I picked up a red eye red tail puffer, i wanted to give it a shot in one of my 29 gallon community tanks, which tankmates would he do best with?

[Gannon]

I've been told by the store owner and an employee that both kept these that most of them get along perfectly with other community fish, but I was wondering which 29 gallon tank of mine they would do best in? 

The first is a 29 that is more loosely planted and decorated, with 3 honey gouramis and orange laser cories as well as a reclusive pleco. The other one is a 29 with 14 cardinal tetras, 6 sterbai cories, and a very active pleco.

If you have any ideas in which tank im most likely to see success in let me know. I could also always move the honey gouramis to the other 29 since they are slower moving and do the puffer in there with some other fast moving fish because I hear that is a good strategy. I have the puffer in quarantine currently, so I have time to make some choices and if it doesn't work out I have a friend that would like to have him. Thanks for any help and advice you can offer me!

[Colu]

Am going to tag @mountaintoppufferkeeper @Beardedbillygoat1975 as they both have experience with red eyed puffers

[Lennie]

Super cool fish you got there! Hope it survives the quarantine period safe and sound. 

Would love to see pictures later on. Please tag me when you share some.

[Biotope Biologist]

I would add it into the tank with the tetra personally. Gouramis in my experience are boisterous and one of them will likely harass the other. 
 

Congrats on being a puffer parent! Just make sure to keep them entertained the rest ill leave to those who have personal experience 

[Gannon]

the gouramis are honey gouramis and arent the slightest bit aggressive, but i do worry about incompatbility with puffers fin nipping them cause theyre smaller. The only problem i see with the tetra tank is that the bristlenose pleco in there is very boisterous. chases the cories over food and I worry a tiny bit about them fighting over food. Thats why im considering moving the gouramis to the tetra tank and gettin ganother tetra or fast fish for the orange laser cory 29. 

On 6/24/2023 at 2:58 PM, Lennie said:

Super cool fish you got there! Hope it survives the quarantine period safe and sound. 

Would love to see pictures later on. Please tag me when you share some.

I absolutely will! They had a ton of them for dirt cheap. If this goes well I'll get more.

[Lennie]

On 6/24/2023 at 11:05 PM, Gannon said:

I absolutely will! They had a ton of them for dirt cheap. If this goes well I'll get more.

What about a breeding challenge? 😛 

I'm super hyped to challenge myself for breeding some puffers. After seeing @mountaintoppufferkeeper's journals I'm so hyped!

The only thing worries me is their dietary needs

[Gannon]

On 6/24/2023 at 3:08 PM, Lennie said:

What about a breeding challenge? 😛 

I'm super hyped to challenge myself for breeding some puffers. After seeing @mountaintoppufferkeeper's journals I'm so hyped!

The only thing worries me is their dietary needs

My fish store gave me some frozen clams on a half shell. not too expensive and should last a while

So far hes just checking out his surroundings, puffing up a tiny bit every now and again. I assume just settling in. 

[Biotope Biologist]

Depending on if you are close to the coast or not a ton of seafood companies here offer ‘bait clam’ which is to say that it’s not high enough quality for human consumption or is close to its expire date.

 

Its very inexpensive and makes great animal food.

Edited June 24, 2023 by Biotope Biologist

[Lennie]

On 6/24/2023 at 11:25 PM, Gannon said:

My fish store gave me some frozen clams on a half shell. not too expensive and should last a while

 

On 6/24/2023 at 11:31 PM, Biotope Biologist said:

Depending on if you are close to the coast or not a ton of seafood companies here offer ‘bait clam’ which is to say that it’s not high enough quality for human consumption or is close to its expire date.

 

Its very inexpensive and makes great animal food.

I sadly never saw any being sold here. Markets only sell them without shells for human consumption. And stores only sell freshwater clams between 5-7cm as pets. So that is kinda hard for me to source.

