General Care For Carinotetraodon (Red Eye) Species

[unso.fish.ticated]

Hey all, I just found this forum and I'm planning to acquire some red eyed puffers soon. Now I don't know the exact species but from my reading online and what I've seen here so far, care is generally the same, temperament is the issue. What is the general rule of thumb when it comes to keeping red yes (tank size for a single/group, M/F ratios, temps, flow). In the best case scenario, I also know that a lot of this also depends on the puffer's personality too, which further complicates things. But if anyone has extra insight, links, videos, pictures, or info they can offer, please let me know! Thanks in advance!

[DARTHxNIHILUS]

Hi! I have owned 4 Irrubescos for a while now and they are fairly chill. I cannot speak for Lortetis at all because I've never kept them, but I have heard they are more aggressive. The other 2 redeye species, Borneensis and Salivator, are rare enough that they probably aren't what you are getting. If you have a source (or anyone reading this) I'd be very curious haha.

As for gender ratios, I have 1 male in his own tank (20g) and 2 males and a female in another tank (20g Long). Originally I had all 4 together, and the dominant adult male was harassing (without biting) the submissive adult male to the point where I saw him bury himself in the sand to hide, although he didn't harass the juvenile male much and didn't harass the female at all. I had to immediately move the dominant male to his own tank (and you should be ready to do this too if they don't get along, have the tank ready and everything), and to be honest, when I got him by himself, he got a lot more personable than all the others. I think the ideal group ratio in a 20G Long would be 1 male and 2 females.

They prefer low to moderate flow and heavy planting although they are better swimmers than DPs by a bit. For substrate, I'm still not 100% sure, but in the 20L I have tannish sand, and in the 20G i have mid-large size gravel. I don't think either of these are perfect, they don't quite color up as well on the sand unless they are in a shadow, and when my boy Spud dives in for a snail, sometimes he kicks rocks everywhere by diving downwards into them. I'm pretty sure it doesn't hurt him though.

I have a few videos of Spud, the loner in the 20g. His tank isn't as densely planted as I'd like yet but I need more plant varieties lol.

https://youtu.be/ZL0saT_Ne7s

As you can see he lives peacefully with black neons and an ottocinclus (now 3), Despite being my meanest specimen, and has never once acknowledged them. All 4 previously have gotten along with black neons and ottos but I have not tried other tankmates.

[Pufferpunk]

Lortetis are vicious! I had a female kill 2 males overnight & the 3rd male she killed after spawning with him twice!

[unso.fish.ticated]

Hi! I have owned 4 Irrubescos for a while now and they are fairly chill. I cannot speak for Lortetis at all because I've never kept them, but I have heard they are more aggressive. The other 2 redeye species, Borneensis and Salivator, are rare enough that they probably aren't what you are getting. If you have a source (or anyone reading this) I'd be very curious haha.

As for gender ratios, I have 1 male in his own tank (20g) and 2 males and a female in another tank (20g Long). Originally I had all 4 together, and the dominant adult male was harassing (without biting) the submissive adult male to the point where I saw him bury himself in the sand to hide, although he didn't harass the juvenile male much and didn't harass the female at all. I had to immediately move the dominant male to his own tank (and you should be ready to do this too if they don't get along, have the tank ready and everything), and to be honest, when I got him by himself, he got a lot more personable than all the others. I think the ideal group ratio in a 20G Long would be 1 male and 2 females.

They prefer low to moderate flow and heavy planting although they are better swimmers than DPs by a bit. For substrate, I'm still not 100% sure, but in the 20L I have tannish sand, and in the 20G i have mid-large size gravel. I don't think either of these are perfect, they don't quite color up as well on the sand unless they are in a shadow, and when my boy Spud dives in for a snail, sometimes he kicks rocks everywhere by diving downwards into them. I'm pretty sure it doesn't hurt him though.

I have a few videos of Spud, the loner in the 20g. His tank isn't as densely planted as I'd like yet but I need more plant varieties lol.

https://youtu.be/ZL0saT_Ne7s

As you can see he lives peacefully with black neons and an ottocinclus (now 3), Despite being my meanest specimen, and has never once acknowledged them. All 4 previously have gotten along with black neons and ottos but I have not tried other tankmates.

Hi and thank you so much for your response! I've double checked with my supplier and it seems that it is indeed irrubesco, evidenced by the males' red tail fins. I have a 12 gallon cube, thinking of a M/F pair, perhaps a M/FF trio? What do you think? (The welfare of the puffers is above all, I'd hate to lose a super rare fish to bullying. I do have extra tanks where they can go into.) I have a photo of the tank but I can't seem to figure out how to add it here. Heres a google drive share link if anyone wants to see it. It's an iteration of what I suspect their natural habitat is based on scientific papers and online evidence. I do need to add some more plants and sticks though. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1FOhRrk ... sp=sharing

Once again, thank you for your reply! I'm super excited to own such a personable species.

