r/PeaPuffers

The power went out last night, when I went to check on my 6 peas in 20gl long and I saw one of my peas laying on the sponge. Had a mini heart attack, assumed the cycle had crashed and did a 15% water change. Then I tested the water which I probably should have done in the first place, and everything was all good (yay!) The pea that was sleeping on the sponge filter was moving about with one other dude while I did the water change with the siphon.

Now what I'm wondering is if any of you have noticed how your peas sleep? They are so active in moving during the day, I'm surprised that they stayed asleep during the water change. Do they sleep solid for 8 hours?

Thanks! Love these lil peas 🫶

Got a few new plants from petsmart to help fill out an open part in my aquarium. Watched my chud sons chase down all the damselfly nymphs that hitchhiked, but just noticed one of them pecking at one of the plants.

After zooming in, I noticed he was snacking on snail eggs. Just assumed they wouldn't recognize the eggs as food but I guess it makes sense

Sorry about my last post the photo were not the best, here are better ones. Can't have better I have energetic peas 😅🤣 it's only 3 of the 5 I have.

What are the specific things that separate male and female ?

Today my lfs finally got black worms and I bought some for my peas, they absolutely loved them! Only thing is I noticed left overs are now in my substrate😬 was wondering if this is ok?

What is she doing? lol

20GL: 8 puffs, 5 amanos, 2 bamboo shrimp, and 6 otos. No issues so far (knocks on wood)😅

Seriously. Was nothing short of infested when I got puffers. All gone now. Total depopulation. These fellas can EAT. God I love the little monsters.

II have a heavily planted 20-gallon long with 5 pea puffers and 5 otocinclus and amanos. The tank has been established for several months and everything was doing great before I upgraded my filtration.
I replaced my HOB filter with a canister filter. I rinsed all of the new parts, reused some of my old filter sponge inside the canister to preserve beneficial bacteria, and moved the biological media over. Around the same time, my town was doing sewer/street work, so I’m also wondering if something got into the tap water during a water change.
Since the filter change, all of the fish have been acting “off.”
The progression has been:

First couple of days: glass surfing and swimming frantically.

Then: rapid breathing and hanging near the surface.

Now: they’re mostly lethargic, swimming oddly and bumping into stuff. Not eating.

One puffer and one otocinclus died. The others still haven’t eaten in days.

Here’s what I’ve tried:
Several water changes, (purchased spring water in case tap water was contaminated from construction)
Added an airstone and increased surface agitation.
Turned off my co2
Tested the water multiple times.
Current parameters:
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 0
pH: 7.0–7.5
GH: ~130 ppm
KH: 40–80 ppm

Even with the extra aeration, the fish still aren’t acting normally. My CO₂ drop checker had been blue for days after I shut the system off, so I don’t think excess CO₂ is the issue.

One thing that makes me suspicious is that there were a lot of new plastic parts involved in the canister setup (tubing, spray bar, fittings, etc.). Could manufacturing residue or something from cutting the tubing be causing this even after rinsing everything? Or does this sound more like some type of contaminant that got into the water during the municipal sewer work?

Any thoughts would help.

Some day I’ll find an expo marker and we’ll play tic tac toe lol

Sorry for the terrible quality. The outside of my tank had some water stains and baby peas are hard to get into focus.

I noticed some teeny tiny babies a couple of weeks ago, and now that they've gotten a little bigger, I see them eating the blackworms at mealtimes yand it's so stinking cute I have to share.

Thought my fellow pea keepers might appreciate a little magnet I made! Done with a heat press and sublimation markers

I'm so excited about my new pea puffer (species only) aquarium. 70l Juwel Primo, planted, with some pest snails. The peas are tank bred (so I've been told), used to frozen food (although I'm also ready to feed live food) - they eat from tweezers, are used to people looking through the glass, which is great, because I've done nothing else today and already had their first meal. ❤️