Pea Puffer (Carinotetraodon travancoricus)

Pea Puffer (Carinotetraodon travancoricus)

Quarantined specialty puffer for carefully planned freshwater aquariums in Canada.

The Pea Puffer is one of the smallest freshwater puffers, famous for its tiny size, intelligence, and bold personality. It is a specialty nano predator, not a peaceful community fish, and does best in a carefully planned planted setup.

Why This Fish Stands Out

• Highly interactive oddball fish with strong personality
• Specialty species for aquarists who want behaviour, not just colour
• Best for a planned species-focused aquarium rather than a casual community tank

Aquarium Setup & Behaviour

Provide a mature, strongly filtered aquarium with stable water, hiding places, and careful long-term planning. Use a mature planted aquarium with heavy cover, broken sightlines, and stable water. Do not add it to a general community tank without planning.

Can be territorial. A species-focused setup or carefully planned group with dense planting is usually safer than a mixed community.

Feeding

Puffers need a varied meaty diet and should not be treated as flake-food community fish. Feed small meaty foods such as frozen bloodworms, brine shrimp, daphnia, and small snails.

Natural Colour & Livestock Integrity

Colour and pattern come from the fish's natural appearance and healthy conditioning. Topick Aquarium does not use dye or hormones to artificially enhance colour.

Topick Aquarium Livestock Standard

All fish at Topick Aquarium are carefully quarantined and conditioned to our stable local tap water before sale. Some oddball and specialty species still have very specific long-term needs, so we recommend matching each fish to the right aquarium size, diet, tankmates, and maintenance routine before purchase.

Care Summary

• Scientific Name: Carinotetraodon travancoricus
• Adult Size: Approximately 2.5–3 cm
• Care Level: Intermediate
• Recommended Tank: Mature aquarium planned around this species' adult size, behaviour, diet, and tankmate compatibility

Frequently Asked Questions

Can Pea Puffers live with shrimp?
They may hunt baby shrimp and can bother small invertebrates, so shrimp tanks are risky.

Do Pea Puffers need snails?
Small snails are useful food and enrichment, though they also eat other small meaty foods.

Are Pea Puffers peaceful?
They are tiny but can be territorial and should not be treated like ordinary nano community fish.

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