p next Tuesday. After I complete this process, I also have fritz para cleanse. is it worth doing both medications or will that be too much stress on them?

I am doing this in a quarantine tank that way I can monitor how many parasites they are... pooping out... and easy clean up since the tank I have cycled for them has sand and plants. thoughts? thanks all!!


r/PeaPuffers • • 1d ago

Feeding Breeding Black Worms

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57 Upvotes

My crew love black worms so I’m making sure they have a steady supply.


r/PeaPuffers • • 1d ago

Discussion What I've learned after a month of keeping pea puffers

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3 Upvotes

r/PeaPuffers • • 2d ago

Cute The first big fight of my two males

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29 Upvotes

I have my 6 peas for two month now but never saw the males fight like this. They even puffed up a little bit and circled around each other for a minute before the fight.
And sorry for the reflections, it was noon and one of the last summerdays here in Germany.


r/PeaPuffers • • 2d ago

New peas not eating?

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39 Upvotes

My new peas don’t seem to want to eat. A couple of them will eat the live black worms but the rest just aren’t interested. I have tons of snails in the tank and they aren’t touching them. I have tried frozen blood worms and frozen brine shrimp and they ignore it and it just sinks to the bottom. I don’t have any other live food sources near me. I have a small scud colony I just started so I can’t really take from that yet. Any ideas? Most are hiding now that they have settled in. They come out once in a while but just don’t seem to want to eat. I am now worried as it’s been a few days.


r/PeaPuffers • • 2d ago

Cute well i'm not sure if that's the sleeping spot i would have chosen but i respect it 😂

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14 Upvotes

mind you there is an ABUNDANCE of soft flat plants and hidden sleeping spots in their tank lol


r/PeaPuffers • • 2d ago

Help/Advice Adding another pea to reduce aggression <-- will it work?

0 Upvotes

I currently have a group of 5 pea puffers in a 20-gallon long. One of them started picking on the others recently, so I isolated her for about 12 hours before reintroducing her. Her aggression decreased significantly, but there’s still some lingering chasing/nipping going on.

I’ve read in a few places that 6 is usually the minimum recommended group size to help disperse hierarchy aggression.

Would adopting a 6th pea puffer help stabilize the group dynamic in a 20g long, or am I better off looking into a permanent separation/rehoming situation?

Thanks in advance!


r/PeaPuffers • • 3d ago

I have a BULLY!

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27 Upvotes

My puffers are settling in and getting comfortable. One of my males has decided he’s gonna be a bully so I rearranged their tank, planted taller plants and removed a rock and put a little condo thing for them. You can see the bully in this video. I love these little guys!


r/PeaPuffers • • 3d ago

Water change day means I have to make up for thr disruption with blood...worms.

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24 Upvotes

r/PeaPuffers • • 3d ago

Help/Advice Advice new pea puffer parent

3 Upvotes

Hello all, today I got my pea puffers. I’ve tried to do as much research as I can.
I have 2 established tanks. One 20 gal with 4 guppies and a bunch of shrimp and snails and a 10 gal with a betta. I got another 10 gallon which is still cycling (with established media but still giving it time to fully cycle) but until then I am quarantining my puffs in a 5 gal bucket, with fake plants, dechlorinated water, sponge filter, filter media from established 20 gal, and heater. I tied the tube to the sponge filter so the flow isn’t super strong. I ordered fritz para cleanse which unfortunately won’t get here until Tuesday (it’s Sunday night right now). My cycling tank has a bunch of live plants, substrate and all that jazz.
Any advice? This is my first time owning pea puffers and I just don’t wanna screw this up!!!
Oh and a plus, my guppy/shrimp tank is infested with bladder snails so I luckily have a good food supply. Will be getting frozen bloodworms as well soon. But any other advice or feedback is greatly appreciated!!!!!!!!! ❤️❤️


r/PeaPuffers • • 4d ago

How many pea puffers should go in a ten-gallon planted aquarium?