 

And I love snails too much. snails>puffers 😄

 

that's why I always step back from puffer keeping. I can buy the frozen clam packages, but they need shells for their teeth right? I used the have guineapigs. Same mentality I think. They also needed hard foods for their teeth growth control. 

I know they feed them mealworms at my lfs. Not sure if they are good in terms of nutrition or hard enough to help with teeth health.

[Beardedbillygoat1975]

Welcome to puffer keeping first off @Lennie. 

A single specimen in a community tank is a bit of a crapshoot. They are intelligent on the order of a large cichlid and therefore get anxious, excited and all of the gamut of emotions. Mine usually begged when they saw me sometime played hide and seek especially if they were not pleased with their meals. I kept single specimens in community tanks on 3 occasions. Went well 1 x and poorly on 2 other occasions. If you see chasing, bullying etc they’ve taken an interest in another animal and I’d not expect them to stop until the other animal is dead. When you look online most keepers keep them in a species only with dithers. 

Red eye red tail puffers irrubesco puffers are very close in relation to pea puffers. They are not a toothed puffer they have a hard mandible or jaw and they feed more from a bite then a slurp sort of motion. Worms are their preferred food. Mealworms feel big to me in terms of a food but they’ll eat what they want and then you’ll need to clean up the bits they and their tankmates don’t eat. I’d say clams are a choice I’d not make - the shell won’t be touched and isn’t needed and as a food it’s messy and that will affect the tank. I was able to get them on Vibra bites with mixing them with blood worms and blood worm juice which was about as far as I got with prepared food. Tubifex are great they liked the freeze dried better than frozen but I often broke their 36 hour fast each week with them. 

Snails - I understand your feelings but you’re eliminating a very healthy and natural food for them. In general, puffer keepers use them almost universally. I would ask you to reconsider but it’s cool if you need to go a different way. 

They need to be dewormed well. 2 rounds of Paracleanse and Levamisole at a minimum. Since you’ve not quarantined and they’re in the community tank your option would be do the first treatments of paracleanse and levamisole on the community tank then I’d pull them to a qt tank and do the 2nd set of treatments either together or you could space them out. 

As long as there are hiding places, shaded areas, lots of plants and clean well oxygenated water with minimal flow they’ll be happy. 

I think on my journal I posted pics of males and females which could be helpful if you get into it and decide to work towards a breeding program.  

This was Hank my dominant male. I miss him dearly. 

Have fun and let me and @mountaintoppufferkeeperknow how we can help or as he says put out the “puffer signal” and we’ll come to help however we can.

[Gannon]

On 6/24/2023 at 4:42 PM, Beardedbillygoat1975 said:

Welcome to puffer keeping first off @Lennie. 

A single specimen in a community tank is a bit of a crapshoot. They are intelligent on the order of a large cichlid and therefore get anxious, excited and all of the gamut of emotions. Mine usually begged when they saw me sometime played hide and seek especially if they were not pleased with their meals. I kept single specimens in community tanks on 3 occasions. Went well 1 x and poorly on 2 other occasions. If you see chasing, bullying etc they’ve taken an interest in another animal and I’d not expect them to stop until the other animal is dead. When you look online most keepers keep them in a species only with dithers. 

Red eye red tail puffers irrubesco puffers are very close in relation to pea puffers. They are not a toothed puffer they have a hard mandible or jaw and they feed more from a bite then a slurp sort of motion. Worms are their preferred food. Mealworms feel big to me in terms of a food but they’ll eat what they want and then you’ll need to clean up the bits they and their tankmates don’t eat. I’d say clams are a choice I’d not make - the shell won’t be touched and isn’t needed and as a food it’s messy and that will affect the tank. I was able to get them on Vibra bites with mixing them with blood worms and blood worm juice which was about as far as I got with prepared food. Tubifex are great they liked the freeze dried better than frozen but I often broke their 36 hour fast each week with them. 

