Pea Puffer Behavior

[Sweet_Sassy]

Hello,
Just to preface, I have had one pea puffer, named Peewee, for over a month. I began to notice the dark line on his belly and the wrinkles behind his eyes. I know for sure he is a male. So, about 2 weeks ago, I decided that I wanted to get him a friend. I got another pea puffer, named Puff, and before I took it home I made sure it had a full belly and was acting normal. I was fully prepared to separate them if there was an aggression problem also. So, I acclimated the new one and Peewee seemed to have no issue with it after I released it into the tank. In fact, Peewee ignores the new one to some extent. The new one, Puff, has been following him around, maybe a fish-length away ever since. Peewee doesn't seem bothered by this "stalking" and swims around the same way he did before I got Puff. They do not fight or nip at each other (I have been checking their fins every day). I am assuming this new puffer is a female since they are taking so well to each other but I won't be sure for a while. I was just wondering if this is normal behavior? They don't act stressed and they eat a good amount of frozen blood worms or snails every day - just enough for their bellies to be full. I also watch them while they eat to make sure they're sharing, which they do surprisingly. Peewee will take the first worm, swim away and Puff takes the next one. They are not aggressive during feeding time. Puff doesn't spend all her time following Peewee and she follows slowly behind matching his speed, but it's enough to make me wonder if this is some sort of courting behavior? I was trying to research this and I couldn't find anything. I am generally curious. They share a 10 gallon planted tank. I'm working on adding more plants to it and the ones I do have are shorter than I want. But again, it's not a problem since they aren't aggressive to each other.
So, The question here is, is it normal for a new puffer to slowly follow the other around? Puff generally looks curious and wants to be around Peewee. I would really appreciate any input or experience people have had with adding puffers together.
Also, I am not trying to breed but if I end up with a male and female I won't be upset about some babies.
Thank you!!

 

[Fishiemang]

I got pea puffers. Had them for ages now. Couple years anyways. I read about hiw they are ferocious and will just totally decimate each other blah blah...when in reality, well fed and.cared.for pea puffers typically get along well. Even with other fish! They do occasionally nip at a fish, testing or tasting, I have not figured out yet, but it's usually just a quick nip then they are off to go investigate something new. They are smart as.well. They will learn to.recognize you. A lot of fish do this, but not like a.puffer fish. Whether marine or fresh, puffers are some of the coolest fish to have.

 

[Boundava]

I had a small puffer (pea puffer size but not same coloration) I though he would be fine with other fish (3x+ his size). After three day/nights with mysterious deaths and partially eaten carcass I discovered he was not at all fine with the other fish, but treated a 120 gallon tank as his killing grounds. He partially ate three laetacara araguaiae that were almost 3", the last one had nibbles the size of the puffer's beak on its tail and body. He also killed 2 of my green/gold aeneus corys, ate their eyes right out. When I removed him all the killing stopped, though I had one more casualty that looked like he had been bludgeoned the prior day/night.

Prior to this he was in my 22 gallon for weeks with eye spot gourami and scarlet badis when he just went nuts and killed the badis and bludgeoned the gouramis to death-all 7 of them, while also taking nibbles out of them. Silly me thought moving him to a larger tank with much bigger fish would stop his killing spree. Nope just took him a couple days to get used to the tank and work up the nerve to go after fish much bigger than him. I mean I thought for sure the cichlids would be able to fight him off, but he can crack a MTS shell so what is stopping him from killing fish three times his size?

I do have other puffers (red eye and two schoutendeni) which coexist with other fish without any issues, go figure.

 

[eatyourpeas]

So, The question here is, is it normal for a new puffer to slowly follow the other around? Puff generally looks curious and wants to be around Peewee. I would really appreciate any input or experience people have had with adding puffers together.

I found the below info in Wikipedia. I have a male and female pea puffer but they don't live in the same tank as I do not want to risk a bloody courtship.

"Some nipping and biting by the male may occur as part of the attention-getting display. If the female responds, she will follow the male and finally precede the male into his indicated spawning site, deposit eggs and swim away. The male will follow and fertilize the eggs. This may be repeated several times before the female leaves the area (there should be multiple heavily planted areas available to offer her refuge from overly persistent males)."

 

[Sweet_Sassy]

I do clean their tank once a week and they get some bloodworms (I put 2 in at a time and they each grab one - unless they want the same one and do the "lady and the tramp" thing and kiss in the middle) every day at varying times to give them some variety in their day. If they get picky about the worms I give them I throw in a few snails and they share very well. Maybe I got lucky with both of their temperments as they don't ever chase each other to get in a nip and I haven't noticed any injuries. I love these little buggers so much I just didn't know if it was common that they got along so well so quickly. I know that after some time of getting used to each other that could change but I'm keeping an eye on them. I have another 10-gallon with a betta and then a 29-gallon community and they really appreciate any leftover blood worms the puffers don't eat.
Does anyone have a good way to control algae growth in a tank that cant have snails...? I have a feeling that if I put a big mystery snail in there to help clean up a little that it will end up with chunks taken out of it... my puffers would choose a snail buffet over their worms any day.

 

[Sweet_Sassy]

I got pea puffers. Had them for ages now. Couple years anyways. I read about hiw they are ferocious and will just totally decimate each other blah blah...when in reality, well fed and.cared.for pea puffers typically get along well. Even with other fish! They do occasionally nip at a fish, testing or tasting, I have not figured out yet, but it's usually just a quick nip then they are off to go investigate something new. They are smart as.well. They will learn to.recognize you. A lot of fish do this, but not like a.puffer fish. Whether marine or fresh, puffers are some of the coolest fish to have.

I agree that they are the coolest fish. Both of mine swim up to the glass when I get home and go to check on them and seem to evaluate me. The male sleeps upright behind the filter, which looks so strange and uncomfortable, but his bedtime is 7:00 pm and every night he tucks himself back there to sleep - I think it's so cute. I put in a few new plants the other day and the male led the other one around through the new plants. I think they like each others company.

 

[Sweet_Sassy]

I found the below info in Wikipedia. I have a male and female pea puffer but they don't live in the same tank as I do not want to risk a bloody courtship.

"Some nipping and biting by the male may occur as part of the attention-getting display. If the female responds, she will follow the male and finally precede the male into his indicated spawning site, deposit eggs and swim away. The male will follow and fertilize the eggs. This may be repeated several times before the female leaves the area (there should be multiple heavily planted areas available to offer her refuge from overly persistent males)."

So they might be working on mating... The new one that I'm assuming to be female is still pretty little though. Either they're going to be really good friends or life-long mates. Im happy with either haha. Thank you!

 

[eatyourpeas]

Does anyone have a good way to control algae growth in a tank that cant have snails...? I have a feeling that if I put a big mystery snail in there to help clean up a little that it will end up with chunks taken out of it... my puffers would choose a snail buffet over their worms any day.

I tried that. Miss Ethel turned Colin's foot into a doily, with very precise cuts as if using pinking shears. I had to move him out of her tank, and fortunately he recovered. She doesn't bother the Nerite snail, though. All other snails are snacks.