I put them into a temporary holding tank, a gallon loaded with Java moss attached to some small pieces of lava rock and filled with plain, dechlorinated tap water with a sponge filter.
There were several other fish that would be going to the auction in that tank, too. The next morning, all of the other fish were pretty chewed up. The largest male was driving all of the other fish away from a corner of the tank.
The smaller male was all chewed up around his belly. While feeding the fish I noted that he stayed in the corner, and that all of the females looked markedly thinner. There they were, down in the Java moss, a clump of creamy whitish eggs!
I had been providing them with everything except the substrate they needed for laying their eggs. Later I learned that in the wild they spawn on mats of algae or moss. I decided to move all of the fish out of that tank and leave the eggs where they were. Over the next few days, some of the eggs turned a brownish color, and most remained white.
I removed the white eggs with a small baster, and by day four I could clearly see eyes in the remaining eggs. A little over hours after I found them, the eggs hatched. The little tadpole-shaped larvae bounced around on the bottom when I moved the Java moss, so I let them be for a couple of days.
They looked basically like an egg with fins and a tiny tail. Since they were not yet swimming on their own, I assumed they would be using the rest of the contents of their yolk sac over the next few days. They did not appear to be chasing down the food for the first two days, so I also added some ramshorn snails to clean up any uneaten food that died. I also put in some Moina to help keep the water clear and provide the tiny puffers with young for them to hopefully eat.
When it was clear by the color of their bellies that all of the puffer fry were eating the newly hatched brine shrimp, I discontinued the smaller foods. The young dwarfs seemed to enjoy this snack as much as most other fry do. I was able to raise 38 fry from this first attempt. It appears this is extremely abnormal, at least in my experience. Subsequent spawns have been much smaller.
I passed out many pairs from this spawn including the pair in the photos accompanying this article , and a couple of friends had some luck getting these first-generation fish to spawn. I have even been able to raise a second and a third generation from these cute little guys. Average spawns have been about seven, with many only producing two or three fry. One friend has even reported a single tiny puffer appearing in his well-planted tank, without his doing anything other than providing the adults with the proper food and a clump of Java moss to spawn on.
If you are looking for something a bit out of the ordinary, but that you would have a reasonable chance of success with spawning, you might want to consider the dwarf puffer. These amazing little fish are just the right mix of fishy charm, intelligence, and spunk that could be the perfect addition to your fish collection.
Ebert, Klaus. The Puffers of Fresh and Brackish Waters. Aqualog Verlag, Morfelden-Walldorf, Germany. Ornamental Aquarium Fish of India. Publications, Waterlooville, England. Cousteau, Jacques Yves. Jacques Cousteau: The Ocean World. Harry N.
Moyle, Peter B. Helfman, Gene S. Collette, and Douglas E. The Diversity of Fishes. Blackwell Science Inc. Issue: March Author: Mike Hellweg With a perfect mix of charm, intelligence, and spunk, the dwarf puffers from India's Pamba River are fascinating creatures to keep—and breed—in the home aquarium. The New Aquarium Staple In the last 12 years or so the aquarium hobby has seen an explosion of new fishes from India.
Aquarium Setup In captivity, they are not too picky about water parameters. Toxins As you might know from murder mysteries and crime dramas on television, some puffer species are known to have a sometimes-deadly toxin in their bodies.
Snails Dwarfs in captivity do eat small snails. How Diet Affects Toxins It all boils down to the simple fact that captive-raised puffers do not produce the toxin if they are not exposed to these specific bacteria and algae in their diet. The Name Game Like many other fish, Carinotetraodon travancoricus is known by a few different common names.
Sexing As adults, C. Intelligent Fish Puffers are known for their intelligence, their curiosity, and their awareness of what is going on outside of their tank. Feeding Dwarf puffers should have a varied diet. A First Attempt at Spawning In late , after seeing them for the better part of a year every time I visited our local wholesaler, I finally decided to try a group of dwarf puffers. Tank Setup I set mine up in a pure freshwater, planted gallon long, and my friend tried his in a brackish setup in a gallon tank.
Schooling The females schooled loosely, and interacted with each individual male as they moved through his territory. Further Research Over the next few years as the group thrived I started researching further. Success or Dumb Luck at Last! A Year of Frustration Again I tried several different things from my bag of tricks to get them to spawn, working with this new group for nearly a year. Hmmm… Eureka! Sharing the Wealth I was able to raise 38 fry from this first attempt.
References Ebert, Klaus. Coates, Christopher and James W. While not as aggressive as other fish, For example, betta fish, They are somewhat of a predatory species and like other fish of that nature, Can be somewhat aggressive at times. Of course, this price can vary widely depending on where you live and the color of your pet. The suggested lifespan is around 3 years or longer, but it varies on how healthy and happy they are.
Some have been known to live as long as 5 years, but the rounded average is years. Overfishing in the aquarium trade, as well as habitat loss, are both detrimental to its survival.
Luckily, at least somewhat, It does well in captivity and there is a healthy captive population. So if we finally end up destroying their natural habitat, A healthy supply will still exist.
As unfortunate as that would be. Absolutely not! Dwarf puffer fish is a true freshwater species and can not tolerate any salinity. So, unfortunately, You will not be able to place your pea puffer into a brackish water tank. Owner of AquariumGravel. Setting up beautiful aquarium sceneries and habitats since I was very young.