Snails - I understand your feelings but you’re eliminating a very healthy and natural food for them. In general, puffer keepers use them almost universally. I would ask you to reconsider but it’s cool if you need to go a different way. 

They need to be dewormed well. 2 rounds of Paracleanse and Levamisole at a minimum. Since you’ve not quarantined and they’re in the community tank your option would be do the first treatments of paracleanse and levamisole on the community tank then I’d pull them to a qt tank and do the 2nd set of treatments either together or you could space them out. 

As long as there are hiding places, shaded areas, lots of plants and clean well oxygenated water with minimal flow they’ll be happy. 

I think on my journal I posted pics of males and females which could be helpful if you get into it and decide to work towards a breeding program.  

This was Hank my dominant male. I miss him dearly. 

Have fun and let me and @mountaintoppufferkeeperknow how we can help or as he says put out the “puffer signal” and we’ll come to help however we can.

I have no issues with feedign snails dont worry that was someone else and mine is in quarantine! 

I'm crossing my fingers that I am fortunate enough to have one get along in a community. The moment I see any form of prolonged bullying I will seperate the fish don't worry. Thanks for your words and advice on this?

Do you have an answer for my initial question also? I'm trying to chosse between tansk to put the puffer in. Which tank stocking would be the most compatible? details are in my first comment

[Lennie]

On 6/25/2023 at 12:42 AM, Beardedbillygoat1975 said:

Welcome to puffer keeping first off @Lennie. 

A single specimen in a community tank is a bit of a crapshoot. They are intelligent on the order of a large cichlid and therefore get anxious, excited and all of the gamut of emotions. Mine usually begged when they saw me sometime played hide and seek especially if they were not pleased with their meals. I kept single specimens in community tanks on 3 occasions. Went well 1 x and poorly on 2 other occasions. If you see chasing, bullying etc they’ve taken an interest in another animal and I’d not expect them to stop until the other animal is dead. When you look online most keepers keep them in a species only with dithers. 

Red eye red tail puffers irrubesco puffers are very close in relation to pea puffers. They are not a toothed puffer they have a hard mandible or jaw and they feed more from a bite then a slurp sort of motion. Worms are their preferred food. Mealworms feel big to me in terms of a food but they’ll eat what they want and then you’ll need to clean up the bits they and their tankmates don’t eat. I’d say clams are a choice I’d not make - the shell won’t be touched and isn’t needed and as a food it’s messy and that will affect the tank. I was able to get them on Vibra bites with mixing them with blood worms and blood worm juice which was about as far as I got with prepared food. Tubifex are great they liked the freeze dried better than frozen but I often broke their 36 hour fast each week with them. 

Snails - I understand your feelings but you’re eliminating a very healthy and natural food for them. In general, puffer keepers use them almost universally. I would ask you to reconsider but it’s cool if you need to go a different way. 

They need to be dewormed well. 2 rounds of Paracleanse and Levamisole at a minimum. Since you’ve not quarantined and they’re in the community tank your option would be do the first treatments of paracleanse and levamisole on the community tank then I’d pull them to a qt tank and do the 2nd set of treatments either together or you could space them out. 

As long as there are hiding places, shaded areas, lots of plants and clean well oxygenated water with minimal flow they’ll be happy. 

I think on my journal I posted pics of males and females which could be helpful if you get into it and decide to work towards a breeding program.  

This was Hank my dominant male. I miss him dearly. 

Have fun and let me and @mountaintoppufferkeeperknow how we can help or as he says put out the “puffer signal” and we’ll come to help however we can.

Noted for the future me if I ever get one 😄

 

I am personally more interested in green spotted ones. They look so silly.

 

I don't wanna steal the shine of @Gannon and their new friend under this topic with my unrelated questions.

 

But please feel free to dm me if you would like to help with spotted green puffer care whenever you have time. @Beardedbillygoat1975. I seriously want to have some one day. And having 10 free tanks sitting empty for my fishroom is triggering whenever I visit my LFS and see those silly faces 😄 

Edited June 24, 2023 by Lennie

[Gannon]

On 6/24/2023 at 4:42 PM, Beardedbillygoat1975 said:

Welcome to puffer keeping first off @Lennie. 

