Red Eyed Puffer(c. Lorteti) Or S. American Leaf Fish

[slamster17]

Im just looking for opinions and advice on whether i should wait for Red Eyed puffers(C. Lorteti) to be available at work or if i should or a south american leaf fish. basically i want both and have reasearched both but i can only buy one. so those of you with or with out expierience, which do you tihnk would be easier to keep and which would just be cooler to have.

Thanks

 

[chris_1127]

can't comment about leaf fish, but the one thing that i would say about red-eyes is they were pretty reclusive - lovely looking fish, especially the males but the only time i ever saw much of them was at feeding time. If you want an active, interesting tank then they may not be the ones to go for. Plenty of intraspecific aggression between the male and female that i had, but no problems with interspecific aggression with oto's, rubbernose plecs or dwarf puffers. Pretty easy to maintain otherwise though, 25% weekly water change and they were fine. I lost my original female red-eye to an internal bacterial infection but other than that no other health problems with them - on the odd occasion when they occured, any bite wounds from each other healed in a day or two with a bit of melafix.

 

[Dangerousdan]

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[slamster17]

yea, i wanted red-tailed red eyed but they are twice as expensive and harder to comeby i think, at least where i work. sounds like this may be a tough decision.

 

[Rocker]

Red eye puffers is a common name that can refer to several species of puffer. I think here we talking about both C.irrubesco and C.lorteti. They are both hard to come by and IME the latter being the hardest to find. Both species are aggressive towards conspecifics - again the latter being more so.
If you plan on keeping either of these species, then I would suggest keeping them as a singleton otherwise to remove the risk of the puffers killing each other, a large heavily planted tank is required.

What size tank are we talking about?

 

[Erised]

Seeing as I know from experience that most species of puffer are quite easy to keep, I'd say go for the puffer. Also, if I recall correctly, CFC tried keeping leaf fish without much success. Which really does say enough

If you're up for a challange though, definatly go with the leaf fish as the puffers will turn out to be as easy to keep as your average community fish really The only 'difficult' thing is to give them a tank in which they feel at home (as in, no tank mates and the right substrate really) and to keep up your water changes.

 

[slamster17]

its a 10g which is another reason why the leaf fish idea is sketchy. i just want one male or female c. lorteti, but its a long wait. i was thinking that maybe if the leaf fish are captive bred then amybe they will do better? but i dont know. i dont know how big it will be when and if i buy it too.

 

[Rocker]

Seeing as I know from experience that most species of puffer are quite easy to keep, I'd say go for the puffer. Also, if I recall correctly, CFC tried keeping leaf fish without much success. Which really does say enough

If you're up for a challange though, definatly go with the leaf fish as the puffers will turn out to be as easy to keep as your average community fish really The only 'difficult' thing is to give them a tank in which they feel at home (as in, no tank mates and the right substrate really) and to keep up your water changes.

This is a very sweeping statement and should be taken with a pinch of salt. Puffers on the whole are a difficult species to keep and you should do your research first before buying one.They are certainly not as easy to keep as your average community fish!

 

[Dangerousdan]

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[Rocker]

If keeping puffers is so easy then pehaps you ought to tell us some secrets such as their diet, water changes etc because keeping 6 of them in a 13g is grossly under housed!
How long have you had 6?
I am a little confused because your first post said you have 4.

 

[Puffer_freak]

I agree with Rocker here. It was a very sweeping statement to make, however, if kept properly, they aren't any harder. Once you've got into a regime and routine, they're not really too hard, but they are a very specialised fish, with specific needs.

Also - Dan - that is actually very cruel, to keep 6 in a 13 gallon tank, and I hope oyu take them out and move them to a bigger tank.

 

[Dangerousdan]

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[Rocker]

Firstil I agree on you keeping them in a species only tank. Their diet is good and I would suggest 50% weekly water changes because as you may know puffres are very fragile when it comes to water conditions. - Hardly a comparision to keeping your average community fish!
Your quote -
"They are keeped in perfect condition.
No excess food is ever left in tank. Water stats never fluctuate. There is plenty of hiding recluses for everyfish, lots of rock plant and wood.
They maybe hard to keep if you overfeed and pollute their living environment and dont waterchange and dont have retreats."
Not the easiest fish to keep judging by that statement.
On the diet may I also suggest prawn?

You didn't answer how long or how old they are.I believe you only have juveniles at present and as they grow and become more sexually mature you will see alot if intraspecific aggression that could and has led to the death of one or more puffers. These species as with most species become more aggressive with age - That is fact. They become more terrotorial. This brings me to the size of your tank- yes IMO and IME the tank is way too small to over come these difficulties. Most good sources and IME would recommend 10 G per fish. You may be lucky and get away with two in that tank.
I would also like to know the male to female ratio of your puffers. A very important consideration if you want to keep these puffers long term.

 

[Dangerousdan]

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[Rocker]

The ratio I was talking about refered to th puffers you are keeping long term.
As I said these are only juveniles so expect the aggression to start to kick in at any time. These are nocturnal fish so chances are it will happen when you are away.