"Pea" Pufferfish

[Komar]

Anybody know anything about "Pea Puffers"?

I picked up three of them today and put them in my 2.5 gallon Betta tank (yes - I took the Betta out first). It's filtered, heated, and aerated. There are live plants in there, too. I have two Oto catfish that have been living in there with the Betta for over a couple of weeks, so I know the water is okay for less hardy fish.

The guys at the LFS claim that these puffers only grow to 1 cm / 0.25". That's how big they are now, so they are apparently full grown. I can't find any info online about puffers this small; the closest I can find are Dwarf Puffers (a.k.a. Pygmy Puffer, Indian Puffer, Gold Puffer, Malabar Puffer, and possibly a.k.a. the Pea Puffer).

http://www.thetropicaltank.co.uk/Fishindx/puf-trav.htm
http://www.timstropicals.com/Inventory/Puffers/PufferInfo.asp

My puffers look the most like these, of all the online photos I've seen:

http://www.timstropicals.com/Photo.asp?fish=PufferLex&name=Pea%20Puffer&Family=Puffers&Page=PufferInfo

Any thoughts on how to care for these little fellas would be appreciated. As far as I can tell, my small tank setup is sufficient, but I really like these little fish, and would rather them not get flushed in the near future.

Thanks.

[Anonymous]

I moved the puffers to a planted 5.5 gallon tank, with two otos and two panda corys. It turns out that these are aggressive little fish. They constantly chase each other, and occasionally the other fish.

Once my plants grow in to break up their line of sight, they should be okay, though. I also need to find something that they actually like to eat besides snails. (I'm almost out of snails...)

[Komar]

Okay - I then moved the three dwarf puffers to a 10 gallon tank with two otos, but no corys.

This forum has lots of information about this fish:

http://dwarfpuffers.com/

[Neptune]

Interesting, I always thought dwarf puffers and "pea puffers" were different species. I've been considering setting up a ten gallon for dwarf puffers. Maybe I will at some point - right now I have too many other projects going. They seem like very fun fish to keep!

Btw, I've heard that they like bits of cocktail shrimp.

[kimmers318]

Yes, the dwarf puffer is sometimes called pea puffer, I have also seen it called neon dwarf puffer when they were more yellow colored. If you are considering setting up a tank for dp's neptune, Komar hit it right on the head with dwarfpuffers.com....great info! My dp will only eat frozen bloodworms, snails or live food (she is so spoiled). I personally also recommend that you get all of the dp's you want at the same time, my Missy was mature when I tried another dp and she wouldn't tolerate it! Also, she wasn't a happy dp when I had to temporarily home her in a 5 gal tank!
BTW, that is Missy in my avatar

[DemonShark]

were can i buy a dwarf puffer or pea puffer and do they puff up?

[kimmers318]

I have seen dp's at petsmart....petsuppliesplus...and most of the privately owned pet stores around here demonshark. Have you tried any of these if you have them in your area. I am in NE Ohio, between Cleveland and Akron, and actually got mine at a privately owned store in Cleveland called RMS.
As for puffing up....I have heard they do, but I haven't ever seen it out of Missy. Even when I had her in my community tank I guess she never felt threatened enough, which to me is a good thing. I caught one of my ADF's jumping at her one day and didn't see any puffing then either.

[William]

Just wanted to add that you should never make them puff up as it can, allthough they chance is small, hurt them.

[DemonShark]

hmmm i dont got any of those stores near me

[William]

I have seen them in stores from time to time but they have never part of the regular stock where I have lived.