A single specimen in a community tank is a bit of a crapshoot. They are intelligent on the order of a large cichlid and therefore get anxious, excited and all of the gamut of emotions. Mine usually begged when they saw me sometime played hide and seek especially if they were not pleased with their meals. I kept single specimens in community tanks on 3 occasions. Went well 1 x and poorly on 2 other occasions. If you see chasing, bullying etc they’ve taken an interest in another animal and I’d not expect them to stop until the other animal is dead. When you look online most keepers keep them in a species only with dithers. 

Red eye red tail puffers irrubesco puffers are very close in relation to pea puffers. They are not a toothed puffer they have a hard mandible or jaw and they feed more from a bite then a slurp sort of motion. Worms are their preferred food. Mealworms feel big to me in terms of a food but they’ll eat what they want and then you’ll need to clean up the bits they and their tankmates don’t eat. I’d say clams are a choice I’d not make - the shell won’t be touched and isn’t needed and as a food it’s messy and that will affect the tank. I was able to get them on Vibra bites with mixing them with blood worms and blood worm juice which was about as far as I got with prepared food. Tubifex are great they liked the freeze dried better than frozen but I often broke their 36 hour fast each week with them. 

Snails - I understand your feelings but you’re eliminating a very healthy and natural food for them. In general, puffer keepers use them almost universally. I would ask you to reconsider but it’s cool if you need to go a different way. 

They need to be dewormed well. 2 rounds of Paracleanse and Levamisole at a minimum. Since you’ve not quarantined and they’re in the community tank your option would be do the first treatments of paracleanse and levamisole on the community tank then I’d pull them to a qt tank and do the 2nd set of treatments either together or you could space them out. 

As long as there are hiding places, shaded areas, lots of plants and clean well oxygenated water with minimal flow they’ll be happy. 

I think on my journal I posted pics of males and females which could be helpful if you get into it and decide to work towards a breeding program.  

This was Hank my dominant male. I miss him dearly. 

Have fun and let me and @mountaintoppufferkeeperknow how we can help or as he says put out the “puffer signal” and we’ll come to help however we can.

Also, while its only been hours, there has been no aggression between the cory catfish this guy was housed with in the store and that are also in the quarantine tank. The fish store owner claims he's seen no aggression from this batch tin the better part of a week that they've had them. Are these good signs on the aggression front? How long until you can be pretty confident that one is more passive? Thanks

[Beardedbillygoat1975]

@GannonI’d wait a month and see how they settle in. Remember they’re smart so they may focus on someone at any point and then you’ll need to make some decisions. 
 

@Lennieive never had a green spotted it figure 8. They’re certainly on my list. Those 2 are brackish and toothed puffers so differently needs and care. 10 empty tanks are scary for people with MTS like me. I’m trying to be good and take down tanks. I have a 29 g that need’s breaking down. 

@Gannon29 with the cardinals I don’t trust gouramis. 

[Gannon]

On 6/24/2023 at 6:12 PM, Beardedbillygoat1975 said:

@GannonI’d wait a month and see how they settle in. Remember they’re smart so they may focus on someone at any point and then you’ll need to make some decisions. 
 

@Lennieive never had a green spotted it figure 8. They’re certainly on my list. Those 2 are brackish and toothed puffers so differently needs and care. 10 empty tanks are scary for people with MTS like me. I’m trying to be good and take down tanks. I have a 29 g that need’s breaking down. 

@Gannon29 with the cardinals I don’t trust gouramis. 

Ill quarantine for a month anyways so i should be able to tell if theres any aggression on the cories. And i also think the cardinal tank is probably better, but im more worried about the puffer picking on the gouramis than gouramis picking on the puffer. ive never had a problem with honey gouramis though i would agree with any other species of gourami. the rest ive had were all major problems and jerks. 

