Pea Puffer Inquiries

[Avel1896]

I didn't realize how nippy these little fish are! I really wanted to be able to have some snails and shrimp to bring more life into my aquarium. I currently have one Betta and a nerite snail in the five gal. However, I kind of wanted a more community behaved fish. Although my options are extremely limited because of the tank size. Not sure if the pea puffer is right for me

Oh yes they ARE nippy !

and greedy eaters

 

[Boundava]

You could add some shrimp to your bettas tank? I’ve never had shrimp, but I’ve seen them swimming and bouncing around the planted tank at my LFS, they look like tons of fun and many people have great success keeping bettas with cherry shrimp

It also depends on the betta, some are OK with shrimp-others see them as an all you can eat 24/7 buffet and will clean your tank of them. All of the bettas I have kept have been the latter when it came to shrimp.
If you are able to get another 5.5 I would put the nano rasboras or ember tetras and shrimp in there, but remember that your tanks should be set up for a few (4-6) months before shrimp. I would also give the tank at least 4 months for the fish as they like to feast on the little critters in the tank as well as biofilm. They will do best starting off with a well established tank.