Dog faced puffer

[Laura D]

Hi!

I have a 90 gallon tank up and running, I used it as a temporary holding tank for my reef when I moved, but now the reef is up and I have this 90g with a nicely functioning DSB, a good bit of live rock, and a chromis to keep it running. I want to have a fish only tank, definitly with a puffer, Arothron nigropunctatus, and possibly a Harliquin tuskfish or one of the smaller triggers, depending on the info I get. Some questions.

Can a puffer of this type be kept with a deep sand bed? I don't know if puffy would tend to dig too much. The sand bed is very live and working well and it would be a shame to have to take it out.

Should I put a wet/dry on this set up? I have one that would be easy to install, and I assume would be good to have to help manage that large amounts of food/poo that will be going through the tank.

I was going to keep the chromis in the tank so the puffer would have a buddy until I could get more fish in there, Is this a good idea? (Chromis seems to like being in the tank by himself BTW, he patrols it like an attack dog and is always out and swimming, not skittish at all)

Can I put two puffers in a 90g? Scott Michael says they require at least a 75, maybe two would be pushing it.

How should I arange the rockwork for these guys?

Thanks for your answers,

[FMarini]

Laura:
i can't speak for all puffers, but dogfaced or black spotted puffers are relatively benign puffers. They are somewhat active fish, and will only dig is they are hunting food. So if you have an active live sand bed and they spot the crawlie worms I would expect them to dig. Puffers in general are usually meat eaters (like shellfish, shrimp, crab meat), and if underfed will root around in the substrate.
As far as tankmates these fish can be fin nippers, but again (in general-i hate generalities) they keep to themselfs. The many times i've watched dogfaced puffers they are usually sitting on the bottom w/ their tail curled around thier bodies.

I've never kept 2 puffers together so i have no comment there

As far as arranging rockwork...your call.... these guys are not active rockmovers (again they only chase food), so they may take some nips at the rockwork, but dogfaces are too problematic.
it should be fine w/ a harlequin tusk
good luck
frank

[Laura D]

Frank,
Thanks for the quick reply. One thing that I keep coming across in my research is that puffers may need to be dewormed. Do you know anything about this? I have never seen a product for deworming a fish. I would guess there may a type of medicated food that I could give. Also, do you think that it would be better to get a juvenile or a larger puffer? I have been seeing alot of very small ones for sale lately, but I am suspicious of ther survival rate.

[FMarini]

Laura:
Deworming...yikes.......
Well I have never dewormed a fish, I've only read in scott michael's book how they deworm fish. They use fenbendazole(a dog/cat dewormer) and they "tube" the fish, and squirt this stuff down the tube into its belly. NOT COOL.
I have no ideas on how much and how frequently. I would assume you should just not worry about worms unless your fish is eating and getting thinner, or is sick from the get-go.
don't know for sure
frank

[Q-ball]

Hi Laura...if I can chime in a bit with personal experience...I've had my dog-faced puffer in my 90g for well over a year, and he's gotta be the biggest wussy of a fish! The only time he bothers the sandbed is when he's going after the clams I drop in for him. As for the deworming, I've heard that before once, and it seemed really wierd to me. Not sure why they'd need dewormed really, but I suppose anything's possible:D Anyhow, good luck with the puffer, you'll find that they're quite the character!

Q!!!

Oh, you asked about tank-mates too :) Snoopy's about 7" long, we call him the bloated torpedo...he resides in his 90g with a 3.5" niger trigger, 3" huma trigger, 2.5" 1/2black dwarf angel & a 1.5" blue devil damsel. These guys so far all get along great, all of them except the damsel have been together in the tank over a year and the only problem I have at all is that every now & then the angel will nip Snoopy's tail. Never any damage, but I'm sure he doesn't care for it. As for food, he gets live clams once a week, sliced up tiger shrimp once or twice, all from the grocery. The rest of his diet is mainly dried krill. HTH

[hcs3]

One thing that I keep coming across in my research is that puffers may need to be dewormed. Do you know anything about this? I have never seen a product for deworming a fish. I would guess there may a type of medicated food that I could give.

it is estimated that up to 75% of imported marine fish have internal parasites. most can live easily with the parasite, so long as they are not stressed. 3 internal parasites are commonly found in our marine fish. nematodes (round worm), cestodes (tape worms), and acanthocephalan (spiny-headed worms).

if the fish is still eating, it is usually easy to cure. piperazine used at 250mg over 100g of food for 7 - 10 days. praziquantel (droncit) or levamisole cn be used at the same dosage as well. finally, niclosamide (mansonil) can be used with a dosage of 500mg over 100g of food for 7 - 10 days. any of the above should be satisfactory.

HTH

henry