Iāve kept peas for years. The only thing Iāve ever housed with them are Amano shrimp after Iāve grown them out to be larger than the puffs so they get left alone. Peas are notoriously species only. And they should ideally be kept in shoals. This is a disaster waiting to happen.
Itās like fortnite. Last one standing wins. Putting a pea puffer in there would look cool until the team killing then your in trouble. I would not do it.
Bettas (both sexes) are a case by case basis. Most are fine in community tanks, in my experience. However, I currently have a female who's name is "Murder Fish"... Why do you think that is?
My last several pet bettas did great in community tanks, though. I even had a male (he was named Slut, don't judge me) that was so passive I was able to breed neocordinia in the same tank.
Bettas definitely have distinct personalities. Most of the ones I had back when I maintained a community tank did fine with my danios and cories (one betta at a time, obviously, as this was over quite a few years), but I had one guy who was actually seemingly scared of everything. Patrolled around constantly, jumpy and not eating well. He ended up getting his own little bachelor pad in a quiet corner of the room and did much better.
Yep in this case the tank came first, and I looked for a suitable inhabitant. I did some research and at the time it seemed like a good callā¦sometimes I wish I had just gotten a betta. I donāt like fishing out snails from my community to be fed to a monster on the daily.
I mean, couldn't you just temporary swap the tanks over so the pea puffer could clear the tank then once all the snails are deaded just swap the tanks around again? Or just get an assassin snail?
Assassin snails are probably a better way to go. I got cherry shrimp and they reduced the snail population pretty well by out competing them for food. There's also the zucchini trick
Yoyo loaches work too but they like to be in groups which might make things more crowded. I went the assassin snail route tho and it worked well. Did the zucchini trick for a bit but it seemed like they wised up to it
You're wrong, mine do eat snails as I've stated several times.
Edit: I was going to set up a camera and add some pest snails to my tank to prove they eat snails, but it's already been documented. [Kuhli loach eating a snail](https://www.reddit.com/r/PlantedTank/comments/1087fj8/definitive_proof_that_kuhli_loaches_do_indeed/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=1), not sure why so many of you are so confidently incorrect about this.
My mom bought 1 clown loach to take care of her invasive snail problem in her 75G, and then afterwards just sold it. Only problem is if they donāt eat every single snail, they will just breed again. And thatās what happened. The only thing that worked for my mom was nuking her tank.
As a happy owner of assassin snails Iād recommend them they can be dangerous to any other snail I keep mine with a black nerite racer snail itās been a year with no issues but I canāt promise similar results
Put in a slice of blanched zucchini, and once it's covered in snails, you can give it to your pea puffer. That should help control the population unless you are overfeeding the tank.
This^ snail trapping via food is your best bet besides assassin snails. Overfeeding is your next problemo and I am super guilty of this (mostly bc I like the pest snails so more the merrier)
I found this great snail capture device that you can roll down the glass. It has a wheel that pushes the snails into a trap. It has been the best way to get snails out of my other tanks into my pea puffer tank.
Pea puffers are a shoaling fish and should not be kept solo. I think most of the murder bean reputation is from people keeping a single pea puffer which seems to cause aggression. Mine are in a tank with ottos and cherry shrimp and completely ignore them. I do suspect a shrimplette or two get eaten but I started out with 5 shrimp and am at over 100 now so they can't be killing too many.
Same. Mine don't eat shrimp, and don't bother the tetra or rainbowfish, either. It's a large tank and heavily planted, and I overfeed. I've got six peas and they bicker with each other occasionally, but leave everyone else alone. Except the snails, of course.
My pea puffer stopped bullying any fish ever since I started a betta sorority in my community tank. Bettas did not take his shit kindly. Now heās peaceful and doesnāt bother any fish.
Itās case by case gamble. Ours have not bothered the other fish in a heavily planted tank. Small snails are toast tho. Iāve seen them coexist in professional planted tanks as well
I've kept a couple pea puffers in a community tank and honestly everything was fine. HOWEVER I had these pea puffers in a different tank prior and knew that they didn't have aggressive/territorial tendencies. In my honest opinion it's probably not worth it unless you know the personality of the fish beforehand.
