will my pea puffer tank need a filter

[Deadeye]

You can put some driftwood and more plants to help counteract the effects of crushed coral. They prefer sand but I kept them in gravel without issues. When it gets hungrier it will go for the snails. Large snails are just waste factories in a tank that small. Shrimp would clean up extra scraps, seems 50/50 on if the puffer eats them or not, in 1 gallon it would easily hunt them down though.

 

[fishguy1978]

I have kept mine with cherry shrimp and glass shrimp. My larger 2 might prey on the shrimp but I haven’t seen them yet. Their current tank is just them and snails. I will on occasion crush larger snails and drop those in for them to feed on. If I drop live snails in front of them often they will hover over waiting for the snail to poke out and then it’s game on.

 

[jjohnwm]

That substrate looks more like dolomite or something similar, rather than actual crushed coral. Whatever it is, it's pretty coarse and unnecessarily deep; it will trap all kinds of uneaten food particles, feces, etc. and will not do good things for water quality in such a tiny tank, and especially so when you don't have a filter. It's also the exact opposite type of substrate suited to a soft-water environment. Maybe remove and replace with a thin layer of sand?

 

[Supergeorge123]

the tank is now set up im only running an airstone and to minimize left over food and poor water quality im only feeding live snails i may get a pipet for bloodworms so i can do that too. and while i understand that he’d appreciate the extra room i feel like keeping 1 pea puffer in a 1 gallon is equivalent to keeping an oscar in a 75 gallon. id also kept them in larger community set ups and they were mean as hell and that experience led me to want to put one in a micro tank solo. im definitely going to heavily plant it. he is currently on an all crushed coral substrate because it was my understanding that brackish or very hard water was preferable and extended their life but that was just what i was told id not heard of them being soft water fish even though itd make sense so do you think the substrate is fine? i was also wondering how they interact with large snails and shrimp i would like the puffer to eat them but i dont want to get some and then just have an overstocked tank and so far the puffer has left all the snails alone but is eating scraps of something off of a moss ball.

View attachment 1440337

My main concern with crushed coral is that ammonia is more toxic at higher ph, which would make maintaining water quality even more important. PH doesn't matter to most fish on the market. Only things like rift lake cichlids or samurai gouramis would need adjustments to tap water, unless your water supply is in some unique situation. Frequent water changes and making sure you are only feeding what the fish can eat is important. You are right about the oscar comparison, the x factor is how much nutrients you introduce into the aquarium, which can be more percentage wise than in a 75 gallon. Oscars are also generally hardier than puffers. Also temperature swings happen much faster in less water. Water changes, plants, maybe a piece of lava rock and keeping it in a spot where the temperatures are fairly stable. You can do this succesfully, just need to get the little details down.

 

[DrownedFishonFire]

The downfall with nano tanks the less gallonage: your water parameters is going to go bad so fast if something was off. Vs a 5g which is alot more leeway in playing around with parameters. Its not the size of the fish its the size of water you are playing around in I am looking at the pico/nano disadvantage POV:

A full grown oscar is in a 75g is not even comparable to the pea puffer in a 1g tank with plenty of room to do laps vs its size ratio.

When you are playing God with a 1 gallon so many things can go wrong fast. A full grown oscar in a 125g is still not comparable. Its still outsized vs tank size compared to a pea puffer in ratio in 1g size

Try oscar in 250 for size to size it is much more closer but not there as pea puffer still has smaller size ratio vs 1g but still that is more comparable and it still gives the keeper time to catch whats declining in their tank. A 1 gallon goes foul faster than a 250g with an oscar. That is what you are trying to make a comparison out of. When you want to really compare a fish stuffed into a 1g to a full grown oscar in a 75g its more of a 6" fat goldfish in a 1g tank setup.

Doesnt matter how you justify the reasoning behind it. At the end of the day you need to frequently check nanos. Heck even an open window in dead of wintertime when its freezing point outside outside in the midwest when someone cooking food and it smoking can cause the tank to chill overwhelming the tiny heater and crash so fast. Even can cook the tank easily if it has sunlight hitting it on the desk etc in middle of the summertime when its so hot. Those things you are playing God with.

It can be a good challenge and rewarding as a fishkeeper to successfully do a pico/nano longterm. Good luck! I love seeing peoples work with aquascaping picos and nanos. I think its amazing skill and wishing you the best luck !

People suggesting more decor etc that reduced the amount of water drastically since its a 1g. Those are additional factors that puts a nano at a disadvantage