The Puffer Forum

I have just purchased a pair of redeyed, red tailed puffers (male and female) and was wondering what tankmates could be put with them as they seem quite placid and not very aggressive considering my Ghost Shrimp has survived so far! I still need to get more pants for the tank as they like to hide alot. The Pufferpedia says they are noctornol but mine seem ok in the day?! Anyone with this species got any tips etc. advice for me? Do you think getting a small freshwater crab is a bad idea?

A crab would be a bad idea. They will pick it apart slowly then eat it. As for tankmates it would depend on what size tank you have. Is the tank large enough for the two puffers and tank mates. I don't have these so I can't suggest anything to go with them. But tank size is what you want to look at first. They will eventually eat the shrimp unless the shrimp are smart enough to hide. It took Annabelle a few months but she finally got the shrimp in her tank. The crabs didn't stand a chance.

The tank is 125l (30 gal) so i could have a few maybe? My Ghost shrimp has been smart enough to hide so far lol no crabs then?!

I have a tankful of irrubescos and I too was going to get a crab, but I talked to a friend that works at a LFS and he said the puffers most definitely would go after the crab and as edmlfc1 said, they will pick it apart little by little, and I think that's just too cruel.
However, I have cory's with my redeyes, as well as Rasbora's and some gobies. The puffers have not bothered any of them, in fact, they ignore them for the most part.

I wont get a crab then, poor little guy prob will get eaten. I have put in some Leopard Danios now which have been ok so iam happy now lol they are too fast and keep together so the puffers just dont bother them

Hey Polkadotpuffer!
Was just wondering if there is a big difference in size between your male and female Irrubescos? I have a Male (Slugsy) and female (Audrey) but Slugsy is about twice the size of Audrey, he is a bit older but only by a few months. Is this the same with yours or are they the same size?

mysifier wrote:Hey Polkadotpuffer!
Was just wondering if there is a big difference in size between your male and female Irrubescos? I have a Male (Slugsy) and female (Audrey) but Slugsy is about twice the size of Audrey, he is a bit older but only by a few months. Is this the same with yours or are they the same size?

My male (Yoshi) is slightly bigger than my female (Mimi) but not by much, couple of centimetres. Altthough when i was buying them there was a huge male in there way bigger than any of the females! It might just depend on who gets the most food to grow? Is Slugsy faster than Audrey with food?

Most of my males are HUGE! Even the salivator males are huge, the only one that's a little small is my lorteti male, but he's got a beautiful tail!! I don't think food consumption matters, I think it's just that the males are bigger.