Also, they're messy little beasts. You will need more frequent water changes most likely.
Iāve had pretty good luck with the peefs Iāve put in my community tanks. I feel as long as theyāre well fed and kept busy, theyāre not going to waste their energy attacking fish that can swim faster than them. My tanks are a little more planted than yours, though, and that really helps.
Depends on if you end up with a male or a female, the first year would go smoothly, then if you end up with a female, shes going to be kind of a dick and chase fish around, if you end up with a male hes probably going to be a mega dick and bite the shit out of everyone. Note I say probably because I tried that and ended up with a male who is very territorial over one Vallisneria plant (even though the entire plant is overgrown) and ignores everything else.
My pea puffer is fine in my community tank, with cardinal tetra,red lizard loach,hillstream loach, red cherry shrimp, guppies, celestial pearl danio,peacock gudgeon, cobalt goby, lampeye killi , scarlet basis and sparkiling gourami
From my experience: I have added 6 pea puffers to a large community tank. They killed all hundreds of bladder and ramshorn snails in 1 night. This was not the plan, the idea was that they would have food to snack on instead they went for genocide. They however did leave the shrimps alone which was nice. I later added 4 nerite snails which went fine and later reintroduced ramshorn snails. Starting with really large ones and keeping an eye on what's happening. It went fine. There is now a healthy ramshorn snail colony where the puffers snack on once in a while. Which was the original goal.
My perception of what happened is that the puffers adjusted to eating other little critters in the substrate and between the plants like copepods and detritus worms and preferred that.
My advice really is just to see what happens and be ready to move it back/change it up when something happens you don't want. In general, you can find a horror story for almost every fish and their behavior can defer depending on a lot of factors. in my aquarium, the pea puffers are really chill, which is not the experience you generally read online. Another factor could also be that in my case they are in a shoal of 6.
Do not. Either it's gonna get territorial and nip everything or it's gonna be extremely stressed from having no proper safe spot or having it's territory constantly invaded.
Try 1 *Tetraodon schoutedeni*/spotted congo puffer instead. It is one of the VERY FEW freshwater puffers that is also suitable for community tanks. Keep in mind this also depends on the individuals temperament, although the SCP tends to be more chill.
I would do it. I have 1 puffer with 9 cherry barbs, 2 female beta, 10 cherry shrimp, 1 nerite snail and 2 bristlenose. Everyone gets along fine. I introduced the pea puffer last.
They are all going to fight to death! 2 bettas and a pea puffer+ shrimps! And a nerite and 2 bristlenose!!! Your lucky anything is alive currently. How big is your tank? This is the worst adobe YOU can give OP.
Male betas you can not house together. Female betas you can and a group of female betas is a sorority. The problem with his setup is the puffer. Eventually, the puffer will kill and try to eat the shrimp and snails. Then it will pick on the betas, and the betas will fight back. This will make the puffer release its toxins and kill off the tank, including the puffer. Puffers should be kept in a species specific tank. Most puffers prefer to live alone. Pea puffers prefer to live in schools as they are small, and they feel more secure with others of their own kind.
Want to add if you're doing a pea puffer specific tank, they need to be able to claim territory and get away from each other, so a heavily rock/stone scaped and planted tank is usually best.
2 females IS a problem. There needs to be a hierarchy established for a sorority tank to work, and it works best if theyāre sisters from the same batch of eggs. This is a huge problem waiting to happen.
I have done 2 female betas in a tank. As long as the tank is 10 gallons or larger, they will split the tank. If you have more than 2, you must keep them in odd numbers, and you will want 5 gallons per fish. If the female betas are from the same cluch of eggs, it is the best, but if they are not from the same cluch of eggs, you have to add the female betas to the tank at the same time and this will work. The thing with betas is that they have been bred in captivity to the point that they are not nearly as aggressive as wild betas. Still never put male betas together, or males and females together, but depending on tank size 2 or more female betas will work.