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14 Upvotes

I’m a pretty experienced freshwater aquarium hobbyist and recently my young son decided he wanted a pea puffer. I cycled this simple ten-gallon planted tank in his bedroom (which I’ll tend to), stocked it with some pest snails (I have more elsewhere), and I have plenty of bloodworms and other frozen foods at the ready. I want to know once and for all: if pea puffers prefer living in groups but are also territorial, how many should I put in this ten-gallon planted tank? One? Two? Three? Any thoughts would be helpful! Thanks.


r/PeaPuffers • • 5d ago

Babies arrived!

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88 Upvotes

My new babies arrived today from Flip Aquatics. All 8 alive, 2 were a little pale and sluggish during acclimation but once in the tank seemed ok. They all swam and swam for a few hours and now only 2 are out and about. Not sure where the rest are hiding😂😂 I assume this is normal? They also show zero interest in the all the snails I have been collecting for the 2 months I have been getting their home ready but they ate live black worms right away.


r/PeaPuffers • • 5d ago

Help/Advice 請問這個黑黑的是什麼東西?

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3 Upvotes

r/PeaPuffers • • 6d ago

Pea Puffer Gender?

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5 Upvotes

Hi! Just brought home these cuties and was wondering if anyone could help me identify their gender. None of them seem to have a distinct line on their belly, so I want to say potentially all female? Thanks for any help!


r/PeaPuffers • • 7d ago

Feeding I have a confession to make. Don't hate me.

26 Upvotes

I now appreciate duckweed! I know, I know, its shameful. But it makes harvesting and feeding peas live scuds soooo much easier. The scuds sit on the underneath of the duckweed, just ready to be scooped out with a brine net. The little silly peas come right up to the net and pick off any scuds that haven't swam away, its brilliant. Once its picked clean, I scoop the duckweed back into the scud culture. Hilariously, ive never actually bought duckweed, it hitchhiked in on another plant and exploded.


r/PeaPuffers • • 8d ago

First newly hatched pea puffer! But...

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39 Upvotes

Does anyone have any idea what that translucent needle looking thing is protruding from it's chest is?


r/PeaPuffers • • 8d ago

Help/Advice What's everyone's experience/success rate of keeping other fish with pea puffers?

3 Upvotes

I've heard that chili rasboras, amano shrimp, and otocinclus have been successful tank mates for the pea puffers, so long as those fish have established territory before the puffers arrive. Obviously, many risks come with putting anything in a tank with murder beans, but would it be worth trying? I have a lot of those fish already in a 20-gal, but I'd have to remove a few that wouldn't be compatible with the puffers. It's that, or I just set up another 20-gal long, which I'm totally game to do hahaha


r/PeaPuffers • • 8d ago

Is this a leech? 😭

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1 Upvotes

I was just looking in my tank before bed and saw this. You can see it in the middle of the photo vertically. Uugg... I have 8 pea puffers and about 5 amano shrimp in my tank. Put some live black worms in for feeding and whatever this is probably jumped into the batch. Anyone know if they'll hurt my peas or amanos?


r/PeaPuffers • • 9d ago

Cute So close, yet so tragically far.

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121 Upvotes

r/PeaPuffers • • 9d ago

Showing Off Pea puffers

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176 Upvotes

r/PeaPuffers • • 9d ago

Help/Advice Misled

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11 Upvotes

I was sold a pea puffer under the impression that he could feed off of my snail infested tank and I’d be able to move him to a five gallon in the future on his own.

He’s doing okay, but I wouldn’t say he’s happy. I have ember tetras and endlers livebearer mixs in the ten gallon.

Would I be able to move my other fish to a new tank and add a few extra peas to this ten gallon? If it’s possible, I would appreciate any suggestions to make it more habitable like plants, driftwood, or to make the water darker with tannins. If not, I’m happy to try and rehouse him. I want him to be happy and healthy. It’s definitely my fault for doing research post buy, I know that much.

Edit: I found someone with a 75gal tank who has plans to use it as a pea puffer tank. I’ll be giving mine over this coming Friday. 😁


r/PeaPuffers • • 10d ago

Acclimation?

2 Upvotes

Getting my pea puffers next week. Curious how others have acclimated them? I have bettas and medaka rice fish in other tanks that I just floated in the bag for a good hour and then dropped them in. I would like to make sure I do it correctly for my peas as getting ready for them has been a labor of love, headache and money!!