Do you know of any reef-safe puffers?

[Chris_150G]

I had a dog faced puffer for the first year I had my tank running as salt water fish only. He caught ick from another fish and died. He was my favorite fish becaue he had a lot of personality. Does anyone know of a puffer species that can be in a reef?

 

[ltljoker]

Sorry their are no reef safe puffers that i know of they will all eat your clean up crew and some will even nip at corals:frustrat:

 

[daugherty]

none that i know of

 

[Melosu58]

Sorry as mentioned above there are none esp for your cleanup crew.

 

[cthegame]

+1 all of the above. None.

 

[yote]

+2 all the above

 

[Bifferwine]

Sorry Chris :(

You should get a pink tail trigger instead. AWESOME fish!!

 

[steelcity]

blue throat trigger.

can't wait til i get a bigger tank.

 

[dcantucson]

Sorry Chris. I've even tried some of the smaller species with no luck.

 

[Chris_150G]

Thanks all. That makes sense.

Trigger? I'll start checking them out when I go to the fish shop.

 

[ltljoker]

I would look into a ghost ribbion eel their sweet looking, or the blue ribbon

 

[PufferGuy]

i had a ghost ribbon and he munched on a few fish... if you have bigger fish then a ribbon eel would be ok, but mine killed my royal gramma and nipped at my Coral Beauty until it died.

 

[Melosu58]

http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=15+29+1737&pcatid=1737

Reef safe with caution. This is the only one I`ve seen that says that. I personally would not do it. Too much of chance.

 

[Bifferwine]

Most triggers are not reef safe, but there are a few that are. And those few really make awesome centerpiece fish in a reef tank.

 

[SalteeDogg]

I kept a porcupine puffer in a full blown reef with no problems but that was an extremely rare case I think. I had cleaner shrimp, snails, etc, and he never bothered anyone or nipped at a single coral. He just stayed infront of the glass all day and watched everyone in the house. He could of careless what was going on around him. He was like a little puppy dog.

 

[Chris_150G]

Maybe I could get one and put him on a tiny leash.

 

[winyfrog]

Sometimes you can add all of your shrimp, coral etc first let them get established then put a puffer in, but it is still a risk.

Reef safe triggers are the ones in the family "xanthichthys" also the pinktail I keep a male and a female crosshatch in my 850, they don't mess with anything, but my shrimp stay hidden as well, before I got the triggers they were out all the time.

 

[Bifferwine]

The shrimp know better than to get near any fish whose head makes up half its body, reef safe or not!

 

[winyfrog]

The shrimp know better than to get near any fish whose head makes up half its body, reef safe or not!

They don't shy away from my other fish that are larger then my triggers, My unicorn is just over 12in, with vlamingi in close 2nd.