porcupine pufferfish question

[palcaidinho]

I have a pinktail triggerfish, tomatoe clown, and damselfish. I also have some live rock, mushrooms, bubble tip anemonies,and a leather coral. I was wondering if having a porcupine puffer in my setup would be o.k will my corals be o.k? Thanks Pat

 

[LeoR]

Porcupine fish will not bother your corals, anemones, mushrooms or fish.

A few quick notes about porcupines:
-- They are slow and peaceful, which makes them an easy target for aggresive fish, such as angels.
-- They have very sensitive eyes (they hunt at night) and dislike strong lights (which can blind them), and like to rest in a shaded area during the day.
-- Their favorite food (found in most grocery stores) is: oysters, clams, mussels, crab, shrimp and squid.

LeoR

 

[Keith A]

What about snails and hermits?

 

[reefsRcool]

for what it's worth my lfs talked me out of one of these because a big fish poops alot and makes keeping water quality good enough for corals very very hard. plus most reef tanks are pretty crowded when the corals grow out cramping up the swimming room for a fish that big that cannot fit through narrow passages. i guess my question to you is what size tank do oyu have and how much other stuff is going to be in it. plan for growth of all creatures involved too.

 

[LeoR]

reefsRcool:

Your concern about swimming space is well justified -- porcupines grow fast and need plenty of room.

Porcupines are very efficient eating machines and very little food goes to waste -- in many years of studying Porcupines I have seen them poop only a couple of times, under extreme stress.

Reefs are cool, but there are no cool reefs without fish -- in nature reefs without fish are dead reefs.

LeoR

 

[reefsRcool]

i in no way was endorsing a fishless system. would be silly to have a fishtank without a fish wouldn't it? i have three small fish one good sized goby and a tang in my 75 and think that is a pretty nice load

yellow tang
brown bar goby
false percula clown
orchid dottyback
neon goby

i am thinking about adding a firefish but havn't made up my mind

i just know there are some things you can not put in a reef unless you are very very well setup. IMO a puffer is one of them. more tragically a cowfish is on the list two.

 

[wombat1]

Reefs r cool you might have problems with a firefish and orchid dotty together. My firefish was the first fish in my 80 gal and my dotty NEVER let him come out of his hole once I introduced him. A month later he was dead. I agree on the puffer, you need a very large tank to house one. If you can find a place to keep him when he's bigger go for it. They're very cool when small, taking food right out of your fingers.