[unso.fish.ticated]

Lortetis are vicious! I had a female kill 2 males overnight & the 3rd male she killed after spawning with him twice!

Oh yikes, that sounds horrible

Mine should be Irrubesco, which seem to be calmer!

[DARTHxNIHILUS]

Hi and thank you so much for your response! I've double checked with my supplier and it seems that it is indeed irrubesco, evidenced by the males' red tail fins. I have a 12 gallon cube, thinking of a M/F pair, perhaps a M/FF trio? What do you think? (The welfare of the puffers is above all, I'd hate to lose a super rare fish to bullying. I do have extra tanks where they can go into.) I have a photo of the tank but I can't seem to figure out how to add it here. Heres a google drive share link if anyone wants to see it. It's an iteration of what I suspect their natural habitat is based on scientific papers and online evidence. I do need to add some more plants and sticks though. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1FOhRrk ... sp=sharing

Once again, thank you for your reply! I'm super excited to own such a personable species.

Hey again. Personally, I feel my 20 Long is approaching overstocked in terms of bioload, and when this economy is a bit better the young male and female will be moving to their own tank as well. I think a 12G cube would be absolutely perfect for a singleton if you want him to be your 'buddy' and I would recommend a male for that, although my female is personable too. You could try a MF or a FF pair, but might have issues, and you'll need to do weekly 40ish% water changes probably, and I would advise against 3.

That tank is really good though, I can imagine them loving it. As you said, more plants would make it even better. They particularly like bushy plants.

Another thing, I am not sure if their beaks grow as fast as some of the larger puffers, or are more in line with pea puffs. I personally keep a separate 10 gallon 'snail tank' that I breed ramshorns in. I don't know if they 'need' it, they seem to enjoy hunting live food and it's fun to watch as well. One adult male eats them with a lot of skill, same technique every time of biting the foot off, then biting the rest out through a hole he makes in the middle/back. The other adult male will just bite at snails until he gets the meat, and the female and young male haven't really touched snails. They all eat bloodworms, turn their nose up at brine shrimp, and go crazy for mysis. Additionally, I occasionally will see one bite at something in the 20G Long, usually off a plant leaf or the sand. I imagine they are eating detritus worms or other small critters.

[unso.fish.ticated]

Hi and thank you so much for your response! I've double checked with my supplier and it seems that it is indeed irrubesco, evidenced by the males' red tail fins. I have a 12 gallon cube, thinking of a M/F pair, perhaps a M/FF trio? What do you think? (The welfare of the puffers is above all, I'd hate to lose a super rare fish to bullying. I do have extra tanks where they can go into.) I have a photo of the tank but I can't seem to figure out how to add it here. Heres a google drive share link if anyone wants to see it. It's an iteration of what I suspect their natural habitat is based on scientific papers and online evidence. I do need to add some more plants and sticks though. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1FOhRrk ... sp=sharing

Once again, thank you for your reply! I'm super excited to own such a personable species.

Hey again. Personally, I feel my 20 Long is approaching overstocked in terms of bioload, and when this economy is a bit better the young male and female will be moving to their own tank as well. I think a 12G cube would be absolutely perfect for a singleton if you want him to be your 'buddy' and I would recommend a male for that, although my female is personable too. You could try a MF or a FF pair, but might have issues, and you'll need to do weekly 40ish% water changes probably, and I would advise against 3.

That tank is really good though, I can imagine them loving it. As you said, more plants would make it even better. They particularly like bushy plants.

Another thing, I am not sure if their beaks grow as fast as some of the larger puffers, or are more in line with pea puffs. I personally keep a separate 10 gallon 'snail tank' that I breed ramshorns in. I don't know if they 'need' it, they seem to enjoy hunting live food and it's fun to watch as well. One adult male eats them with a lot of skill, same technique every time of biting the foot off, then biting the rest out through a hole he makes in the middle/back. The other adult male will just bite at snails until he gets the meat, and the female and young male haven't really touched snails. They all eat bloodworms, turn their nose up at brine shrimp, and go crazy for mysis. Additionally, I occasionally will see one bite at something in the 20G Long, usually off a plant leaf or the sand. I imagine they are eating detritus worms or other small critters.

I definitely want something with a "buddy" feel to it and under normal circumstances, I'd take any red eye, regardless of species or gender. However, I have the opportunity to get more than one so I figured, why not get a pair? I do think that getting too many would detract from the personality of the fish too. Thanks for your help, I think I'll be trying a M/F pair in this tank with the possibility of some schooling rasboras. The snail breeding tank is a must for any type of small-medium puffer I think. I've personally never kept puffers before but have been fish keeping for 6 years and kept other fish with stringent requirements (wild bettas) for 4 years. I'm just really excited to have such an interesting fish hahaha.

[Pufferpunk]

Please do me a favor & not copy all this in quotes. We are running out of bandwidth here. I have to pay for this forum & the web name myself every year. Maybe consider a donation?

[unso.fish.ticated]

I'm sorry pufferpunk, my bad