Puffers: Lets talk about them and coral

[lkoechle]

We are moving and I'm taking my 85 down and will be out of the hobby for a while. But, like so many of you, I already have plans for the next tank.

 

The next tank I want is a large version of Felicia's amazing predator tank. The artisan II 150 gallon.

 

For stocking I would like a few dwarf lions (two or three), two snowflake eels (maybe a bigger species, but I haven't researched beyond snowflakes), a harlequin tusk fish pair, and a tang or two.

 

I would also like to add a puffer fish. Because of the nature of the fish in the tank, I was going to stick with mostly soft corals.

 

What are people's consensus on puffers eating corals? Do they usually stay away from softies and stick the stonies or do they just really don't care?

[Felicia]

The main concern here isn't the puffer eating the corals, but actually would be the puffer eating the fins off the Lionfish. Most people really don't recommend keeping puffers with Lionfish. The other choices sound great though! Also it's too fun that you're taking inspiration from my tank

[lkoechle]

The main concern here isn't the puffer eating the corals, but actually would be the puffer eating the fins off the Lionfish. Most people really don't recommend keeping puffers with Lionfish. The other choices sound great though! Also it's too fun that you're taking inspiration from my tank

I was thinking one of the smaller puffers. I'll have to do more research, but the spiny puffers have a "do not keep with long fins" warning, while the Blue spot and toby-type puffers have no such warning which gives me hope. lol

[Felicia]

I was thinking one of the smaller puffers. I'll have to do more research, but the spiny puffers have a "do not keep with long fins" warning, while the Blue spot and toby-type puffers have no such warning which gives me hope. lol

Yeah I'm not an expert on puffers by any means! Just a heads up to do the research

[lkoechle]

Yeah I'm not an expert on puffers by any means! Just a heads up to do the research

Definitely

[jestep]

You're probably ok with any of the toby / sharpnose - canthigaster puffers. They'll likely eat any small inverts like collonista snails and the like, but they're "usually" fish and reef safe as long as they aren't being starved.

 

If you do get one, make sure you're not getting a mimic filefish though. Several of these puffers have filefish doppelgangers which are usually more difficult, especially when it comes to feeding.

[SunWyrm]

Also snowflake pairs aren't a good idea to try without a ton of research. LFS had baby ones (<10") housed together and one took the other's face off. Tangs can be aggressive towards them as well, so be careful with that. I have seen tanks with zebra/snowflake "buddies" though.

Really interested to see you do a tusk pair. Tons of mixed reports out there on pairs.

My dogface ate aiptasia.... I never housed him with anything else although I did have plans to try.

He was great with my fuzzies, but that's definitely an individual fish thing.

[Rural]

They'll likely eat any small inverts like collonista snails and the like, but they're "usually" fish and reef safe as long as they aren't being starved.

 

i had issues with clean up crews with my valentini puffer, he ate everything. and if we went out of town over the weekend he nipped about every sps and the 1 clowns fins... all he did was swim cool and make us get a tank sitter, we banished him.