The Puffer Forum

Hey all,
So i recently aqquired a red eye (tho tbh i am not sure which one it is) for all of 9 bucks..lol I love him/her and want to make his new home (currently residing in a established 5.5g tank) I am going to move him to a 10g once its cycled but i have some questions. Heres a pic:


Substrate? I use a internal tetra filter (i know its not ideal but its what was available) can i still use sand? Do i need to with this type of puffer?

Plants, what type should i use. I read driftwood is ok and i can obtain some platns attached to driftwood locally.

Snails, how often do i need to feed him/her these?

Tank mates? Can this particular breed tolerate ghost shrimp or maybe a bristlebarb cat? would it be too much for a 10? I do have a 30g but i have nowhere to set it up...lol

Thats really all, but if you have any futher advice please let me know, i love this little guy/girl and would like to make it as happy as possible!

Thanks,
Dave

I can't personally I'd this for you but many people here can, they will soon let you know. Sand or gravel is really your choice. Ghost shrimp will most likely be eaten and other fish will be relentlessly nipped and attacked. Also that tank will not allow tankmates. I don't believe 10g is really big enough for the puffer alone. Plants and driftwood can be added if you wish. Other than that the only other info I can give is weekly waterchanges of 50% are essential. You can use your 5.5g as a snail breeder so he can get plenty of crunchy food. Welcome to the forum

Carinotetraodon irrubesco red eyed red tailed puffer

You need to upgrade your tank asap , these are quite active little puffers. Tank mates are a NO NO with these bad boys , pound for pound there probably one of if not the most aggressive puffers about and are highly terratorial . Conspecifics will be killed quickly and other fish relentlessly attacked and maimed . I had a friend who had a 8'' tiger oscar , and had to put the red eye in there temporary , by the next day the oscar was missing an eye and hiding down in the bottom corner !

Just move everything form the 5g into the 10g (including the filter) & it will be cycled.

Thanks all for the advice! I had a feeling he was a red tail but wanted to be sure.

I will be moving him to the 10g by Friday. I would like to go bigger but alas its not in the cards atm. I do plan on raising snails and the 5g would be perfect for it, just gotta convince the misses...lol

With the plants are there any i need to avoid? Any he will like?

Oh and with feeding hes been getting frozen bloodworms, i've been light feeding since he was new and was not sure if he was stressed, normally how much would i feed him, and is it once or 2x a day i keep getting conflicting advice.

Once again thank you all! If you have any other advice i would be grateful.

Dave

Once a day for feeding but skip 1 day a week. I believe all plants are fine

10g is fine for a singleton. Be sure to defrost & drain the frozen worms, before feeding out.

Pufferpunk ty for the tip, i figured but knowing is better than guessing

bertie83 why the skipped day? Would that be the day to do the water change?
Also how much (quantity) should i feed him daily? I know i am asking a lot of questions just wanna do things right!

Thanks again!
Dave

We always skip a day, it's just a good thing to do. Just feed til the belly is slightly rounded. They need less than you may think, they will constantly beg for more, don't give in, you can easily overfeed. This is just a common sense thing you will soon know the correct amount, trust me.

Ok good to know

Heres a couple more pics he was out and about so i grabbed my iphone and tried to snap some shots of him...lol Hard to do!



Just click for bigger pics

OH btw whats a good water temp for these guys, i'm thinking around 78 or so?

Thanks,
Dave

Yes, 78 is good

Puffer King wrote:You need to upgrade your tank asap , these are quite active little puffers. Tank mates are a NO NO with these bad boys , pound for pound there probably one of if not the most aggressive puffers about and are highly terratorial . Conspecifics will be killed quickly and other fish relentlessly attacked and maimed . I had a friend who had a 8'' tiger oscar , and had to put the red eye in there temporary , by the next day the oscar was missing an eye and hiding down in the bottom corner !

I have one of these, and he might be the exception to the rule but he cohabited nicely with a clown loach, marbled crayfish and a male guppy. There is a fair amount of cover in the tank but mine is quite mild mannered.

Got him in his 10g today, gonna get a few more plants and change up some deco but hes happy and was hunting snails within 1 hour



I will be cutting and fitting the backround tomorrow. Looking forward to more adventures with him. When i went back to the LFS they had a female where he used to be and the lady there was extremely helpful with plants and such. Im gonna grab the blue LED bubbler they have there as long as it wont hurt Indra at night?

Then at petco... there was a dog face in a 5g... he was like 7", size of my fist ...poor thing

He's adorable I've always loved irrubescos.

I've never had any of my fish bothered by the blue LED's. The bubbler effect is beautiful but the noise drives me nuts. We shut ours off after listening to it for a few weeks, hehe. I'm one that can't stand waterfall noise either and all my tanks have to be topped off regularly or I can't sleep!