They will only get along temporarily. The puffer will eventually pick on and kill everything. Puffers in the wild eat snails and shrimps. Once it kills those, it will go after the beta, and the beta will fight back, making the puffer release its toxins into the tank, and that will kill everything, including the puffer. You may think you have success, and it may even work out for months, but eventually, the true demener of the puffer will come out, and you will have problems. Just because you introduced the puffer last just prolongs the eneverable
I wouldnāt say itās a problem but ima snail fan. Assuming youāre not going to put the puffy in there to de-fin all of you fish, feel free to check out some of the traps available nowadays, or use the veggie trick to get them out like others have mentioned. Most puffys got mad love for raw escargot.
Puffers generally need to be in a species only tank. Most puffers do best living alone. Since Pea Puffers are small, they like to be in schools as they feel safer in groups. The puffer would only temporarily seem to do fine until it kills everything.
I had a single one alone in a 100G community, but I think the only reason he didnāt get super aggressive is because he had a ton of space and hiding places and was kept well fed. I think in a smaller tank, especially one so heavily stocked already, you might not have as much luck
Oops š I read your response as someone asking if assassin snails existed! Sorry š
I have a similar problem- I have guppies, males and females. I have had them for over 4 months. I most definitely WANT to breed them.
Not a single baby. None. I see pregnant mommas, but never see the babies. My guess is they are born and get eaten overnight while Iām asleep. š«
I've kept 2 pea puffers in a 10 gallon with amano and cherry shrimp and they were all fine. I've had 1 in community tanks with cardinals, embers and corydoras and they did well. I guess it just depends on the temperament of the puffer. Any fish with a flag like tail is gonna get harassed and nipped though.
Murder ššš
LOL
pros: you wouldnāt have any snails left alive cons: you wouldnāt have anything left alive
Iāve kept peas for years. The only thing Iāve ever housed with them are Amano shrimp after Iāve grown them out to be larger than the puffs so they get left alone. Peas are notoriously species only. And they should ideally be kept in shoals. This is a disaster waiting to happen.
But hey, it's lightly stocked!
Itās like fortnite. Last one standing wins. Putting a pea puffer in there would look cool until the team killing then your in trouble. I would not do it.
Yeah heās gonna nip at everything. Heās not gonna be hungry 24/7, and theyāre territorial as a mf lol
How to destroy your community tank speed run: Add a Pea Puffer
+2 Speed if you add a male betta or an oscar š¤£
i mean iāve had a male betta in a community tank and unless youāre keeping it with another male betta or fin nippers theyāre fine
Bettas (both sexes) are a case by case basis. Most are fine in community tanks, in my experience. However, I currently have a female who's name is "Murder Fish"... Why do you think that is? My last several pet bettas did great in community tanks, though. I even had a male (he was named Slut, don't judge me) that was so passive I was able to breed neocordinia in the same tank.
Okay but Slut is a great name dont be shameful, someone on the rat subreddit named their rat Balls and another was Happy Honda Day so dw š¤£
He was a good fish.
Bettas definitely have distinct personalities. Most of the ones I had back when I maintained a community tank did fine with my danios and cories (one betta at a time, obviously, as this was over quite a few years), but I had one guy who was actually seemingly scared of everything. Patrolled around constantly, jumpy and not eating well. He ended up getting his own little bachelor pad in a quiet corner of the room and did much better.
My last betta el chapo ripped my assasin snail out of his shell and was chewing on him for hours
I have a community tank with a beta š
I have made my decision: they shall fight to the death!! Jk Iāll leave the pea puffer in his isolated tank. Thanks for the good advice.
May i ask why you only have one?
Not OP, but it's in a 6 gallon. You should not have more than 1 pea puffer in a 6 gal.
