corals with puffer?

[tank o tang]

Wanted to do a softie tank out of my fowlr. Was going great, Trigger or bird wrasse didn't touch a thing so fogured my wifes dogface wouldn't bother. So far he ate my gsp, athenia, leathers, and rics but hasn't touched the zenia, cabbage or kenya tree. Anyone else know what corals I have better chances with him?

[demonsp]

Puffers not reef safe they eat inverts. And are messy eaters.FOWLR means that fish only.

[tank o tang]

So's my trigger and wrasse, they eat hermits, but neither has botherd my snails, coral banded shrimp, or corals. Snails come out at night and shrimp all day. Reef safe means that it dosen't get along with the whole package not that every non reef fish will eat all coral.

[demonsp]

Sounds like you want both. You have reef fish and FO fish and now want coral. Sounds like you want a reef tank.
Fish can survive in rather bad water conditions but coral cant. FO fish are messy eaters and eat cleanup crew.
Its funny though you asked a question i answered correctly and you get defensive. Sounds to me like you are going to do want you want.
Just come back whene coral dont survive and ask again.
Im just trying to help. GL

[aninjaatemyshoe]

I don't think too many people have tested the limits of what corals a puffer will eat... I guess you're somewhat of a pioneer.

[demonsp]

Originally posted by aninjaatemyshoe
I don't think too many people have tested the limits of what corals a puffer will eat... I guess you're somewhat of a pioneer.

Its been done and doesnt work. Thats why he is a not reef safe fish. And i always see people adding reef fish in with FO fish and this is wrong for the fish and not natural.
You want FOWLR then stay FOWLR.
Thats why they call it FOWLR , FOWOLR , and Reef tank. Theres a differance and they pioneers thought doing this would help newbies understand the differance. But not always true.

[tank o tang]

Sorry didn't mean to come off defensive just see so many people jump down throats. Hope I'm not the pioneer but if so here goes lol. I just wanted a little more life on the live rock as you can only add so many fish so I figured I'd try softies and keep up on more water changes. The trigger and wrasse were doing so good. Puffer will stay as kids have named him big daddy. Looks like chiclids are getting moved out sooner than I thought.

[willjeff]

Maybe the puffer won't touch certain corals, you never know.

For the most part you are right that Triggers, Puffers, and the like will destroy the corals, but you never know.

[kenny77]

I have a different opinion.

You need to think about what kind of coral you want to keep and if they are compatible with you fish stock.

I have Sharpnose puffer in my tank. and yes they are messy eater. only you do a mess feeding them because mind eat everything with out mess as long as I feed him slowly. so far he hasn't touch any zoanthia, ricordea, star polyp, gorgonia, anemone, sea star, hermit or snail.

if you are going to attempt this you most think first and plan everything the right way and at the end choose wisely so you don't have any further problem.

PS. Any puffer will eat you shrimp, hermit, crabs, snail one he mature and grow enough to fit them in his mouth. go with the one that has a small mouth like sharpnose or valentini, that are puffer proven to be safe in a reef with some care taken.

[demonsp]

Not saying a softy or two wont survive and some exsperimenting can be fun and educational. Just not being a responsible reef keeper whene all said and done.
I think you need to decide what you want from your tank and just follow that road.
Just research any corals needs from lighting to feeding before you add for better chance. GL

[aninjaatemyshoe]

Originally posted by demonsp
Its been done and doesnt work. Thats why he is a not reef safe fish. And i always see people adding reef fish in with FO fish and this is wrong for the fish and not natural.
You want FOWLR then stay FOWLR.
Thats why they call it FOWLR , FOWOLR , and Reef tank. Theres a differance and they pioneers thought doing this would help newbies understand the differance. But not always true.

I was referring to letting a puffer have its choice of what corals it wants to eat until you discover which corals it won't eat. I don't think too many people have been willing to do this experiment. I think most people would take the puffer out after they first notice it take a nice chunk out of something.

[huskyrider]

Ive kept a long horn cowfish in a 500g fraging raceway but there was soo much coral you couldn't notice if he had eatin anything or not but on the whole don't try this at home 10 times out of 10 it will end badly. Sacrificing corals to find ones that aren't tasty dosen' make earth happy. I know, it told me, over dinner last night.

[kenny77]

Puffer do eat corals, sponges, sea urchins, other echinoderms, and small crustaceans in general. every specie eat something different. how you know. well you know by looking at there mouth. like snowflake eel puffer have flat teeth that allow them to eat hard shell crustacean. they crush and grind up their prey with their heavy, fused teeth.

if you want problems any specie of Arothron,Chilomycterus , Diodon will likely cause big problem because there mouth anatomy and there taste for coral and crustacean even at small size. look for Canthigaster sp. and you can find some option that aren't that big and can be placed in your reef with some care taken. but remember that any day they will start looking for what they really like, first thing to go are hermits(small ones)

[OnoIgotICH]

Are you sure? Puffers ARE reef safe, They will not bother your corals. They will eat your shrimp crabs etc I wouldnt recommend it.

