Should I buy it?
Pea Puffer
Carinotetraodon travancoricus
Also known as: indian dwarf puffer, malabar puffer
A 3 cm puffer with a beak built for snails and small shrimp. Nips fins on principle; most working setups are species-only. Any community plan needs every tank mate vetted by behaviour, not just litres.
Pea Puffer tank mates · 40L tank size hub
semi-aggressive · intermediate care
Sources & confidencehigh · verified · beginner: caution
Checked against several solid care sources that mostly agree. Numbers here are a careful starting point. Your tap water, tank size, and habits decide the rest. How we evaluate.
Best for: Species-only setups 40L or more with dense planting and a snail population for enrichment feeding. One male with two or three females.
Avoid if: You have a community tank with any long-finned fish, slow-moving fish, or shrimp.
Common mistakeAdding one male pea puffer to a community ‘for snail control’ is how keepers invent chronic fin-nipping. It will harass tank mates whether snails remain or not. Keep a species tank or a carefully planned puffer group with dense cover — not a mixed tetra community with a novelty hunter.
Top things that go wrong
- Fin-nipping risk in typical community layouts. Will nip long fins or slow fish when the school is too small, bored, or kept in a short tank.
- Mouth gap vs tiny tank mates. May eat tank mates small enough to fit the adult mouth — plan adult sizes, not shop sizes.
- Specialist husbandry. Keep at least 6, bought at the same time.
More issue cards below, after species context.
Additional planning warnings
Shrimp & snails
Not shrimp-safe — adults, fry, or both get eaten.
What most shops don't tell you
- 1.Myth: one pea puffer is a peaceful snail janitor for any community nano. Reality: they nip fins and hunt invertebrates — snail control is a side effect of a species-tank predator, not a community service badge you can drop into a show tank.
- 2.Predation risk scales with gape, night feeding, and crowding. 'they grew up together' is a schedule, not a law.
- 3.Mixing two males in a 40 L planted tank. One dominant fish corners the other within a week, even with hides and sight breaks.
- 4.Adding shrimp or long-finned dither for colour. Pea puffers will pick shrimp off first, then start cropping the fins of anything slower than them.
- 5.Not a polite community nano fish by default. Plan thick planting, heavy feeding variety, and no long-finned or shrimp tank mates.
- 6.Pea puffers are often aggressive and nippy — species-only or heavily structured specialist setups are most predictable.
About this species
Pea puffers are 3 cm freshwater puffers from Kerala that hunt snails and live food. In a tank they nip fins and kill shrimp. Most setups end up species-only.
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No reverse lookups listed yet.
Plan grid
Key limits are above. Here: pH band, swim level, bioload, and activity.
Swim zones
Care snapshot
Quick compare before you buy. Not a score of how “good” the fish is.
- Beginner ease41
- Peacefulness0
- Community fit0
- Small-tank fit100
- Hardiness57
- Energy54
Numbers are deterministic planning indices from Fishori fields — not a scientific score of your individual fish.
Example setups
Starting points only. Run the pair checker for every fish you add.
Avoid “one of everything” baskets — Pea Puffer belongs in a plan built around territory, line-of-sight breaks, and matched water chemistry.
Compatibility
Tank mates for Pea Puffer
No unconditional “safe” tank mates are listed for Pea Puffer — this shortlist has CAUTION pairings that need specific conditions and RISKY pairings to avoid. Conditional (CAUTION — read the pair page before buying): Betta, Bristlenose Pleco, Chili Rasbora, Corydoras Catfish, Guppy. Avoid (RISKY): Amano Shrimp. Every name links to a live pair check — the lists are a shortlist, not a stocking plan.
Usually safer
Open a pair page with this fish as the starting point.
None listed. Use the pair checker before mixing.
Needs planning
Read the blocking rule on each pair page before experimenting.
Usually avoid
Do-not-stock combinations on conservative hobby rules.
No safe-mate list on this record yet. Use the fish index to find species with similar care, then run a pair check before you buy.
Behaviour and temperament
Pea puffers are semi-aggressive micro-predators that fin-nip and hunt small invertebrates. Males especially harass tank mates in mixed communities. A planned group with heavy planting can work; a lone male in a peaceful community usually does not. Stress shows as constant chasing and clamped neighbours.
What sets them off
- Small groups or boredom
- Long-finned or slow tank mates
- Bare tanks without structure
Fin nipping: Will nip long fins or slow fish when the school is too small, bored, or kept in a short tank.
Predation: May eat tank mates small enough to fit the adult mouth — plan adult sizes, not shop sizes.
Territory: Holds a patch (cave, corner, or surface). Break sight lines so neighbours can pass.
Planted tanks: good — easy plant ideas
In the glass: typical and warning signs
- Puffers hunt snails and inspect midwater food with curious, darting movement.
- In a planted species tank, mild sparring between puffers can stay manageable.
