easy to pair irrubesco/lorteti??

[congodrew]

I have seen that a couple people in this forum have a pair of these puffers. Im not concerned with sexing them but rather how to form a pair. What i would most likely do is order a good sized group into the lfs i work at and then seperate a male and female into a 15gal. Will this create a pair or do they have to pair on thier own?

Oh and has anyone heard of successful spawns in either of these two species?
thanks in advance!
Drew

[RTR]

It is IME always better to let fish pick their own mates - but with waspish fish such as puffers, there can be nastyl issues there, with deaths resulting. There is at minimum the underutilization of a largish tank. Add to that the issue of removing rejects from a complex setup. Providing some dither fish (if they can survive) can be helpful, but the Carinotetraodons can be nocturnal attackers.

[Tihsho]

Basically when ever I have had irrubescos or lortetis I select the healthiest ones (in pairs.) Unless you go to a LFS which has a clue about these species you will never see courtship of a pair in a LFS tank, the tank will be over crowded and puffs will look dull, discolored, and in raggy.

[congodrew]

i work at the lfs and i would like to think we know what we are doing. Best in arizona from what my most hardcore hobbyist/customers preach. thats beside the point though. I would have plenty of time to dedicate forming a pair at work. I can keep a close eye and see what kind of aggression is going on. I was just making sure that it doesnt have to be a monogamous by nature pair, which i will most definitely attempt first.

Thanks for the responses and ill let you all know how it goes.

Drew
Pets Inc. - tempe, az

[Tihsho]

Yeah, just becareful though. One of the managers was not happy when I seperated some A.Modestus into other tanks (killed a few fish and snarled others.) Though the fish were not in there at the time I put the puffs in there... Just make sure your not mixing them with slow fish and make sure there are ample blocked lines of sight. If you could the best thing to do would have a large tank with only irrubescos in there. But remember puffs never come together other then time to mate so finding a mate isn't really necessary.

[bmw325is89]

I can also vouch for pets inc. in tempe. I go there fairly often and the staff is informative and if they don't know they will tell you rather than make walrus up.