
The scientific name for the Pea Puffer is: Carinotetradon travancoricus We recommend feeding live baby brine or other live foods such as small shrimp, daphnia
Daphnia
Daphnia, a genus of small planktonic crustaceans, are 0.2–5 millimetres in length. Daphnia are members of the order Cladocera, and are one of the several small aquatic crustaceans commonly called water fleas because their saltatory swimming style resembles the movements of fle…
What do pea puffers eat?
What Do Pea Puffers Eat? These hardcore carnivores are best fed on a diet of frozen foods (like frozen bloodworms and brine shrimp) and live foods (like little pest snails or blackworms). They typically will not take dry foods, but we’ve had good luck with Hikari Vibra Bites because they look and even move like bloodworms as they’re sinking.
What kind of shrimp can I Feed my pea puffers?
We do not recommend keeping them with any type of shrimp. We recommend feeding live baby brine or other live foods such as small shrimp, daphnia, or scuds. We also feed our pea puffers a mix of frozen foods including daphnia, baby brine, cyclops, and Bloodworms.
What do you feed your puffers?
stuff like bloodworms, blackworms, snails, etc is usually what puffers eat. an occasional part of a pea is what some people feed, but i've never used that. i've fed the worms and snails. they usually prefer live, but it's a good idea to train them to eat frozen as well though. hope that helps. Like Reply.
How often should I Feed my pea puffer fish?
It is recommended that you feed a pea puffer fish at least twice-daily. This will help in keeping its digestive track running smoothly, and it may also prevent the risk of constipation or blockages from occurring. If your pea puffer doesn’t want to eat what’s being offered for some reason, try feeding them something else.

What do baby pea puffers eat?
What Do Pea Puffers Eat? These hardcore carnivores are best fed on a diet of frozen foods (like frozen bloodworms and brine shrimp) and live foods (like little pest snails or blackworms).
What do baby puffer fish eat?
Young pea puffers are incredibly small, and often too small to eat baby brine shrimp. You should begin by feeding them infusoria, copepods, young daphnia, microworms, and vinegar eels. It should not take more than a few days for them to be able to eat baby brine shrimp.
How often do baby pea puffers eat?
Pea Puffers should be fed 2 to 3 times a day. Only feed them as much as they will eat within a couple of minutes. Well-fed Pea Puffers have slightly swollen abdomens. If you are feeding your pea puffers snails, don't put too many in the aquarium at a time.
What live food can I feed my pea puffer?
0:002:52What to feed Dwarf Puffer Fish - YouTubeYouTubeStart of suggested clipEnd of suggested clipSo I'm going to talk about their main diet their main diet consists of live aquarium snails bloodMoreSo I'm going to talk about their main diet their main diet consists of live aquarium snails blood worms brine shrimp anything of that matter these guys will eat.
Do puffer fish eat carrots?
Yes, pufferfish like to eat carrots. Pufferfish will usually eat anything, but if you want to move them off of their go-to food (bits of algae and crustaceans) and onto something new (carrots), be sure to use a red one!
Can pea puffers eat mealworms?
Mealworms are OK in moderation. Pea puffers can be trained to eat thawed frozen bloodworms from the end of a toothpick. They will also eat thawed seafood (in small chunks).
How do you raise a baby pea puffer?
6:2710:46Pea Puffer Care and Breeding: A Tiny Fish with a BIG Attitude! - YouTubeYouTubeStart of suggested clipEnd of suggested clipOne they will occasionally eat live baby brine shrimp. They love snails we generally take small ramsMoreOne they will occasionally eat live baby brine shrimp. They love snails we generally take small rams horn or common pond snails. And kind of crush them up and throw them in the water.
Will pea puffers eat freeze dried bloodworms?
But there is good news—they will eat frozen and freeze-dried bloodworms, as well as finely ground frozen and freeze dried krill and brine shrimp.
How long can pea puffer go without eating?
Dwarf Pufferfish can go for 5 – 7 days without eating. A healthy Dwarf Puffer can go even longer. If your Dwarf Puffer has stopped eating, try tempting them back into feeding by offering live bloodworms, blackworms, or small snails.
When should I feed my pea puffer?
0:455:52Feeding my Pea Puffers. SO CUTE - YouTubeYouTubeStart of suggested clipEnd of suggested clipUm today's sunday uh well the day doesn't matter rather any day for you because it's just uh everyMoreUm today's sunday uh well the day doesn't matter rather any day for you because it's just uh every day is a good day to be doing fish tank madness. Sorry about the glare. Sorry not sorry let's deep
How do I feed my pea puffer?
Pea Puffers are carnivorous fish, and in captivity they should be fed a diet of frozen foods such as bloodworms and brine shrimp. They can also be fed live fish foods such as snails and blackworms. In the wild, Pea Puffer fish survive off of insects, larvae, and other small invertebrates.
