want to start a puffer species tank.

[JustReefIt14]

i am so lucky, one of my neighbors was giving away a 55gallon tank and i got it. i want to turn it into a reef tank but dont have the money at the moment so i thought id turn it into a tank for puffers and some small docile fish. does anyone have any experience with puffers? would this be a good idea? now about the tank, if i was going to house saltwater puffers would i need to use a skimmer or anything like that? maybe it would be like a freshwater tank. or could i use a hang on back skimmer if i wanted some liverock and livesand? the idea for a tank like this just came to me and wanted some advice. also does anyone know of any small and colorful puffers? thanks in advance.

 

[Anonymous]

Do you want to do a single puffer tank or multiple puffers, brackish or saltwater? In a 55gl tank you're gonna be limited on what you can do. Most puffers are not docile fish so small docile tankmates will end up being eaten.
They are also messy eaters so a skimmer or good filtration is a must.
Do a search on:
wetwebmedia.com

and read some of the messages on:

http://puffer.proboards2.com

When you get an idea on what fish you want to keep we can then give you pros and cons.

Regards,
David Mohr

 

[JustReefIt14]

thanks that was a great site. ive been thinking about getting a valentini or two. they look so cute and adorable. i read they dont get any more than 3-4 inches. i also think with some liverock and livesand the tank would look alot more alive. on the choice of adding fish what about some maroon clowns? for so long ive longed for that 180 gallon tank and all of a sudden i get this 55 gallon tank and i say hey someones throwing it away and im not letting it go to waste so i quickly took the chance to do something cool with the tank. also could another combo be a valentini and a porkypine(lol)? i saw one at the fish store it was grey with some really cool dark blue eyes. i love it. i know the tank for a puffer tank is just live a fresh water tank but with a skimmer. im calling the lfs again for advice and any from you is greatly appreciated.

 

[Anonymous]

While C. valentini is haremic in the ocean in a 55gl tank you can only keep one unless you're sure you have a male and female ( tough to do ). These fish while small in size can be very aggressive nipping fins of even larger tankmates.
As far as tankmates larger Maroon clowns may work as they tend to be aggressive also but don't be surprised that your puffer doesn't try to nip their fins. Usually the better types of fish as tankmates for them would be bottom dwellers such as gobies and blennies.
Live rock would be excellent for these fish as they will occasionally feed on coralline algae though their diet is mostly comprised of macro algae, small crustaceans, snails, bristleworms, small starfish, etc. These fish need hard shelled foods to keep their teeth filed down so feeding should consist of small pieces of shrimp with the shell intact, squids with pieces of the mantel intact, shellfish still in the shell though slightly opened.
They may nip at corals but will consume ornamental shrimp, snails, crabs, stars, etc. As stated previously, though these fish are small they are messy eaters and produce a high volume of waste for their size so excellent skimming or filtration is a must.

Regards,
David Mohr

 

[JustReefIt14]

thanks again david, ive been thinking about this thing very closely and i really want to have a puffer tank. but with the 55 gallon will this list of fish work? :1 firefish, 1 red spotted blenny, 1 spotfin lion fish, 2 maroon clowns, a valentini and a porcupine. i hope that this isnt too much im up for whatever goes. when you said that it would be hard to get a male and female valentini how hard do you think? for filtration i was thinking about a big mechanical filter and excalibur protein filter plus live rock and live sand. my lfs told me that if i wanted 55 pounds of live rock it would almose 400 dollars. do you know where i can get the same for less? and the sand. hope to hear from you soon.

 

[fishfanatic2]

Yes that is 2 many fish. I belive porkeis get big. like a foot and a half. Id replace the spotfin with a dwarf fuzzy to keep your firefish and blenny alive. I think you need abetter skimmer than an excalibur, but i dont know much about these. If your LFS is charging 7 dollars a lb for LR, go on the internet, there's a thread on internet LR sites, i got mine off the net, 46 lbs for 150 bux.

 

[Anonymous]

ive been thinking about this thing very closely and i really want to have a puffer tank. but with the 55 gallon will this list of fish work? :1 firefish, 1 red spotted blenny, 1 spotfin lion fish, 2 maroon clowns, a valentini and a porcupine.