[Lennie]

On 6/25/2023 at 2:20 AM, Gannon said:

the rest ive had were all major problems and jerks. 

😮 

Sparklings are also nice. I have 3 in my female betta sorority tank (it is a community with 5 ladies) ,they are cute and peaceful, just like honeys.

 

I really like the look of gold gouramis but yes, their potential aggression scares me! What were the ones you had problem with?

[Gannon]

On 6/24/2023 at 6:12 PM, Beardedbillygoat1975 said:

@GannonI’d wait a month and see how they settle in. Remember they’re smart so they may focus on someone at any point and then you’ll need to make some decisions. 
 

@Lennieive never had a green spotted it figure 8. They’re certainly on my list. Those 2 are brackish and toothed puffers so differently needs and care. 10 empty tanks are scary for people with MTS like me. I’m trying to be good and take down tanks. I have a 29 g that need’s breaking down. 

@Gannon29 with the cardinals I don’t trust gouramis. 

well i have bad news. The puffer started picking on the more pale stressed of the cories abruptly. I have the puffer sitting in a breeder box right now while i figure out the best thing to do. This is quite a bummer. Don't think I can find another tank but im sure my fish store can take him back, but that would be a shame. 

[Beardedbillygoat1975]

It’s a puffer thing. They get obsessive about something and can’t help themselves. Unfortunately, this is why so many of us do them in species only tanks. 

[mountaintoppufferkeeper]

@Gannon I am of the try it out and see philosophy in my tanks.

Puffers to me are fairly individual fish. I have not found two that have the same personality. 

Occasionally even an individual puffer will behave drastically different in one tank vs another for me. The give it a shot and have a backup plan has been the best result for me.

I have had the most success with fast swimmers that are mid to upper water as  puffer tankmates.  The variatus species of platies have been most successful in puffer tanks for me and are generally able to self sustain in puffer tanks when i 

I have had the least success with bottom dwellers. i believe is a function of puffers eventually getting curious and tasting the bottom dweller or establishing a territory which includes the bottom and "encouraging" the intruder to not return. 

If its quick my species its not normally worth the effort from the puffer up here.  

If I add a puffer to a tank I try whatever combination I prefer first and observe for a few hours to decide if it is, at least initially, working. I do that knowing  the puffer could decide everyone goes at some point in the future with little or no warning. 

**************************

My Red Eye Red Tailed Puffer Colony -Carinotetraodon irrubesco

I have kept my current colony of 2 males 3 females in a heavily planted 40 breeder for a while now while they grow, aclimate to my fishroom conditions and schedules, and prep for breeding. 

I have not tried tankmates because I intend to collect eggs eventually. They are relatively peaceful for me. I expected the males to fight a bit but they live as a group peacefully for me. 

These 5  ignore snails for the the most part. They prefer bloodworms, earthworms, chunks of raw frozen shell on shrimp (Seafood dept at grocery store), frozen krill (petstore flat), and rarely frozen clams on the half shell ( generally I online order my frozen foods up here so the standard stuff at a shop). I use vitachem soak and a little garlic guard on foods. 

I view aggression as a relative term with puffers. There are certainly disagreements in this group of irrubesco. Its not too often of an occurance in the 40 breeder with sight breaks. I believe a dominant male will generally change to that striped camo pattern get a red stripe on their belly to displayan almost mock charge. 

I do not have that on video yet but they dont really get too crazy its more display than contact.

 

Aggression 

My opinion is that aggression has been limited in slighrly bigger tanks. 

Spotted congos are normally known as the peaceful puffer. These two were in a 20 gallon for qt. this is aggression and required a divider. Both puffers would attack the divider in this tank in an effort to kill each other im sure.

The below two are the above individuals in a tank with more space its basically a custom short 45 gallon breeder. The colony has 4 adults. 2 males 2 females and its this level of relaxed.