Groups of 6 are usually the minimum in which a harmonious and balanced group dynamic can be achieved, and this is why smaller groups containing less than 6 typically experience more infighting. Pea Puffers feel less secure in lower numbers because this causes stress and nervousness that can then contribute to aggressive tenancies. Dominant members are a healthy part of a group dynamic, but dominance assertion can become problematic when there are not enough members of the shoal for any aggression to be widely distributed across.
When a dominant member has only two or three other conspecifics in the aquarium then they may concentrate all of their aggression onto one or two particular fish, which can be catastrophic for the individuals on the receiving end of it. This same behaviour can also be observed in other species of shoaling fish that are housed incorrectly. Additionally, lower numbers also mean that dominant members have less competition in the hierarchy, which often results in those dominant individuals becoming increasingly more and more aggressive.
Small groups may work initially, but it is important to consider that behaviour can change over time, especially as the fish go through several different stages of their physical and psychological development. Through our own extensive observations of captive Pea Puffers, as well as stewarding thousands of members in our groups every year, we are confident in our stance that keeping Pea Puffers in groups of 6 or more is the only way to ensure long-term success in captivity.
When Pea Puffers are kept in solitary conditions for too long they begin to express stereotypical behaviors, such as becoming very aggressive. If left for extended periods of time, lone Pea Puffers may never be able to be integrated back into a shoal due to their aggressive tendencies. This shouldn't fuel a debate on whether Pea Puffers can truly thrive on their own, but should instead discourage prospective keepers from keeping single Pea Puffers, because it pushes the fish into a state of significant psychological distress.
There are two main types of fish crowds, namely schools and shoals. Schools are highly coordinated, tightly packed groups that seem to move like a single organism. If you are a prospective Pea Puffer keeper, don't expect to observe schooling behaviour. S hoals are looser and less organised gatherings in which individuals swim independently, but in such a way that they stay connected, forming a social group. The fish understand that there is safety in numbers and hang around together.
They become more tightly packed when there's a perceived threat in the area but don't confuse this with schooling. The differences between schooling and shoaling may seem insignificant, but they are crucial for us to recognise in order to understand our fish.
Male pea puffers are more aggressive and territorial than females, which is why it is important to have as few males in the shoal as possible. These fish are just as individualist as their larger relatives, so there is no guaranteed ratio, but it is recommended to keep at least two females to every male. For example, a group of 6 would contain 4 females and 2 males. A group of 6 Pea Puffers should be housed in nothing smaller than a 60L USA-based keepers are encouraged to look towards 20 gallon long aquariums approximately 76 litres as a minimum, but of course, bigger is always better.
Tanks of more length and width are better for Pea Puffers than those with small footprints but more height. One pea puffer per 10 liters 2. This recommendation is based on the fish's behaviour and water quality test results when kept this way. For example, a liter tank Further examples:. There is an old suggested tank size of 5 US gallons This recommendation seems to have been plucked from thin air and is not based on any solid reasoning.
This suggestion also completely ignores the fact that this species is a shoaling species and should never be housed alone. Maintain the following water parameters:. Nitrate NO3 : below 15ppm as close to zero as possible. The pea puffer is almost as famous for nipping the fins of other fish as it is for being small and it is for this reason we strongly recommend a species-only aquarium.
However, when Pea Puffers are kept in large shoals with over 20 members and large tanks they become much less interactive with other fish because they are so occupied with themselves.
When they are kept in large shoals, they can be housed with some other fish, but this is not completely without risk and the keeper should be prepared to monitor the behaviour and separate the other fish if there is any evidence of fin nipping or harassment.
Any potential tank mate must be peaceful, fast-swimming, short-finned, able to thrive in the same water parameters, and not compete with the Pea Puffers for food. Ideally, any tank mate would be from one of the same regions as the Pea Puffer. The Pea Puffers should not be housed with any bottom-dwelling fish, such as Corydoras, who may encroach on the Pea Puffer's hiding spaces within the scape. Some keepers report a harmonious relationship between their Pea Puffers and small shrimp such as the Red Cherry Neocaridina davidi and Amano Caridina multidentata.
Others report bloodbaths, in which the shrimp are slaughtered. Providing that the water values are suitable, the smaller species of catfish from the Otocinclus genus may be used in a Pea Puffer tank for minor algae control. Bear in mind that Otocinclus also benefit from being in groups, being found within shoals of thousands in the wild, and because they are obligate aufwuch eaters, the tank needs to be both large enough and mature enough to support a group.
Juvenile C. Mature males have an obvious dark line that runs lengthways over the ventral surface underside , which the females lack. Sexually mature females are also rounder in the body than males. We definitely recommend visiting the store to hand-select the individuals for your shoal, rather than buying them online without seeing the quality of the livestock first.
It is not uncommon for Pea Puffers to be sold in a malnourished state and the inexperienced keeper may struggle to completely recover the puffer's health in good time.
Select Pea Puffers who look bright, active and alert, with no signs of undernourishment or illness. They should obviously be well fed and their bodies should be round and plump. As we said, this species is classified as 'vulnerable' by the IUCN because their wild numbers are declining. Now, although the aquarium trade is not entirely to blame, with the threats to this fish also coming in the shape of pollution and habitat loss, we should encourage buying only captive-bred examples, so do not be shy to ask your retailer where the livestock has been sourced from and avoid buying wild-caught.
It is best to buy every member of your shoal from the same place, at the same time, which will ensure that all of your Pea Puffers settle into the aquarium simultaneously.
If you are introducing new Pea Puffers into an existing group then firstly make sure the new members are of roughly the same size as your other members and rescape the tank before introducing the new members, to break up established territories within the tank. Internal parasites endoparasites are the only thing that we recommend treating prophylactically.
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