Borneo red-eye puffer

Care at a glance

Overview

The Borneo red-eye puffer is a tiny but feisty blackwater species that is best kept one to a tank; it is aggressive toward its own kind and toward tankmates, so a small species setup suits it and any companions are risky enough to treat with real caution. It swims through the middle and lower water rather than resting on the bottom. Its beak grows for life, so feed small hard-shelled foods such as pond snails and bloodworm, along with other small meaty frozen foods, to keep the teeth in check. A densely planted, dimly lit tank of around 54 liters or more suits a single fish.

In the wild

This species lives in peat-stained forest streams in southern Sarawak, Borneo, where the water is soft, acidic, and darkly tannin-stained. Recreate that blackwater with soft sand, driftwood, leaf litter, gentle flow, and dim light. Keep it warm at about 24 to 28 C and distinctly soft and acidic, roughly pH 5 to 6.8, and hold nitrate low with regular water changes.

Good to know

A member of the pufferfish family Tetraodontidae, it grows to only about 5 centimeters. It belongs to the red-eye puffer genus Carinotetraodon, whose males can raise a keel-like ridge along both the back and the belly. Male Borneo red-eye puffers also show a red dorsal fin, a colored belly keel, and red eyes, while females are plainer. Aquarium breeding is seldom recorded.

Did you know

When a male displays, he raises a ridge along both his back and his belly at once, briefly turning a five centimeter fish into a keeled, banner-like shape to warn off rivals.

Common questions

Related species

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• 

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• Crested puffer

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