Red-eye (lorteti) puffers

[chris_1127]

my pair of red-eye/crested (c. lorteti) puffers have been doing well in a tank with dwarf puffers, otos and a rubbernose plec to date (7-8 months), however as they get older they seem to be getting less and less active. they're now about 1 1/2" and quite round, however they have taken to hiding either amongst the leaves or plants for pretty much most of the day now - they used to be straight out at feeding time to wolf down bloodworms, but now even seem reluctant to do this. They've never been the most outgoing fish in the tank, but i'm sure they weren't quite as shy and retiring as they are now - they used to swim in the open water for about 25% of the time at least. The temperature has gone up quite a bit recently with the warm weather, to about 28 degrees c - the heater is now set on the minimum setting but as its in a tropiquarium tank its not possible to switch it off without unwiring it completely.

Just wondering if anyone else with experience of lortetis found them to get more and more inactive with age, or whether it could just be the temperature. NB i have two internal filters running, both with strong aeration, so i'm pretty sure its not an oxygen thing with the increased temp, as everything else has remained pretty active. I also do about a 50% water change weekly, and the tank is set up with twin tubes, normal and plant grow; and is fairly heavily planted.

 

[SirMinion]

We've not had experiance with red-eyes, but we have found that Martha, our Fahaka puffer has been a lot less active during the warm weather and has a much reduced appetite too.

As long as they are eating, and seem alert even if they're not active, then I doubt that there's anything to worry about.

 

[Pufferpunk]

Yup, normal behaviour for these puffers. Mine were very aggressive though--the female killed 2 other females & her mate, after spawning with him 3x.

 

[chris_1127]

ok cheers for the replies, have to see what happens when the weather hopefully get a bit cooler. The aggression between the two isnt too bad at the moment - the male seems to go through phases where sometimes he tolerates the female in sight and others he doesnt. at the moment he's ok, maybe he just cant be bothered to go for her in this heat