 

[Gannon]

On 6/24/2023 at 10:56 PM, mountaintoppufferkeeper said:

@Gannon I am of the try it out and see philosophy in my tanks.

Puffers to me are fairly individual fish. I have not found two that have the same personality. 

Occasionally even an individual puffer will behave drastically different in one tank vs another for me. The give it a shot and have a backup plan has been the best result for me.

I have had the most success with fast swimmers that are mid to upper water as  puffer tankmates.  The variatus species of platies have been most successful in puffer tanks for me and are generally able to self sustain in puffer tanks when i 

I have had the least success with bottom dwellers. i believe is a function of puffers eventually getting curious and tasting the bottom dweller or establishing a territory which includes the bottom and "encouraging" the intruder to not return. 

If its quick my species its not normally worth the effort from the puffer up here.  

If I add a puffer to a tank I try whatever combination I prefer first and observe for a few hours to decide if it is, at least initially, working. I do that knowing  the puffer could decide everyone goes at some point in the future with little or no warning. 

**************************

My Red Eye Red Tailed Puffer Colony -Carinotetraodon irrubesco

I have kept my current colony of 2 males 3 females in a heavily planted 40 breeder for a while now while they grow, aclimate to my fishroom conditions and schedules, and prep for breeding. 

I have not tried tankmates because I intend to collect eggs eventually. They are relatively peaceful for me. I expected the males to fight a bit but they live as a group peacefully for me. 

These 5  ignore snails for the the most part. They prefer bloodworms, earthworms, chunks of raw frozen shell on shrimp (Seafood dept at grocery store), frozen krill (petstore flat), and rarely frozen clams on the half shell ( generally I online order my frozen foods up here so the standard stuff at a shop). I use vitachem soak and a little garlic guard on foods. 

I view aggression as a relative term with puffers. There are certainly disagreements in this group of irrubesco. Its not too often of an occurance in the 40 breeder with sight breaks. I believe a dominant male will generally change to that striped camo pattern get a red stripe on their belly to displayan almost mock charge. 

I do not have that on video yet but they dont really get too crazy its more display than contact.

 

Aggression 

My opinion is that aggression has been limited in slighrly bigger tanks. 

Spotted congos are normally known as the peaceful puffer. These two were in a 20 gallon for qt. this is aggression and required a divider. Both puffers would attack the divider in this tank in an effort to kill each other im sure.

The below two are the above individuals in a tank with more space its basically a custom short 45 gallon breeder. The colony has 4 adults. 2 males 2 females and its this level of relaxed.

 

So would it be worth trying to seperate the puffer in quarantine with a divider and trying him again in one of the 29 gallon tanks? both have cories so there is no getting around that. what do you think? Thank you so much for your thorough and helpful information and experiences!

[mountaintoppufferkeeper]

On 6/25/2023 at 1:18 AM, Gannon said:

So would it be worth trying to seperate the puffer in quarantine with a divider and trying him again in one of the 29 gallon tanks? both have cories so there is no getting around that. what do you think? Thank you so much for your thorough and helpful information and experiences!

Id consider trying a divider in qt and see how it goes in a 29 after quarentine. If that was up here. My dividers are a lighting diffuser from a home improvement store i have hidden behind the bookshelf near the fishrokm. If i need one for a tank I just pull one out and cut the size if divider I need from that sheet.

The full disclaimer to my limited experience is that Ive never figured out cories or other bottom dwellers with puffers personally. I also havent tried red eye red tails with any other fish becsuse of my intent to collect eggs once they spawn for me.  

Im sure its possible to do a red eye with other species without issue given the right individual puffer, cover, and large enough space.My guess is that puffer will just keep checking out cories and everything else on the bottom. 

he might find them less interesting in a larger space. The cories might also get a bit more aware and avoid the pointy end of him by using plant cover etc.in a larger area like a 29 etc. 

 

 

Edited June 25, 2023 by mountaintoppufferkeeper