Puffer for a 10 gallon

[suicune]

I'm looking into keeping a single puffer in my nano tank, it's planted with 2 huge bushes of javafern and some other plants. I'm thinking about keeping a puffer in there. It's 10 gallons. I've been researching on what kind of puffer I can keep. It seems that Pea Puffer is the safest choice, but last time at extreme fish I found that they carry SAP, which seems to only grow to 3 inches on average. Can I keep an SAP alone in a 10g?

[mistahoo]

Prepared to trim teeth?

[mnemenoi]

I have kept SAP for years and teeth trimming is a necessity with that one. Otherwise they are quite amiable with most things. I had a group of 3-4 that did quite well in a 45 gallon community with smaller tetras and never ate any tankmates. They do seem to prefer a group, but are very active little fish. I think a pair might be doable in a 10 gallon, though a larger tank could afford you a larger school of them.

[suicune]

Yeah that teeth triming is kinda scary for me cuz the thing is so delicate. Tried to read around and see if i feed it nothing but snail and shrimp would i be able to get away from it. Maybe i shouldn't go for SAP and just stay with pea... Or if i'm lucky enough to find a red eye then that'll be great

[mr big87]

I'm a new Pea Puffer owner, and while activity in the tank is very low, when I walk up to the tank they all come out to see me. Pretty neat. As long as you aren't expecting an active, colorful tank, you'll be happy with them. Neat little fish. Feeding frozen blood worms. Haven't tried a shrimp or snail yet.

[mnemenoi]

Pea Puffers and their family (red eye red tail included) all generally do not need teeth trimming, but the SAP do require it. I fed heavy crunchy things and they still grew crazy teeth. Not sure what they eat in the wild, but snails and shrimp do little for it in captivity to keep it in check. Teeth trimmings are not too crazy once you get the hang of it and it only needs to be done once every 6-12 months as needed.

[suicune]

I wish I can find a red eye red tail in houston =d... something harder to find... but oh well Pea Puffer is the safer choice.

[mnemenoi]

I have seen them at Fish Gallery before, maybe ask about a special order? or Homeless Aquatics... They do well in pairs and have been bred in captivity as well as the pea puffers

[mistahoo]

I've seen them at Xtreme once. Haven't seen them since

Sent from my spaceship using Tapatalk 2.

[mnemenoi]

Found some available online... $10.00 each and shipping is $15-35 depending. I suppose you could get a group buy going or see if anyone wanted something else from Wet Spot.

http://www.wetspottropicalfish.com/index.php/fish

[mnemenoi]

Carinotetraodon irrubesco is the species you are after, they might even be able to get you a pair if they have enough to possibly sex them

[suicune]

maybe I'll ask a LFS if they'll ever do a special order for those, I'm sure there will be a lot of people feel interested in them . They are a little larger than pea puffer but with some nice feature. I have funky water chemistry so I'm kinda scared with online fish order.

[suicune]

Yet another Southeast asia fish that I grew up with and never knew about *facepalm*.

[suicune]

I think I'm gonna settle for pea puffer since they are safer, when I get more experience i will venture into bigger puffer.