will my pea puffer tank need a filter

[djsaltynuts]

im putting a pea puffer in a 1 gallon micro tank which ik officially they’re supposed to be in a 5-10 gallon and up but idgaf the proportions of the fish match the tank fine(just to get that part out of the way). i cant put a small sponge filter because the tank is too small and a hang on the back would create too much current. if it were a betta or dwarf frog i wouldnt worry about it but i dont know if a puffer could go into a stagnant tank. i also considered putting just an airstone in but i think that still might create too much curren( i could negate this with a bubble counter though). what do you guys think does a pea puffer need the water flow or could it get by with plant only filtration? also i was debating whether i should make the tank brackish or just very alkaline. i know they do allot better in brackish but the salt levels would be almost impossible to keep relatively stable but maybe theyre used to a changing salinity in the wild.

 

[kno4te]

Should be fine in freshwater. I’d try a small hob filter. Think it’ll handle a little flow.

 

[twentyleagues]

Pea puffers live in a lot of conditions in nature, but they are fresh water puffers do not add salt. I also do not recommend that small of a tank they are very active fish. They do inhabit much of the river they come from and water chemistry, flow and temp fluctuate greatly.

 

[Hendre]

You will need filtration and extremely frequent water changes for a tank that small, a 5 gallon setup is not expensive, why not use that for an intelligent, messy fish like a puffer?

 

[Deadeye]

Dwarf puffers come from softer water if I’m correct and are one of the least brackish tolerant puffers (completely freshwater). You will need some surface agitation. They also are extremely messy so unless you are ready to do daily water changes I would say get a filter or a larger tank.

 

[twentyleagues]

Dwarf puffers come from softer water if I’m correct and are one of the least brackish tolerant puffers (completely freshwater). You will need some surface agitation. They also are extremely messy so unless you are ready to do daily water changes I would say get a filter or a larger tank.

Water parameters range from low 6 pH to high 8s some times 9 with various kh and gh readings from 3 to 14dkh depending on where in the river and what time of year. They do not do well with salt that is correct, living in salt conditions even slightly brackish will shorten their lives.

 

[Supergeorge123]

If you fill it with plants and do frequent water changes. How frequent depends on how much you feed it, you will want to be careful with that. You could probably do 8 - 16 oz a day or maybe a 30% - 50% every 3 days or so. Depends on a lot of factors, buy a test kit to get down the exact schedule, i like tetras strips. Also they are not brackish.

 

[Supergeorge123]

Also putting lava rock in there could give bacteria a lot of surface area to colonize.

 

[fishguy1978]

Your murder bean will be much better off and happier with either a 5g or 10g. These guys are very active as stated and need room to cruise. They also do well in groups when added all together. It is much harder (amhik) to add more after establishing 1 or a few initially. A heavy planted tank will make them happy too. Doesn't have to be anything fancy you could have multiple clumps of Java moss even that are allowed to grow crazy.

 

[djsaltynuts]

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.