How do you feed pea puffers frozen food?
Frozen Foods Appropriately sized shrimp, worms, larvae and krill provide a range of acceptable frozen options. When providing a frozen diet for your dwarf puffer, the food must be thawed. DwarfPuffers.com suggests doing so in a shot glass with water from the tank that you can then pour into the tank for feeding.
What do you feed puffer fish?
What do puffer fish eat? Puffers should be fed a carnivorous diet of pellets and freeze-dried and frozen foods, along with chopped squid, clams, shrimp and krill. Larger puffers should be offered shelled foods, like mussels, to help wear down their continuously growing teeth.
What can puffer fish eat?
The diet of the pufferfish includes mostly invertebrates and algae. Large specimens will even crack open and eat clams, mussels, and shellfish with their hard beaks. Poisonous puffers are believed to synthesize their deadly toxin from the bacteria in the animals they eat.
Can you have puffer fish as a pet?
Saltwater pufferfish care is an important thing for pet parents to get right. There are some pufferfish for small saltwater tank aquariums, but even the smallest pufferfish usually require a minimum tank size of more than 30 gallons. Others require larger tanks of more than 100 gallons.
What do puffer fish eat in aquariums?
In captivity, puffers will eat almost anything, so a variety of foods should be offered to allow for a healthy mix, she said. Claricoates recommends a diet consisting of foods with shells, including blue crab, mussels, clams, shrimp, live snails and bloodworms.
What Is a Pea Puffer?
Carinotetraodon travancoricus – also known as the pea puffer, Indian dwarf puffer, Malabar puffer, and pygmy puffer – is the smallest pufferfish in the world and comes from fully freshwater environments in the southwestern tip of India.
Do Pea Puffers Puff Up?
Yes. It is rare, but you may catch your pufferfish in act of puffing up as a defensive mechanism or just for practice. Pufferfish puff up by sucking in water to increase their size and discourage would-be predators. If let alone, it will shrink back down to its normal shape in due time.
How Many Pea Puffers Can You Have in a 10-Gallon Tank?
Given how territorial pea puffers can be, many people have a lot of success keeping just one pea puffer in a five-gallon aquarium by itself. If you want to keep more than one, the general rule of thumb is to provide five gallons of water for the first puffer and three gallons of water for each additional puffer.
How Do You Tell the Difference Between a Male and Female Pea Puffer?
It can be a little tricky, but males tend to have deeper coloration with a stripe or dot on their belly. Their bodies are on the slenderer side, and they exhibit more aggressive behavior in general. Females, on the other hand, have a yellow belly and tend to be plumper in shape.
Do Pea Puffers Need a Heater?
They do well in stable, tropical temperatures from 74 to 82°F, so if your room temperature is below this range or tends to fluctuate a lot, you need an aquarium heater. For more information on what size heater is right for you, read our full article here.
What Do Pea Puffers Eat?
These hardcore carnivores are best fed on a diet of frozen foods (like frozen bloodworms and brine shrimp) and live foods (like little pest snails or blackworms). They typically will not take dry foods, but we’ve had good luck with Hikari Vibra Bites because they look and even move like bloodworms as they’re sinking.
Can Pea Puffers Live With Other Fish?
This is one of the most common questions we get about pea puffers, and it’s not an easy one to answer. Some puffers can be a little timid, but most are pretty aggressive and territorial. Think of it like owning a dog that’s prone to fighting. In most cases, any other dog or pet you bring home will probably get attacked.
Species Summary
The dwarf pea puffer ( Carinotetraodon travancoricus) is a freshwater fish that’s native to the Western Ghats of Southwest India. Some of its other common names are the dwarf pufferfish, pea pufferfish, and pygmy pufferfish.
Appearance
While we’re tempted to describe the look of this fish as “adorable” and leave it at that, we’ll go into details for the sake of being thorough.
Size
The average pea puffer size is around 1 and a half inches in length when fully grown. That’s obviously not very large, which is partially how these fish earned their name!
Pea Puffer Care
Pea puffer care isn’t that difficult once you have a solid understanding of the species. The biggest challenge you’ll face with this fish is making sure their water and tank requirements are up to par.
Food & Diet
Dwarf pea pufferfish are carnivorous and despite their cute appearance, they have quite a fierce appetite! In the wild, these fish mostly ear small insects, larvae, and algae.
Behavior & Temperament
This is one of the most commonly misunderstood aspects of pea puffer care. A lot of potential owners think that these fish are likely harmless due to their size and adorable appearance.
Pea Puffer Tank Mates
Finding the right pea puffer tank mates is something that many owners struggle with. Their territorial and aggressive nature means you can’t simply pair them with any similarly-sized fish.
Pea Puffer
The pea pufferfish is a small, round fish that typically has two color variations— black and white. The smaller black variety often features a yellow stripe running down its back.