Skip the Firefish ( Nemateleotris spp. ) as your G. valentini will nip its fins and most likely harass it to death.
Skip the Lionfish ( Pterois antennata ) as your puffer will nip its fins and will probably out compete the slower lionfish for food.
Skip the Porcupine Puffer ( Diodon spp. ) as it grows to about 11".
I'm not sure what you mean by a Red Spotted Blenny. If you mean Blenniella chrysospilos then that would be ok.
Your two Maroon Clowns ( Premnas biaculeatus ) would be fine.
You may want to try something like a pair of Three Spot Damsels (Dascyllus trimaculatus )
These would be all you should put in that 55gl tank.

i hope that this isnt too much im up for whatever goes. when you said that it would be hard to get a male and female valentini how hard do you think? for filtration i was thinking about a big mechanical filter and excalibur protein filter plus live rock and live sand. my lfs told me that if i wanted 55 pounds of live rock it would almose 400 dollars. do you know where i can get the same for less? and the sand. hope to hear from you soon.

Forget about trying to get a pair. :wink:
Get a good protein skimmer I don't comment on brands so I'll let others do that.
I think you can do much better on the price of live rock from other sources but unfortunately I don't comment on LFS or Etailers, others will have to chime in.

Regards,
David Mohr

 

[JustReefIt14]

the scientific name for that blenny is istiblennius chrysospilos. so youre saying a valentini, a pair of marron clowns and i like the domino damsels. what do you think? and lastly i was looking at some hawkfishes.( the longnose hawkfish and the freckled hawkfish). will this fish get to big for my tank? thats all for now. i really dont want to go all out for nothing and end up killing some beautiful creatures. if you get what im saying.

 

[Mouse]

While were on the subject of messy eaters and big dumpers (puffers, lions etc), what type of substrate do you suggest for these guys.

Im kinda in two minds regarding this, excluding the puffers for a second (cuz theyd eat the snails) for a large lion fish setup, say a pair of radiata's and five fuzzy dwarfs, and perhaps a frog fish or two. would you suggest having a thin layer of crushed coral that could be easily vacumed, or would you say go for an oolitic DSB filled with Nassarus, queen conch, tigertails and serpent stars to stir up and eat the detritus?

im thinking of doing a softy tank, with a load of shrooms and maybee a couple of LPS (providing they dont upset the softys), lit with t5's and the mother of all skimmers. possibly feeding a dual chambered refugium with a slow flow cryptic sponge section and a reverse lit algal fuge.

any suggestions?

 

[Anonymous]

and lastly i was looking at some hawkfishes.( the longnose hawkfish and the freckled hawkfish). will this fish get to big for my tank?

The Freckled Hawkfish ( Paracirrhites forsteri ) grows to about 9" this is too big for your tank, however the Longnose Hawkfish ( Oxycirrhites Typus ) would be fine in your tank though you'll have to give up a fish or two because you'll be stretching the limits of your 55gl tank.

Regards,
David Mohr

 

[Anonymous]

While were on the subject of messy eaters and big dumpers (puffers, lions etc), what type of substrate do you suggest for these guys.

Im kinda in two minds regarding this, excluding the puffers for a second (cuz theyd eat the snails) for a large lion fish setup, say a pair of radiata's and five fuzzy dwarfs, and perhaps a frog fish or two. would you suggest having a thin layer of crushed coral that could be easily vacumed, or would you say go for an oolitic DSB filled with Nassarus, queen conch, tigertails and serpent stars to stir up and eat the detritus?

im thinking of doing a softy tank, with a load of shrooms and maybee a couple of LPS (providing they dont upset the softys), lit with t5's and the mother of all skimmers. possibly feeding a dual chambered refugium with a slow flow cryptic sponge section and a reverse lit algal fuge.

any suggestions?

You should suspect the question I'm gonna ask. How big of tank would this be?
Both types of substrate would be fine for this type of tank. I know the rage a few years back was to use a coarser substrate and vacuum regularly. A finer substrate would be my choice as I like the varied life in my sand bed
and since you want to keep some corals the sand bed critters contribute greatly to the feeding needs of the corals and sponges by providing an abundant source of zooplankton.

Regards,
David Mohr

 

[JustReefIt14]

so a valentini or two, a longnose hawkfish, two marron clowns, some domino damsels and a redspotted blenny. will work in this tank. the subject on the sand was something i need to know too. what size would you suggest for a tank like this? lastly what kind of cleanup crew could i use because i know that the puffers will harras those too.

