Common Names: Pea Puffers, Pygmy Puffers, Blue Eyed Puffers
Origin- Asia, India (kerala)
Max size 1"
PH 7.0-8.0
Temp. 80F
100% Freshwater Puffer, no salt. Note: They can tolerate a wide variety of water parameters, but do best as stated above.
Behaviour as I see it in this tank: They are very observant fish, noticing everything outside of their tank. As soon as we walk into the room they swim right up to the glass, staring at us with those big eyes! They are also shy fish, and will rush into hiding if something gives them a scare. These fish should be treated gently. Do not upset their envirornment unnecessarily. .
All the puffers are males and have no problem with territory. There is of course a dominant male in the group, but that was to be expected and he only claims dominance at feeding. Once in a while I'll see some chasing. The fish are not stressed with this chasing, it seems to be a natural behavior.
They will hunt for their food, so I just drop in their snails, ghost shrimp, live blackworms and live brine shrimp into their tanks. I like to see their natural behavior, I'd never want to train them to eat from my hand. It is one of the most interesting aspects of owning these fish, watching them hunt down their food. There are times I give them frozen bloodworms, and that I give to them from the dropper. The dominant male will eat first, then the others follow suit, sometimes taking the worms right out of eachothers mouth! The least dominant wait their turn.
NOTE: This is a very low maintence set up. Fake plants, caves and Florida Crushed Coral by Carabsea.
These fish are fin nippers , so this tank is a species only tank. I did have Oto's (Otocinclus) with them and many other people have also with success. My Oto's died eventually (not from the Puffers) and I haven't replaced them.
