The Puffer Forum

Hey all, so this weekend i had a family friend that told me about a young kid that bought a red eye puffer (at least I'm pretty sure thats what it is)- and he was keeping it in a small generic fish bowl. Luckily i was able to convince him to let me buy it from him, as it looked really sick and i knew that was not a good environment. I brought him home to a 20gal cycled tank that had nothing in it at the moment and i was wondering if anyone had some good information on them. I read the article on them but it wasn't that informative. I attached some pictures to see if you guys can see if it looks healthy- i noticed its tail fin is never expanded (which i see with my fig 8 a lot)- and I'm just not sure if it should be or shouldn't. Any help would be awesome, and feel free to ask questions. thanks

Treat for IP's (Internal Parasites) and get him some good yummy meaty food. (earthworms, raw shrimp, or mussels on a halfshell bought from the grocery or sporting goods store can suffice if options are limited)

thanks for the advice, for some reason my computer won't let me see the hospital article on IP--- also can anyone help ID this puffer?

Corvus is the man for telling species apart, I am sure he will be right along

She looks pretty good. It's not unusual for these guys to keep their tails closed most of the time. Watch for it to fan out when she eats or hunts.

I can't remember how to tell the females apart but you are in Canada and all I've ever seen or heard of being sold up here (for red eyes) is irrubesco.

It's a female Carinotetraodon, from what I can see likely C. irrubesco aka Red tailed puffer or Red tail red eye puffer (not every female has a red tail, it's mostly the males) due to the broken lines on the belly. A C. salivator would have unbroken lines like this one: http://ibanorum.netfirms.com/puffer-feBA010706.jpgand C. lorteti or borneensis would have no or almost no lines. The lines of your puffer look as far as I can see likes this http://www.aquarium-fish.info/graphics/ ... escoFb.jpg , which means C. irrubesco.

I told you. His senses tingle when someone needs identification and he pops right in. Or it might have something to do with the big puffer spotlight pp puts in the sky lol

thanks so much. She is for sure shy right now, hopefully she will warm up to me over time

im so glad she is in a decent environment now! cant imagine keeping a puffer of all things in a fishbowl!

Thankfully i heard about the poor puffer, and luckily i had a spare tank cycled and ready to go

patola_l wrote:Thankfully i heard about the poor puffer, and luckily i had a spare tank cycled and ready to go

even if you didnt have the tank cycled, its better than a bowl!

hadla wrote:

patola_l wrote:Thankfully i heard about the poor puffer, and luckily i had a spare tank cycled and ready to go

even if you didnt have the tank cycled, its better than a bowl!

+1

I never used fishbowls with the exception of one I used as a hospital tank that I had when I was a kid and I honestly think that the use of a fishbowl for other than a temporary hospital tank should be outlawed. IMHO

anything smaller than 2.5 gallons should be outlawed. those poor bettas. but people keep making that junk and misinformed people keep buying that junk... so yeah.