[tank o tang]

Mine just ate my softies but lets the coral banded shrimp walk right pass him lol

[m2434]

Puffers in a reef... Why not throw in some Tiggers and Angels for good measure?

Just kidding, I don't mean to sound antagonistic, I respect pushing limits of the hobby, but more often than not, when people try they waste lost of $$$$.

[dendro982]

Small sharpnosed valentini puffer was very good citizen in my tank, although I would not put there Christmas tree worms or other dusters and balloon-like corals, like cynarina. Scolymia ans candycanes were OK.
Details with photos are on my valentini puffer page .

[ledford1]

Originally posted by OnoIgotICH
Are you sure? Puffers ARE reef safe, They will not bother your corals. They will eat your shrimp crabs etc

I think you're flying in the face of convention.

I think Canthigasters are the least likely of the puffers to eat your spineless friends, but still are not a sure thing. So applying sweeping generalizations to all puffers is difficult. And some of it comes down to the individual personalities.

I have kept my Dogface with hermits, various snails, cleaner shrimp, peppermint shrimp, feather dusters, Christmas tree worms, ricordea, and mushrooms. My experience is a mixture of results.

Having said that, he has shown a taste for mushrooms. After coexisiting peacefully, he seemed to have woken up one morning and thought he should begin eating them all - they were gone in hours. I saw nips in the ricordea, but other than that remained.

He has never bothered my Hawaiian feather duster. But after adding Christmas tree worms one day, I woke the next morning to see bite marks all over the Porites where he had tried to bite down into the rock and get the worms - so I had to separate the two parties.

My Dogface has never bothered my skunk cleaner shrimp. In fact, he has learned to use their cleaning abilities after a couple of years of just avoiding them (he used to jet away if a cleaner tried to touch him). So with that success, I tried some peppermint shrimp. The trio I bought was nil in a week.

Nerites, nassarius, ceriths, turbos, bumblebees, astreas and a conch have all been kept with my Dogface with success. And the same can be said of my handful of hermits.

IMO/E, with a puffer, you're going to be limited. And with the larger puffers, you going to be very limited if you can keep inverts at all. While it's sad those animals eaten and killed, on your side of the glass, it can be expensive trying to find out what works. Maybe starting a nano for your new-found liking of corals is a good idea.

[katpurdy]

i have a 7 year old dog face puffer that has never touched any hermit or snail. He has yellow polyps in the tank....and a couple of mushrooms. If you keep your animal well fed, with quality food...they are less likely to scavenge. JMO

[jefferzbooboo]

I have zoos, shrooms, and some leathers in my puffer tank with snails and crabs and have had no problems for over a year with anything being ate. In my 125g puffer tank I have a dogface and a Pink spotted toby and they have never bothered anything. In my 55g reef tank I have a Paupan toby that destroys any mushrooms or zoos I put in there but leaves my leathers alone and doesn't bother snails or crabs.
With puffers its hit or miss

[tank o tang]

My gsp must have just gotten ****ed off because all is back out. The only thing he demolished are my rics, shrooms and 2 plugs of athenia. The leathers are back with the kenya. Xenia and cabbage go untouched. Tried to put some shrooms in and it was like he had radar for them. So other than the shrooms and rics I would say all else is good so far.

[Stuart60611]

i have had a valentini puffer for over 1 year in with frogspawn, bubble coral, mushrooms, zoas, and green stair and daisy polyps. He has never as so much as nibbled at any of them. He is a completely docile fish and not that messy of a eater. My corals are thriving. He does go after snails and hermits on occassion, but many survive. I just added a bunch of each i n the begining and after he got about 1/3 the remaining 2/3 have survived for over 1 year.

[bluetmax]

I have a 55 gallon tank that was originally set up with the intention of being a FOWLR. A porcupine puffer, as well as two large wrasses are its only inhabitants as far as fish are concerned. I initially had no intention of adding any corals, but in one of my reefs I had blue pom pom xenia, mushrooms, and button polyps that were growing at a phenomenal rate. I could not give it away fast enough, so I started throwing the cuttings in with the puffer and the wrasses almost a year ago. To this day, they have not touched any corals, but this is likely an exception, IMO. Any crustacean or snail that goes into the tank doesn't last more than thirty seconds.

[tmz]

I have a Valentini with zoanthus, mushrooms, sacrophyto and sinularia. No problem. I have a dogface and it though very well fed will eat anything including inverts and fish and the dried seaweed taht the Foxface can't get to in time. The Dogface is a great fish and resides in a fowlr tank not in the reef.

[tank o tang]

^Thats why he is a not reef safe fish. And i always see people adding reef fish in with FO fish and this is wrong for the fish and not natural.
I thought they ere all naturally from the reefs. Don't think divers take to many hit or miss fishing in open waters for our pets.

The Dogface is a great fish and resides in a fowlr tank not in the reef
Doing great just dont add shrooms or rics

Puffers in a reef... Why not throw in some Tiggers and Angels for good measure?
I've got my huma in there and he is well behaved

All my corals are doing great with the exception of shrooms and rics with my puffer, trigger, and bird wrasse.