Pea Puffer

About

The dwarf Indian puffer (Carinotetraodon travancoricus) packs a remarkable amount of personality into a fish barely an inch long. Native to freshwater systems in southwestern India, it is considered one of the smallest puffer species in the world and is unfortunately thought to be endangered in the wild. In the aquarium it quickly becomes a centerpiece fish not because of size but because of sheer character. It will beg at the glass, recognize its keeper, and pursue snails around the tank with single-minded focus. New arrivals often swim with a noticeably curved tail, which is a defensive posture that fades once the fish settles in and grows comfortable with its surroundings. Do not let the small size fool you into thinking this is a docile community fish. Dwarf puffers are genuinely fearless and will readily challenge tankmates considerably larger than themselves, so most keepers find they work best in a species-only setup. Keeping a group of five or six can actually help spread out that aggression rather than letting it concentrate on one individual. Their carnivorous diet and need for hard-shelled prey to keep their beak-like teeth worn down puts them at an intermediate care level, but for a keeper willing to meet those needs they are endlessly entertaining and long-lived.