Pea puffers

Haven't posted in a while as not much has been happening.

Had a betta tank set up for my daughter awhile ago. Unfortunately the betta died recently. I promised my daughter a replacement but wanted something special.

Went to Wazeers this weekend as we where at Emperors for the reptile expo. Lo and behold they had pea puffers! Previously read up a lot on these little guys but never thought I would find any.

Bought two and they seem happy in the heavily planted tank. But I'm having an issue with feeding them.

There are shrimp (small ones too), snails as well (small ones too). They check everything out but haven't seen them feed yet. Crushed two large snails and no interest. Offered them frozen blood worm and no interest.

Shrimp are having a field day with the offerings but I'm getting worried.

What else can I try? Or should I just give them time to adjust more?

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What size tank do you have? Pea puffers require a lot of hiding space (preferably dense plant growth) in a tank as they are territorial. The puffers don't normally feed for the first few days, I took a super small amount of brine shrimp and bloodworms and mixed them together with some of their tank water, and then poured it in. when I say small amount we are talking about a pinch basically, depending on how many you have. you can fit about 2 pea puffers in a 40L tank again with a lot of hiding space

 

40l tank and densely planted, this I knew from my research. Moss wall, Amazon swords, Java fern and hornwort. Wood, rocks and other hiding places.

Will give them some more time to adjust.

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The problem I have seen with pea puffers is that some are really picky eaters and in some extreme cases with slowly waste away or starve if they don't get a food that they like.
Mine used to go crazy for live grindal worms and crushed snails.

 

Thanks guys. There's lots of baby snails and shrimp in the tank. I can also add more from my large community tank if necessary.

I'll stop at the pets store again and see what else they have I can try. This might just be them still adapting as they where in a bare tank at wazeers.

Anyway any food I buy won't go to waste. Was hoping they would go to town on the baby snails and shrimp but willing to try until I find a winner

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Ok, time for an update. Sadly lost first puffer on day two and second puffer on day 3. They did not eat anything offered (snails / bloodworm) but based on how quickly this happened I was initially worried about the tank itself. Water params checked out so I was at a loss. My daughter was seriously unhappy as these fish are so unique and special.

Come Sunday I was picking up crickets for the spiders and gecko's at Lifestyle and told my daughter we should perhaps visit Aqua Empire as we haven't been there in a while. Lo and behold they had pea puffers, lots of them and they where looking fat and healthy. Spoke to the assistant about my previous experience with feeding difficulty and he confirmed he personally fed them frozen bloodworm every morning. Took a chance and bought 2.

First day I left them to acclimatize and on day two dropped some bloodworm in. Both of them fed and have been feeding since

Tried a crushed snail but this was ignored (shrimp had a field day). Will be looking at other frozen alternatives to try and vary their diet. Even thinking of harvesting some mosquito larvae from standing water around the house. For now happy that they ave settled are eating and looking healthy

 

Sorry for the loss @Ren, but Im glad to hear that the ones you got now are healthy and eating.

They great little guys, all the best with them

 

We also bought 2 x Pea Puffers from your 1st mentioned LFS.
1st died not even 20hrs
2nd died shortly there after.

Wife was not happy.
So we went on a hunt for Pea Puffers.
Found at a LFS in Randburg.

It's day 7 now. All doing well, eating good and look happy.

 

Mine only eats snails when extremely hungry (usually during the Winter). It eats mosquito larvae almost exclusively. Doesn't even look at frozen food. Going on 3 years and still going strong.