The Puffer Forum

I bought a pair (male, female) of irrubescos and I would like to breed them. They are in a 10 gallon tank, and hide a lot in the day. Because of their reputation as being more timid puffers, I bought a pair (male, female) of dwarfs, to make the tank more active and interesting. I will see how the species get along. I have had the irrubescos a few days and just picked up the dwarfs today and so far have not seen any aggression between any of them.

I was just wondering if the presence of the other species will lessen the chances of either pair from breeding...?

I believe it will. Also, it is recommended to houee irribuscos in 10g ea & DPs in 3-5g ea. That tank is way too small. I think you will see aggression in there.

The dwarfs have been moved to a seperate, bare 10 gallon. I don't know whether to keep them or return them. For the filter I moved some of the sponge from the old tank into the new tank. I will check parameters and do waterchanges if needed.

I've decided I'll maintain the dwarf puffer tank but refrain from spending too much money on it until I have a job.

I know red-eye puffers are from basins and rivers in like indonesia and stuff, and they like slightly acidic water. I was at the LFS and they were out of ph lowering stuff, and the only thing I could find was Instant Amazon to lower pH. It looks good, I also ordered Ketapang Vital to go with it. Supposedly, Asian fish breeders use the stuff to stimulate breeding. I was wondering if this method woudl work for irrubescos or dwarfs?

Messing with the pH is a recipe for disaster, IMO. If you need to adjust it, use a very small amount of peat in the filter or under the substrate. Using any sort of chemical to adjust it will cause pH swings, which can be deadly.

I wouldn't mess with the pH at all. My discus live in neutral pH. They are thriving wonderfully. There is a good chancee your puffers are tank bred, in normal tap water.

Agree, leave the pH alone. If you want any success with keeping this species then I would suggest a much bigger tank to start with just so they can get along. Then you may start to think about breeding this pair.

I don't have room for a bigger tank.

Thats unfortunate, red eye males have a habit of killing the females unless they have lots of space, keep a close eye as they settle in.

would going over the top on decor help reduce aggression by disrupting the lines of sight until a bigger tank is possible?

So far they both hide in the java fern all day, the female coming out ocassionally and the male only coming out at feeding. Here's a picture of the tank...

the aponegoton bulbs are sprouting in the back and will fill out soon, and I'm going to try to get the babys tears to spread for cover in the empty areas.