 

[Anonymous]

so a valentini or two, a longnose hawkfish, two marron clowns, some domino damsels and a redspotted blenny. will work in this tank. the subject on the sand was something i need to know too. what size would you suggest for a tank like this? lastly what kind of cleanup crew could i use because i know that the puffers will harras those too.

No reread my replies. You can't have all those fish in a 55gl tank.
If you want two C. valentini you'll have to cut back on other fish, if you want an O. typus you'll have to cut back on other fish. I would do no more than 5 fish in that size tank.
If your dead set on getting a pair of C. valentini make sure that only one has blue-green iridescent lines radiating from the eyes, blue-gray lines on a light orange background under the jaw and bluegreen patch in the back of the anus; this would be the male. Two males would probably kill each other in that size tank. Rethink on what you want to keep.
As far as substrate if you have a good skimmer I would go with a finer live sand substrate. Cleanup crew would consist of your live sand critters and snails.

Regards,
David Mohr

 

[Mouse]

You should suspect the question I'm gonna ask. How big of tank would this be?

Hmmm well working on the basis that eventually i sould be stocking at 2 inches per 5 US gallons. And considering that initially the Aquarium will be stocked with Juviniles, i sould meet the 1 inch per 5 US gallons initially, infact hopefully it sould be allot less as the inhabitant will take well over a year to reach maturity.

Radiata Lion fish grows to 9inches (nice size IMO, think the Antenatas are a wee big huge)

Fuzzy Dwarf grows to 7 inches (think its a bit big, i would have expected 4 or 5 inches)

and finally the frogfish which i would hope to grow to arround 4-5 inches also.

ok, 2 Radiatas, 5 Fuzzy Dwarfs, and lets have 2 frog fish (so he's not lonely) and that gives me 63 inches of poisonous predatory madness.

63 x 5 = a huge hole in my wallet or 315 gallons. wow!!!!!

so lets make it 350 gallons.

maybee id be better off with 35 inches, or a 175 to start with.

1 Radiata, 3 fuzzys and a frog fish.

Anyways, say its a 350 gallon predatory softy tank.

also any suggestions on curculation for a tank like this, i was thinking a little less throttle than a regualr reef but keeping it to arround 10 GPH. Should i go less?

 

[Anonymous]

also any suggestions on curculation for a tank like this, i was thinking a little less throttle than a regualr reef but keeping it to arround 10 GPH. Should i go less?

None of these are are particularly strong swimmers so you don't want to blow 'em out. I would say 10 GPH would be a safe turnover rate to go for.
We want pictures when it's done.

Regards,
David Mohr

 

[Mouse]

yea, i want the tank, should be good.

Sorry for the thread hijack, but i dont feel its off topic. Cheers for the info David.

Basically im going to start a neww marine project soon, depending on how the incomes going it'll either be the one above, or a small species tank with a Ritteri and a school of clowns. but with the recent T5 introduction i tought id do something really good with them, hence the tank above. Only thing is though, with 8 poisonous fish in there maintenance is going to be quite exciting. he he he he :twisted:

 

[JustReefIt14]

david i have this book that shows a valentini and the pic doesnt have those markings so im guessing its a female. since you said if i have good filtration then i can go with a finer sand. is this correct?

 

[Anonymous]

david i have this book that shows a valentini and the pic doesnt have those markings so im guessing its a female. since you said if i have good filtration then i can go with a finer sand. is this correct?

The answer to your first question is yes or it's a juvenile and the answer to your second question is also yes.
I hope you heed my advice and don't add all those fish you originally wanted to put into your 55gl tank.

Regards,
David Mohr

 

[JustReefIt14]

oh yes ill take you advice to heart and do whats best. but when i read what you had wrote and looked at what my lfs said i could do i was like two totally different pieces of advice, which is right. they told me i could have the two puffers and lionfish in one tank with no prob. but i take it that you probably have more experience with the subject and ill do the best i can. thanks. ok now since i want live rock and live sand in my tank ill need more than no lighting. i was thinking compact, how many watts do you suggest. i want to have enough but no too much. i am on a budget. lol. as always in advance thanks.

 

[fishfanatic2]

Since this is a FOWLR, power compacts are perfect. Id go with the 48" coralife aqualight, its relatively inexpensive and they are nice lights. I have a 30" and I am very pleased. CHeck out RDO sponsor hellolights.com for aqualights.