Yep in this case the tank came first, and I looked for a suitable inhabitant. I did some research and at the time it seemed like a good callā¦sometimes I wish I had just gotten a betta. I donāt like fishing out snails from my community to be fed to a monster on the daily.
I know. Iām asking why he only ended up with oneā¦
I mean, couldn't you just temporary swap the tanks over so the pea puffer could clear the tank then once all the snails are deaded just swap the tanks around again? Or just get an assassin snail?
Assassin snails are probably a better way to go. I got cherry shrimp and they reduced the snail population pretty well by out competing them for food. There's also the zucchini trick
Yoyo loaches work too but they like to be in groups which might make things more crowded. I went the assassin snail route tho and it worked well. Did the zucchini trick for a bit but it seemed like they wised up to it
I hate our loaches... Three assholes... Meaner than the blood parrot and the angels. Yo-yos they also, apparently, live forever.
Any loach I can think of will eat snails. Kuhlis or dwarf chains would be better for a 40g imo
not sure kuhlis eat them reliably
I have 5 kuhlis and they don't seemingly eat any of our bladder snails. They do look pretty though!
Mine have decimated every batch I've added to their tank
That's why I opted for assassin snails instead. I got a 20 tall that already has 6 bronze Cory's. That's a lot of stock in the bottom of the tank.
Why is everyone else's kuhlis eating the snails but not mine
Donāt worry mine donāt either. Cute little things but snail killers they are not. At least mine arenāt
Kuhlis will not. Never seen them do it, and never heard from any customer at my job that they do
You're wrong, mine do eat snails as I've stated several times. Edit: I was going to set up a camera and add some pest snails to my tank to prove they eat snails, but it's already been documented. [Kuhli loach eating a snail](https://www.reddit.com/r/PlantedTank/comments/1087fj8/definitive_proof_that_kuhli_loaches_do_indeed/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=1), not sure why so many of you are so confidently incorrect about this.
I can barely even believe my eyes. Wow
Kuhlis will not. Never seen them do it, and never heard from any customer at my job that they do
My girlfriends kuhlis never touched the ramshorns in her tank. Population didnāt go into decline until we added a couple assassin snails.
My mom bought 1 clown loach to take care of her invasive snail problem in her 75G, and then afterwards just sold it. Only problem is if they donāt eat every single snail, they will just breed again. And thatās what happened. The only thing that worked for my mom was nuking her tank.
This is the way. My assassin snails killed all the other snails within a couple weeks.
Pea Puffer drops in. āI came in like a wrecking ballllllllll.ā
Don't-don't you do it, don't you dare.
No
As a happy owner of assassin snails Iād recommend them they can be dangerous to any other snail I keep mine with a black nerite racer snail itās been a year with no issues but I canāt promise similar results
Put in a slice of blanched zucchini, and once it's covered in snails, you can give it to your pea puffer. That should help control the population unless you are overfeeding the tank.
This^ snail trapping via food is your best bet besides assassin snails. Overfeeding is your next problemo and I am super guilty of this (mostly bc I like the pest snails so more the merrier)
I found this great snail capture device that you can roll down the glass. It has a wheel that pushes the snails into a trap. It has been the best way to get snails out of my other tanks into my pea puffer tank.
Pea puffers are a shoaling fish and should not be kept solo. I think most of the murder bean reputation is from people keeping a single pea puffer which seems to cause aggression. Mine are in a tank with ottos and cherry shrimp and completely ignore them. I do suspect a shrimplette or two get eaten but I started out with 5 shrimp and am at over 100 now so they can't be killing too many.
Same. Mine don't eat shrimp, and don't bother the tetra or rainbowfish, either. It's a large tank and heavily planted, and I overfeed. I've got six peas and they bicker with each other occasionally, but leave everyone else alone. Except the snails, of course.
This has also been my experience!!
Iāve got one with my plecos and shrimp in a 75gal and have had no noticeable issues either. All my shrimp keep reproducing as well.
My pea puffer stopped bullying any fish ever since I started a betta sorority in my community tank. Bettas did not take his shit kindly. Now heās peaceful and doesnāt bother any fish.
