Dwarf Puffer Tankmates

Anyone have any personal recommendations about Pea Puffer tankmates? I'm not looking for the "OMG PEA PUFFERS TOO AGGRO" discussion that seems to follow in the wake of anyone ever asking that question on the internet. I've got a 20g cube-ish (14"x14"x20"), with a rather large amount of caves, overhangs, nooks,crannies, niches, and such formed out of driftwood and stones.

I'm waiting for a bit more plant growth, but plans are for this tank to be very heavily planted, which I feel would help in keeping any sort of extra livestock.

So, that being said, who here has any successfull stories of cohabitating pea puffs and other fish/invert/creatures?

I have experience with them. Any fish that is fast from being nip at. Like neon tetras,  rummys,  or other slender fast fish. Please beware they need more live foods like snails or live worms. I had a hard time keeping up with them on their food needs. But as their tankmates just any fast slender fishes to swim away fast through dense planted tanks without being cornered and be nipped the crap out of them. Good luck. Btw some petsmart give away pest snails.

As for snail cohabitants any snail bigger than them like nerite, mystery snails, or any snails with a hard foot.  For shrimps no dwarf shrimps but bamboo shrimps are ok. Mine live fine with these type of snails and shrimp. Good luck.

I picked up 3 a few months ago. I got them because 1 I was interested in them, and 2 snail issues. I put them in a 29g with all the normal community fish. Now they are in a 10 gallon with 8 dwarf Cory cats, Otocinclus, and Algae eating shrimp. No problems to report.

Alright cool. I'm not too worried about the food needs, as I've got the cichlid tank to pull ramshorns from. I've got 2 otos in the there now and they haven't been a problem at all. thanks for the input guys, appreciate it.

I don't have experience specifically with puffers, but I will say that you can't always be sure a fish will be aggressive just because it's a certain species, or has a reputation.

I had an experience about a year ago with a Chinese Algae Eater that went against all the stories I have heard online. I originally got it about 2 years ago, and it grew quickly to be too big for the little 10 gallon I had it in (I know I was stupid). When I went for advice on how to keep it happy or where to get rid of it, all anyone had to say about the species was, "THEY WILL SUCK THE SCALES OFF YOUR FISHES IN THE NIGHT OMG GET RID OF IT!!!!" However, I never saw my CAE doing or even attempting this, and never noticed any wounds on any of my other fish in the morning. In fact, he was probably one of the most peaceful fish I have had to date, but he really was getting too big for even my 20 gallon and no one would give him a home, so I had to send him to the big tank in the sky. (actually thinking about it, I hope that if there is one, fish heaven isn't just a tank; they deserve open water with all the swimming room and natural food they could ever need)

So, just because a species has a reputation for being aggressive doesn't necessarily mean every member of that species will be. You might get a pea puffer who doesn't care at all about tankmates, or you could get one who thinks the whole tank is his territory and is extremely aggro. Just like people, every fish is different.

I think it would be cool, though, to house the little guys with a big fish like an african cichlid, but I don't know whether even bigger fish are safe from those little guys or what. The puffers might just end up being little bastards and nip the crap out of your nice africans, some fish don't care about size. I also don't know about puffers and hard water, so this might be a bad idea, but I would like to see it

bronzefighter wrote:Alright cool. I'm not too worried about the food needs, as I've got the cichlid tank to pull ramshorns from. I've got 2 otos in the there now and they haven't been a problem at all. thanks for the input guys, appreciate it.

Bronzefighter,
I think there is some truth to what ppl say about rotting wastes due to the fact Puffers don't eat all the meat in snails. Just thought I would throw this bit of info out there for you. When I 1st introduced Puffers in a tank that was over whelmed with snails I was warned about this. It turned out to be true & I had to do some maintenance to keep parameters normal. So, a big ram horn rotting would be the equivalent to a small fish rotting in your tank...

Good point fishNAbowl, I have sort of come across this with recently purchased assassin snails as well. They do a good job at killing the bigger snails, but they don't seem to be able to eat the whole thing in one sitting. Luckily ramshorns don't seem to mind being cannibals, so I usually see little babies eating the meat inside the shell, but I too have noticed elevated nitrates recently from all the rotting snail meat... I'm glad I only got 2 assassins, or I might have had a problem!

fishNAbowl wrote:

bronzefighter wrote:Alright cool. I'm not too worried about the food needs, as I've got the cichlid tank to pull ramshorns from. I've got 2 otos in the there now and they haven't been a problem at all. thanks for the input guys, appreciate it.

Bronzefighter,
I think there is some truth to what ppl say about rotting wastes due to the fact Puffers don't eat all the meat in snails. Just thought I would throw this bit of info out there for you. When I 1st introduced Puffers in a tank that was over whelmed with snails I was warned about this. It turned out to be true & I had to do some maintenance to keep parameters normal. So, a big ram horn rotting would be the equivalent to a small fish rotting in your tank...  

That's right... I haven't noticed too much of a problem yet, because the only snails that the puffs have tried to take on are either small enough to eat in one or two bites, or too big for the puffs to even care. Though I can see this becoming a problem in the future.

I've heard that a small group of kuhli loaches could help alleviate this problem too. They scavenge the bottom of the tank, and since they are nocturnal they don't really interact with the puffs. Hmmmm...decisions decisions.

This is an interesting idea. I dig Kulli loaches, I may even pick up a couple.

Kuhilis are cool too. But I never see them anymore. Lol. Only reason I got rid of the puffers were unable to feed them their constant need of snails and live worms. As for putting them with africans, thats where I put them to cycle of life thing (feed them without wasting). I loved the way they interact with other fishes or each other and that they are not skimish when i look at they upclose. but hated that I was kinda starving them.

My Puffers main diet is frozen blood worms. They suck em in like a child does spaghetti noodles.