Striped red-eye puffer

Care at a glance

Overview

The striped red-eye puffer is a tiny, aggressive blackwater species that is best kept one to a tank; it does not tolerate its own kind and is risky with tankmates, so a small species setup is the safe default and any companions call for real caution. It swims through the middle and lower water. Its beak grows for life, so feed small hard-shelled foods such as pond snails and small shrimp, plus other small meaty frozen foods, to keep it worn. Give it soft, acidic, dimly lit water with plenty of planting and cover. A tank of around 54 liters or more suits a single fish.

In the wild

This species is known only from the peat-stained streams of Sarawak in Borneo, including the Lupar, Sarawak, and Rajang river systems, where the water is soft, acidic, and dark with tannins. Recreate that blackwater with soft sand, driftwood, leaf litter, dim light, and gentle flow. Keep it warm at about 24 to 28 C and soft and acidic, roughly pH 5 to 6.8, with low nitrate.

Good to know

A member of the pufferfish family Tetraodontidae, it grows to only about 5 centimeters and shows strong sexual dimorphism: males carry bold stripes while females wear a finer, scribbled pattern. It belongs to the keeled red-eye puffer genus Carinotetraodon. Aquarium breeding is seldom recorded.

Did you know

Its species name, salivator, refers to a pale blotch on the lower lip that looks like a drop of saliva, a small detail the describers used to tell it apart from its close relatives.

Common questions

Related species

• Borneo red-eye puffer

  Carinotetraodon borneensis

  Freshwater

  2 in (5 cm)14 gal (54 L)75–82°F (24–28°C)

• 

  Redeye puffer

  Carinotetraodon lorteti

  Freshwater

  2.4 in (6 cm)14 gal (54 L)75–82°F (24–28°C)

• 

  Red-tail dwarf puffer

  Carinotetraodon irrubesco

  Freshwater

  1.8 in (4.5 cm)17 gal (65 L)72–82°F (22–28°C)

• 

  Dwarf pufferfish

  Carinotetraodon travancoricus

  Freshwater

  1.4 in (3.5 cm)15 gal (55 L)72–82°F (22–28°C)
• Crested puffer

  Dichotomyctere erythrotaenia

  Freshwater

  3.3 in (8.5 cm)29 gal (110 L)75–82°F (24–28°C)
• Golden puffer

  Auriglobus modestus

  Freshwater

  4.3 in (11 cm)22 gal (85 L)73–82°F (23–28°C)