- Torn community fins after adding ‘one for snails’ means the pairing failed immediately.
- A puffer that never eats prepared food needs a snail or frozen plan, not more flake.
- Fin-nipping and harassment are expected toward long fins and slow neighbours.
- Male–male contests rise in bare tanks without cover or enough footprint.
- Remove the puffer from any mixed community at the first tear — planting will not reform it.
- Rehome long-finned fish if you commit to a puffer species tank instead.
Fish behaviour can vary between individuals and tank setups. Always observe new fish closely after introduction.
Water, food, and grouping
Hardness
medium
Diet
carnivore
Pea puffers are tiny carnivores that need snails, frozen foods, and hard foods that wear the beak — not leftover community flake. Feed varied meaty foods daily in amounts the group can finish, and expect snail cultures or prepared alternatives as a real ownership cost in a planted nano.
Shrimp & snails
Not shrimp-safe — adults, fry, or both get eaten.
Keep at least 6, bought at the same time.
- Hold 24 to 28 °C steadily on a real thermometer, not the dial on the heater.
- Aim for pH 6.5 to 7.5 and a hardness you can re-test in two weeks. A one-time strip in the shop car park is not a water test.
- Footprint: short wide tanks and tall narrow tanks fish differently for the same volume. Match the tank shape to the swim pattern, not just the litre count.
- Tank volume meets or exceeds 40L published minimum for adults.
- You can stock at least 6 individuals (group welfare).
- Heater can hold 24–28°C without cooking cooler-water tank mates.
- No known fin-nippers paired with long-finned fish unless you accept documented risk.
- No tank mates small enough to fit the adult mouth gap for this species.
Explore and stocking hubs
Tank-mates hub, matching guides, category peers, and litre stocking lists around this species’ minimum tank.
Plan with tools
Check mates as pairs first, then add this fish in the tank builder for the full stocking.
Filtration & heating
A 40L minimum tank needs a filter rated for at least 160L/hr turnover and a heater to hold 24–28°C reliably.
Plant suggestions
Pea Puffer does well in planted tanks. Plants compatible with 24–28°C and pH 6.5–7.5:
Research: verified · Confidence: high · 3 linked source(s). We do not invent citations.
How Fishori evaluates compatibility (same logic as pair and tank tools).
- Seriously Fish. Carinotetraodon travancoricus
Primary: aquarium size, water chemistry, behaviour, and compatibility (URL verified in upgrade script; recheck if site content changes).
- FishBase. Carinotetraodon travancoricus
Secondary: taxonomy, distribution, and maximum length in nature; cross-check with aquarium import lines and measured tank parameters.
- Wikipedia. Carinotetraodon travancoricus
Secondary: general species context; verify all husbandry numbers against a dedicated aquarium care sheet and your test kit, not a single table row.
Evidence notes
- The Seriously Fish profile for the binomial in this record was successfully reached as the primary aquarium reference.
- FishBase contributes natural-range size and habitat context. Translate those numbers through your heater, your water report, and your tank footprint before stocking.
- Wikipedia is only cited if the article URL returned OK. Use it for orientation, not as the only care sheet for an import.
- All compatibility text reflects typical hobby experience and the Fishori model. Individual fish, shop stress, and the order tank mates are added in can still defy a single-paragraph label.
Featured compatibility checks
Curated pair pages for Pea Puffer. Each opens a full verdict — not just a list label.
Common questions about Pea Puffer
- How big do Pea Puffer get?
- Pea Puffer adults reach about 3 cm. Shop fish look smaller; stock for the adult length.
- What size tank does Pea Puffer need?
- 40L is the planning floor for adult swimming space and bioload. A 49L+ tank is the more comfortable long-term footprint. Length and depth matter as much as raw litres for active or territorial fish.
- Are Pea Puffer aggressive?
- Pea puffers are semi-aggressive micro-predators that fin-nip and hunt small invertebrates. Males especially harass tank mates in mixed communities. A planned group with heavy planting can work; a lone male in a peaceful community usually does not. Stress shows as constant chasing and clamped neighbours.
- What is the most common mistake with Pea Puffer?
- Adding one male pea puffer to a community ‘for snail control’ is how keepers invent chronic fin-nipping. It will harass tank mates whether snails remain or not. Keep a species tank or a carefully planned puffer group with dense cover — not a mixed tetra community with a novelty hunter.
- What fish can live with Pea Puffer?
- This profile currently has no curated unconditional safe-mates shortlist for Pea Puffer. Other species may still return GOOD in the pair checker, so check the exact pair rather than treating this shortlist as exhaustive. Betta, Bristlenose Pleco, Chili Rasbora, Corydoras Catfish are conditional (CAUTION): workable only with the specific conditions on each pair page. Avoid Amano Shrimp (RISKY). Run the pair checker for your exact water and tank size before stocking.