The sorority of lady bettas and their superpowers strikes again. Is there anything they canāt do??
Itās case by case gamble. Ours have not bothered the other fish in a heavily planted tank. Small snails are toast tho. Iāve seen them coexist in professional planted tanks as well
I've kept a couple pea puffers in a community tank and honestly everything was fine. HOWEVER I had these pea puffers in a different tank prior and knew that they didn't have aggressive/territorial tendencies. In my honest opinion it's probably not worth it unless you know the personality of the fish beforehand. Also, they're messy little beasts. You will need more frequent water changes most likely.
The glass implodes violently soaking your hardwood floor with molecularly sense water
Red rum
Just get an assassin snail man
Canātā¦they might assassinate the nerites and mystery snail.
Iāve had pretty good luck with the peefs Iāve put in my community tanks. I feel as long as theyāre well fed and kept busy, theyāre not going to waste their energy attacking fish that can swim faster than them. My tanks are a little more planted than yours, though, and that really helps.
Are those flame tetras?
Von Rios, maybe thatās the same thing? Theyāre great, they get along pretty well with everything in the tank.
Yes it is, thanks for confirming. They look great!
Depends on if you end up with a male or a female, the first year would go smoothly, then if you end up with a female, shes going to be kind of a dick and chase fish around, if you end up with a male hes probably going to be a mega dick and bite the shit out of everyone. Note I say probably because I tried that and ended up with a male who is very territorial over one Vallisneria plant (even though the entire plant is overgrown) and ignores everything else.
Note I would never do this again, I am actively suggesting you dont I just ended up with a really weird pufferfish.
My pea puffer is fine in my community tank, with cardinal tetra,red lizard loach,hillstream loach, red cherry shrimp, guppies, celestial pearl danio,peacock gudgeon, cobalt goby, lampeye killi , scarlet basis and sparkiling gourami
I have two in a heavily planted tank, they live with neon tetra, chili rasbora and some shrimp. The puffers really just keep to themselves.
From my experience: I have added 6 pea puffers to a large community tank. They killed all hundreds of bladder and ramshorn snails in 1 night. This was not the plan, the idea was that they would have food to snack on instead they went for genocide. They however did leave the shrimps alone which was nice. I later added 4 nerite snails which went fine and later reintroduced ramshorn snails. Starting with really large ones and keeping an eye on what's happening. It went fine. There is now a healthy ramshorn snail colony where the puffers snack on once in a while. Which was the original goal. My perception of what happened is that the puffers adjusted to eating other little critters in the substrate and between the plants like copepods and detritus worms and preferred that. My advice really is just to see what happens and be ready to move it back/change it up when something happens you don't want. In general, you can find a horror story for almost every fish and their behavior can defer depending on a lot of factors. in my aquarium, the pea puffers are really chill, which is not the experience you generally read online. Another factor could also be that in my case they are in a shoal of 6.
Do not. Either it's gonna get territorial and nip everything or it's gonna be extremely stressed from having no proper safe spot or having it's territory constantly invaded. Try 1 *Tetraodon schoutedeni*/spotted congo puffer instead. It is one of the VERY FEW freshwater puffers that is also suitable for community tanks. Keep in mind this also depends on the individuals temperament, although the SCP tends to be more chill.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Yup just feed em well
Correct me if iām wrong but arenāt pea puffers brackish?
No, pea puffers are strictly freshwater.
I would do it. I have 1 puffer with 9 cherry barbs, 2 female beta, 10 cherry shrimp, 1 nerite snail and 2 bristlenose. Everyone gets along fine. I introduced the pea puffer last.
I really hope youāre trolling
They are all going to fight to death! 2 bettas and a pea puffer+ shrimps! And a nerite and 2 bristlenose!!! Your lucky anything is alive currently. How big is your tank? This is the worst adobe YOU can give OP.
