I still think I'd be too concerned about my soft corals, shrimp and other CUC getting maimed by the cheeky puffer! It's been very interesting to hear about your experiences though, so feel free to carry on the discussion . I think I'll stick to a 'community' reef setup for my first marine tank. Then later on I can possibly dedicate a tank to having a puffer... or maybe more than one tank hehe.

I can personally guarantee you the puffer will not eat any of your soft corals. You say you want a community reef system? Well, so do I; and the puffer fits in quite well. I personally would not be without this fish, even if it did turn around and peck the zoas one day. It would effectively be the 'last to go'.

To be "extra" safe, get a Canthigaster solandri. This species is probably the most safe of all the already almost-all-the-time-reef-safe genus Canthigaster.

As to what bit shibby's clown's tail, it may have been the puffer but it could have been almost anything else. Clownfish have adapted over millions of years to sleep in the impenetrable fortress that is a symbiotic anemone. They do not need to hide or be alert during night time, so they don't. This is why you almost never find clownfish without a nem in the wild; they would be snapped up very quickly. In aquaria, they can be taken by animals that normally not threaten a live fish such as hermit crabs, shrimp, snails and even starfish. So it could have been the puffer, but it could not have been. Until you see something actually take a bite out of him, you can't be sure.

Even then the puffer is about a bazillion times cooler than the clown.

-Lynden

This post has been edited by Lynden: Aug 25 2007, 06:20 AM

What fish do you currently have housed with your valentini in which case? Also what do you feed yours? Thankyou!

shrimp has been found but valentini has eaten its feelers and it keeps going to peck at it also now both my clowns have holes in there tails, circled shaped holes my main suspect is the puffer.


it hasnt however touched the polyps, mushrooms or hermit crabs!


as for feeding i give it a mixture of mussel, brine, mysis, krill etc. im gonna start stuffing food into empty shells so it can wear down its teeth and hopefully keep it accupied from nipping the shrimp.

Circle shaped holes sound very much like puffer bites... I've seen that before with FW puffers. I'm glad that Lynden's valentini is very peaceful, but it's obvious from what shibby has said that you don't really know exactly how the individual animals will behave until you get them. Various forum searches reveal that a lot of them are totally peaceful and fine for community tanks and others like to play biting games with the other tank inhabitants. Shibby it's good that the polyps, mushrooms and crabs are OK at least!

Mine's actually a Leopard puffer Tetraodon fluviatilis... I imagine these will be even safer with corals than any Canthigaster. Small shrimp are usually the first things to go with any "risky" fish, and hermits and large snails are the last... maybe a smaller C. solandri would be best for your setup. Corals are not particularly high on the "kill list" of puffers (or almost any tetraodont), so these will most likely be safe.

So the general conclusion is that you may have to avoid a few animals to keep the puffer "safely"... but in my opinion the puffer beats the hell out of all of them.