diff --git a/blocktx/peer_handler.go b/blocktx/peer_handler.go
index e80175f52..073c9b860 100644
--- a/blocktx/peer_handler.go
+++ b/blocktx/peer_handler.go
@@ -26,7 +26,10 @@ import (
 	"github.com/ordishs/gocore"
 )
 
-const transactionStoringBatchsizeDefault = 65536 // power of 2 for easier memory allocation
+const (
+	transactionStoringBatchsizeDefault = 65536 // power of 2 for easier memory allocation
+	maxRequestBlocks                   = 5
+)
 
 func init() {
 	// override the default wire block handler with our own that streams and stores only the transaction ids
@@ -394,7 +397,11 @@ func (bs *PeerHandler) FillGaps(peer p2p.PeerI) error {
 		return nil
 	}
 
-	for _, gaps := range blockHeightGaps {
+	for i, gaps := range blockHeightGaps {
+		if i+1 > maxRequestBlocks {
+			break
+		}
+
 		_, found := bs.announcedCache.Get(*gaps.Hash)
 		if found {
 			return nil
diff --git a/blocktx/store/sql/get_block_gaps.go b/blocktx/store/sql/get_block_gaps.go
index d8c2a8a44..00f53574c 100644
--- a/blocktx/store/sql/get_block_gaps.go
+++ b/blocktx/store/sql/get_block_gaps.go
@@ -26,7 +26,8 @@ func (s *SQL) GetBlockGaps(ctx context.Context) ([]*store.BlockGap, error) {
 				)) AS block_heights) AS bl
 				LEFT JOIN blocks blks ON blks.height = bl.block_heights
 				WHERE blks.height IS NULL
-				) AS missing_blocks ON blocks.height = missing_blocks.missing_block_height + 1;`
+				) AS missing_blocks ON blocks.height = missing_blocks.missing_block_height + 1
+				ORDER BY missing_blocks.missing_block_height DESC;`
 
 	rows, err := s.db.QueryContext(ctx, q)
 	if err != nil {