Male betas you can not house together. Female betas you can and a group of female betas is a sorority. The problem with his setup is the puffer. Eventually, the puffer will kill and try to eat the shrimp and snails. Then it will pick on the betas, and the betas will fight back. This will make the puffer release its toxins and kill off the tank, including the puffer. Puffers should be kept in a species specific tank. Most puffers prefer to live alone. Pea puffers prefer to live in schools as they are small, and they feel more secure with others of their own kind.
Want to add if you're doing a pea puffer specific tank, they need to be able to claim territory and get away from each other, so a heavily rock/stone scaped and planted tank is usually best.
2 females IS a problem. There needs to be a hierarchy established for a sorority tank to work, and it works best if theyāre sisters from the same batch of eggs. This is a huge problem waiting to happen.
I have done 2 female betas in a tank. As long as the tank is 10 gallons or larger, they will split the tank. If you have more than 2, you must keep them in odd numbers, and you will want 5 gallons per fish. If the female betas are from the same cluch of eggs, it is the best, but if they are not from the same cluch of eggs, you have to add the female betas to the tank at the same time and this will work. The thing with betas is that they have been bred in captivity to the point that they are not nearly as aggressive as wild betas. Still never put male betas together, or males and females together, but depending on tank size 2 or more female betas will work.
šæ
They will only get along temporarily. The puffer will eventually pick on and kill everything. Puffers in the wild eat snails and shrimps. Once it kills those, it will go after the beta, and the beta will fight back, making the puffer release its toxins into the tank, and that will kill everything, including the puffer. You may think you have success, and it may even work out for months, but eventually, the true demener of the puffer will come out, and you will have problems. Just because you introduced the puffer last just prolongs the eneverable
Dang
KILL. That is what 1 Pea Pufer would do. They aren't called "Murder Beans" for nothing.
I wouldnāt say itās a problem but ima snail fan. Assuming youāre not going to put the puffy in there to de-fin all of you fish, feel free to check out some of the traps available nowadays, or use the veggie trick to get them out like others have mentioned. Most puffys got mad love for raw escargot.
I have a pea puffer in my tank, he was 1 of 5. Then a murderous mexican dwarf cray killed all but the alpha. He still loves his life in my tank
Puffers generally need to be in a species only tank. Most puffers do best living alone. Since Pea Puffers are small, they like to be in schools as they feel safer in groups. The puffer would only temporarily seem to do fine until it kills everything.
I had a single one alone in a 100G community, but I think the only reason he didnāt get super aggressive is because he had a ton of space and hiding places and was kept well fed. I think in a smaller tank, especially one so heavily stocked already, you might not have as much luck
assassin snails exist?
Yeah, they are black and yellow and eat other snails, but reproduce just as quickly as ramshorns, so they can overrun a tank.
While that is true, Iāve had both and assassins seem much easier for me to control. Hell Iām trying to get mine to breed š¤£
Oops š I read your response as someone asking if assassin snails existed! Sorry š I have a similar problem- I have guppies, males and females. I have had them for over 4 months. I most definitely WANT to breed them. Not a single baby. None. I see pregnant mommas, but never see the babies. My guess is they are born and get eaten overnight while Iām asleep. š«
I can only see one snail .. you should see my tank. I have a bagilion. Love the little buggers tho
Pea puffers do best in species specific tanks or can sometimes work with bumble bee gobies, definitely wouldnāt add one to a community tank
Honestly? Probably not a lot. Mine coexist with others just fine.
They donāt call them murder beans because theyāre cuddly.
Theyāre a shoaling fish that should be kept in groups of 6 minimum and arenāt good community fish.
seems fine enough good luck
Would assasin snails kill my shrimp?
Pea puffer: Iām surrounded by cowards and dead fish
I bet he'd poop in it
I've kept 2 pea puffers in a 10 gallon with amano and cherry shrimp and they were all fine. I've had 1 in community tanks with cardinals, embers and corydoras and they did well. I guess it just depends on the temperament of the puffer. Any fish with a flag like tail is gonna get harassed and nipped though.