▷ Pea Puffers / Dwarf Puffers | All information, keeping and breeding

Data sheet pea puffer fish:

German name:
pea puffer fish

Origin:
Asia: Indonesia, Sumatra, Borneo

Size:
2 – 3.5 cm

Aquarium

Length:
60 cm

Contents:
From 54 liters

water values

Temperature:
25 – 30°C

PH value:
6-7

KH:10 –
°dKH

GH number:
10 – 30 °dGH

Behave

Number:
2

Area:
Everywhere

propagation:
egglayer

Lining:
Snails, , live food

Behave:

Attack other fish’s fins

Difficulty level:
Advanced

Pea puffer fish, (Carino-)Tetraodon travancoricus, are also called dwarf puffer fish or Indian puffer fish. They grow from 1 to 4 centimeters.

Pea puffer fish can be kept in aquariums with a water content of at least 45 liters. A tank with a length of 60 cm is suitable for 2 dwarf puffer fish. Because the puffer fish bite the fins of other fish, it is imperative that other fish in the same tank be significantly larger and have tight, short fins. The companion fish should be able to swim quickly. Frozen food can be fed daily as food, e.g. B. mosquito larvae, Cyclops and Artemia.

They do not place high demands on the water values. They can live in both soft and hard water. Pea puffer fish are purely freshwater fish and do not require any added salt. According to other sources, a slight addition of salt is helpful.

The aquarium should be very densely overgrown. Pea puffers can be a little skittish.

Food for pea puffer fish

Photo: Philippe Coulon

Pea puffer fish usually only eat live food, e.g. B. snails, red bloodworms, white bloodworms, water fleas. If a supply of live food cannot be ensured, keeping the animal should be avoided.

Because pea puffer fish are small, they can only eat small snails. Pea puffer fish mostly eat the snails from the opening of the shell. Large apple snails gradually bite off everything that sticks out of the snail shell. If the lid or shell cannot be cracked, the shell should be cracked open by hand to prevent the snail from slowly dying. Tower snails are eaten rarely or not at all. The shell of tower snails is probably too hard. If so, then usually only the heads of the tower snails are eaten.

If only large snails are available or the puffer fish do not eat snails for other reasons, the snail shell is crushed with your fingers and then given to the fish.

Some animals even prefer to eat mosquito larvae and similar worm-shaped frozen food than snails. Other animals only eat snails and red bloodworms but practically no other live or frozen food. Solely mosquito larvae are by no means sufficient as food. Snails need to be fed regularly. Pointed mud snails from ponds are z. B. gladly eaten.

Pea puffer fish eat a relatively large amount.

Pea puffers form territories.

There are different statements about the behavior towards other fish. Some owners describe them as very peaceful. In a 160l tank z. B. 5 pea puffer fish associated with P. pulcher and Otocinclus. The puffer fish did not bother the other fish. Rather, the puffer fish were bothered by the other fish. Other keepers report that other fish are hunted as soon as they show up, e.g. B. Cape Lopez.

In the first few days after being placed in an aquarium, territories are marked out and the ranking is determined. After that, the puffer fish may get along better with each other.

Male territories are about 15 centimeters in diameter. A maximum of 2 males should therefore be placed in a 60 cm aquarium. Other males are driven out of the territory. Females are tolerated. In young animals, the territorial fights are harmless and there is no biting.

Maybe pea puffers need enough hiding spots to avoid social stress. The animals are not very sociable. If several pea puffer fish are kept together, they will sometimes swim together. Sometimes they chase each other. They behave like many other fish.

Pea puffer fish eat the fins of other fish

In any case, pea puffer fish eat the fins of other fish. Young fish are eaten. There may be exceptions, but it may only be a matter of time or opportunity before apparently peaceful animals will eat the fins of other fish. They may also only eat the fins of other species of fish when they are very hungry. Then there is an increased danger at the latest when all the snails in the aquarium have been eaten.

While pea puffers are very interesting fish, they do require some attention from the keeper. You’re almost always hungry. They should not be kept together with slow or even sensitive fish species. They get along well with fast-swimming fish.

Puffer fish are only suitable to a very limited extent for a community tank. In a 60 centimeter pool z. B. 2 pea puffers can be kept together with 5 neons. The planting should then be dense. As a guide, a pea-sized portion of red bloodworms is given every other day. In addition, small snails are fed, e.g. B. from a tank for snail farming.

The gender differences

Males are said to have a black stripe on the belly, but this is sometimes faint. The belly line becomes visible when the male extends his keel. However, it cannot be seen in C. travancorius that is not sexually mature.

Females have granular even darker tiny dots like freckles within the dark spots. The females are a bit browner or darker overall. The spotting of the females is less contrasting. However, the coloring depends very much on the state of health or the mood of the respective animal.

The display behavior of the males

Males impress other males by extending their ventral keel. The name Carinotetraodon is derived from this abdominal keel. Carina = Kiel. Then the broadside is shown and finally the male spirals upwards in a circle up to the water surface. There, either both males give up, or one male shoots at the other male to drive him away. During display, the patterns on the animals are particularly rich in contrast.

Bazl behavior and breeding

Most of the time, the two parents ignore each other. There are phases in which the male chases the female across the entire aquarium for hours under certain circumstances.

After a while, the female stops escaping and lets the male get very close to her. The female eventually settles in java moss, microsorum, etc. and spawns.

Breeding tips

After hatching, the young eat microorganisms from roots and leaves. They don’t find enough food in spawning boxes. Artemia can be fed after 2 to 6 days.

Offspring can be aggressive towards their own parents for a long time, at least if the offspring has grown up in their own tank. Serious injuries have not been reported so far.

Pea puffer fish videos

Pea Puffers: