Acrylic and Puffers

[JustinReef]

I had a puffer in the past in an acrylic tank and he absolutely destroyed it. I just bought a new 8' 240G acrylic tank and Im sure its going to get pretty bad too but Im just curious for those of you who do have puffers in acrylic tanks how its been? I guess Triggers as well? I have heard of them scratching acrylic pretty badly.

Things is, I need a big home for my Niger Trigger and acrylic is all I can do for a tank this big...so scratched or not, it has to work!

 

[bluedevils32701]

puffers and triggers will destroy the acrylic in a matter of days. i have 4 golden puffers and they even scratch glass!!!

 

[JustinReef]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13246914#post13246914 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by bluedevils32701
puffers and triggers will destroy the acrylic in a matter of days. i have 4 golden puffers and they even scratch glass!!!

Well certainly not in days. My 18" stars and stripes took many many months to make any noticeable marks on the my old tank and at least a year until I needed to buff them out.

Im curious to know how they manage to scratch glass??? That would be very hard for a puffer to do...

 

[reefer334]

I was just thinking that this should be a subject that the mods should sticky to the top of this forum.

Acrylic tanks are no good for predators a puffers and triggers and Parrot fish!!!!!

They work good for grouper ,angels, tangs, wrasses, sharks ect........

Goodluck

Chris

 

[JustinReef]

Yeah maybe I just had one that "behaved". I have only kept one or two puffers in the past that have paced the glass constantly and would certainly have scratched the heck out of a tank quickly. My current puffers only ever pace when I am feeding them.

May not be a great idea after all...

Well its a 240G Tru Vu tank with T5 lights, 3 months old with receipts and I got it for $500. So I may just sell it anyways. There was no way I was going to pass up this deal!

 

[reefer334]

Sweet deal!!!


Chris

 

[JustinReef]

Yeah it was a sweet deal but now I have to decide what to do with the thing.

How badly have your puffers and triggers scratched yours? I know you said badly but is it bad enough that the tank looks horrible all the time or just up close. Is viewing that hard?

Im trying to figure out if using it and knowing its going to get scratched up is worth it or not. Its kind of a dilemma because its a great home for my fish who are getting bigger but aesthetically it could turn out bad.

I feel like I should put the fish first!

Do you have close ups of how the acrylic looks after a while?

 

[JustinReef]

Oh and I guess I should mention Im not talking about any of the Arothron puffers, just a porcupine and Burrfish both of which do not have what I like to call "Rabbit teeth"

It may not make a difference but its much harder for a porc to rub their teeth along the glass because they are much smaller and deeper in their mouth.

But I think Im just looking for a good reason to keep the tank!

 

[LauraCline]

I have a Toby puffer who "pecks" on the glass all the time. It doesn't hurt the glass at all but I shudder to think what he could do to an acrylic tank.

 

[JustinReef]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13253693#post13253693 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by LauraCline
I have a Toby puffer who "pecks" on the glass all the time. It doesn't hurt the glass at all but I shudder to think what he could do to an acrylic tank.

Wow yeah that would be bad news. Tobies are very nippy little guys, a lot more so than bigger species of puffers. Along the same lines as some of the brackish puffers, like Green Spotted. They are one of the few puffers I have kept that eat corals too. Of course not all but out of the three Valentini's I have had, two ate corals and the current one I have does not.

I'm still undecided here...keep the smaller glass tank thats only 72"x20"x18" (around 100G) and upgrade later to a bigger glass tank or use the 240G acrylic now knowing its going to get very scratched up.

Still would like to know how bad it is for viewing once the puffers have been in there for a few months or years. Especially from say 4-5' away sitting on the couch. I can deal with scratches being very evident close up but I don't really want to see them all the time and especially not from far. I know after many years its gets bad enough that the tank looks foggy but Im talking after a few.

I was so lucky when I had my old Stars and Stripes that he never scratched his tank much. He layed around a lot though and at feeding he would not pace the glass but just stick his head out of the water.

 

[megaspoot]

Hey Justin,

So it was you that pulled the trigger on that tru-vu. How do you even have room at your place for a tank that big???

As for keeping it or not, personally I wouldn't, especially if the plan is to keep triggers and puffers in it. If you find that your burrfish and porc don't rub their teeth too much on the tank then it'd be worth it to keep. I'd never put my ceylons in an acrylic tank, because when they are "begging" for food, you can clearly hear scraping sounds from the teeth rubbing the glass. No experience with triggers though.