The Puffer Forum

I saw one of my LFS just got some Red Eye puffer in and they said is very rare for LFS to carry this...is it true?. I tryed to check out the pufferpedia but its down. Can anyone tell me whats the minium size tank needed?Maxium size growth?feeding?is it fresh or brackish?ANyone have red eye puffer that can tell me what their behavior like?thx in adavance

Is not a target puffer by the way.

There are quite a few red eye puffers, they are normally irrubescos and other closely relayed puffers. Irrubesco's are full FW and can live in a 10-20 gallon tank.

"red eye" puffers tend to be more of a seasonal catch, as almost all puffers are wild caught.
it took my LFS a few months to get them in for me, but when they got them in, all other fish stores in the surrounding area also got them in as well.
They are a freshwater species and a gorgeous little fish growing up to approx 2 inches in length.
If you want to keep more than one, it is advised that you keep 1 male to 2 or 3 females, but even then violence can leave you with just the one left so give plenty of hiding places and lots of plants to keep them occupied and break lines of sight etc.
The one I have (male Carinotetraodon Irrubesco) is pretty quiet, spends most of the time hiding under the java moss clad half coconut shell, and anubias leaves or bog wood, only coming out to say hello for a brief while and/or to hunt for food.
He won't go straight for the food when I put it in in the evening, he'll wait until later that night or the following morning and stalk around the tank hunting for it, even when I try feeding in the morning, he'll wait for it to disperse then go hunting for it later on, I've rarely seen him feed, but he nearly always looks like he's had a good feast.

Well, it depends on which of the red eyes it is. All of them are relatively unusual to come across in a local store, IME. I've only seen irrubescos ONCE, in all the years I've had fish (nearly 20). That said, they shouldn't be horribly expensive either... but if someone is willing to pay for them, stores will charge whatever they can get.

The Pufferpedia is back up, so you should be able to get some basic info there. Most likely its a Fangs, Irrubesco or Loreti (similar to irrubesco).

Thx guys that was very helpful
I realize the female strip red eye puffer and red tail red eye puffer looks the same. I check the tail of my 2 red eye puffer doesnt seem like is red but maybe becasue of the lighting. My female red eye puffer is very agressive. She's picking on the male and she slightly bigger then him. I bougth them yesterday and put them in a 10 gal tank for now with plenty of decor and places for them to hide in case of domestic violence(lol). I fed them frozen blood worms last nithgt and they love it. I thougth usually takes puffer few days to adjust the enviorment but they are very active. Investigating the entire tank few mins after i release them from the bag. I hope i classed them right. One have bare white belly which i think is the male the other have black lines on the belly which i think is a female. I also hope they are the same species. On another note. They kinda looks like mini dolphine when u take a good look at them becasue of the patterns. You cant really see their mouth.

I think all males in the carinotetraodon family have the single belly stripe running down the middle, so if you have one without one it is more than likely a female

here's a pic of my little blokey

I think most likely it's NOT red-eye red-tailed. I say that because those are extremely hard to find in the US (but apparently fairly common in Europe -rolls eyes-)

My guess is an Irrubesco. =]

I think Irrubesco is the red tail red eye puffer but here's another type of red eye puffer
http://www.aqua-fish.net/show.php?h=redeyepuffer
which is very similar as my female red eye. After i did some research i havent seen any black line on male red eye's..only dwarf puffers

There are female dwarves who have the stripe too

now im totally confuse about my red eye puffer. Just dont know rather they are female/male or both female or vice versa. Is there a book out there with more detail explanations?