What do pea puffers eat?
Pea puffers, like many other fish species, are omnivores. Pea puffer will eat a wide range of live and dead foods. They can be fed any type of seafood that they cannot fit into their mouth; these include mussels, shrimp, crab pieces with shells on them (e.g., shelled crabs), fish, snails, clams.
How often should you feed pea puffers?
It is recommended that you feed a pea puffer fish at least twice-daily. This will help in keeping its digestive track running smoothly, and it may also prevent the risk of constipation or blockages from occurring.
Do Pea Puffers eat frozen food?
Pea puffers will generally eat frozen food. However, it should be noted that they prefer live foods to the dead ones. Sometimes, a pea puffer might even refuse to eat what’s being offered because their stomach is full from eating something else earlier in the day!
Why did my pea puffer stop eating?
If you’re having a difficult time figuring out why your pea puffer fish has stopped eating, there are many potential reasons for this. It could be because of an illness or traumatic event that the animal went through; it may also stop eating due to environmental changes like moving from one home to another.
Will pea puffer eat shrimp?
Yes, pea puffer will eat shrimp. They are omnivores and prefer live food to the dead ones but it is recommended that you feed them at least twice a day with flakes and pellets designed for tropical fish aquariums as well.
What kind of snails do pea puffers eat?
Pea puffer will eat any type of snail except for the spiral ones. They like to be able to get a good grip on their food, and so these types are too slippery.
SWilson
So cute! I've heard these can be tricky to feed. I've recently discovered that my amazon puffers love live mosquito larvae. We happened to have them in a pond in our backyard that doesn't (yet) have any fish in it. It totally grosses me out, but they love it.
Lowells Fish Lab
I'm having good luck with live baby brine shrimp and frozen bloodworms for my pea puffers. My experience so far has been that baby brine shrimp can build tiny fry into beautiful and healthy adult fish with few other foods ever offered. I can't say enough good things about BBS. You make a good point though.
aquachris
As others have said, live blackworms, mosquito larvae and baby brine shrimp work great. Mine will eat frozen bloodworms, frozen brine shrimp and frozen mysis shrimp.
Tom H
You can always pre-crush the snails... May be too much for some but it works
DShelton
My pea puffers eat live BBS, some frozen blood worms, and microworms. Mine seem to be drawn to movement in the water. They will eat the frozen bloodworms, but they prefer live.

Species Summary
Appearance
- While we’re tempted to describe the look of this fish as “adorable” and leave it at that, we’ll go into details for the sake of being thorough. The pea puffer has a very unique look that led to the origin of their name. These tiny little fish that look like chunky swimming pea! Their bodies are rather thick and dense looking. The front starts off a slightly pointed at the mouth and gets thickest ne…
Size
- The average pea puffer size is around 1 and a half inches in length when fully grown.That’s obviously not very large, which is partially how these fish earned their name! It’s basically unheard of for these fish to exceed this size no matter how good their care or genetics are. There are anomalies of course, but for the most part they’re pretty consistent.
Pea Puffer Care
- Pea puffer care isn’t that difficult once you have a solid understanding of the species. The biggest challenge you’ll face with this fish is making sure their water and tank requirements are up to par.
Food & Diet
- Dwarf pea pufferfish are carnivorous and despite their cute appearance, they have quite a fierce appetite! In the wild, these fish mostly ear small insects, larvae, and algae. In captivity, you’ll need to give them protein-rich food with a good mix of variety. These aren’t fish that you can get away with feeding pellets and flakes. Frozen and live ...
Behavior & Temperament
- This is one of the most commonly misunderstood aspects of pea puffer care. A lot of potential owners think that these fish are likely harmless due to their size and adorable appearance. Wrong. Pea puffers are very feisty and aggressive fish who have no issue fighting with other species (or each other).This is why it’s so important to give them enough space to feel comfortable and sta…
Pea Puffer Tank Mates
- Finding the right pea puffer tank mates is something that many owners struggle with. Their territorial and aggressive nature means you can’t simply pair them with any similarly-sized fish. The safest bet is to get one dwarf pea pufferfish and keep them alone. This will ensure that there isn’t any fighting and allow you to get away with a smaller tank. But that’s not very fun, and the fa…
Breeding
- The breeding process for dwarf pea puffers is something anyone can do as long as you have the appropriate resources and knowledge. For the most part, you’ll be sticking to a lot of the tank guidelines we listed earlier. The main difference here is that you might be keeping these fish in closer proximity to each other, and warming up the water. Bumping up the water to the higher en…
Wrapping Up
- Dwarf pea puffer care is a very rewarding and enjoyable process. These fish are a pleasure to keep, and we’ve heard from numerous owners who say getting this species was one of the best decisions they’ve ever made. From their cute appearance to active temperament, it’s a boatload of fun watching these fish. They’re a unique and different freshwater species in the best possible w…