Bicolor Toby Puffer - Bad idea in reef?

[SecretiveFish]

Having seen the cutest bicolor toby puffer, I of course want to add him to my reef tank, but the less impulsive part of my brain is telling me it is a bad idea... Thoughts?

His potential tank of residence is a 65g soft coral and LPS tank with a snowflake/naked clownfish pair, a royal gramma, a longnose hawkfish, and a orange spotted goby. There are only a handful of hermits crabs left, some banded trochus snails, a fighting conch and two tiger cowries.

 

[Stevenliu9]

I have a toby and he's the king of my 75G sump/refugium lol. I am too afraid to even put him in my DT with tons of hermits, 4 cleaners and 2 coral banded not to mention bunch of snails. I would say though I have a lot of mini turbo snails in the sump and he doesn't touch them.

 

[SecretiveFish]

Thanks Stevenliu9. I was pretty sure it was a bad idea (too bad because they are so cute!) and will leave him for someone else.

Based on the lack of response, I was guessing everyone else was smarter than me and did not even consider trying it! :lol2:

 

[Fragman4]

I have never tried it only due to the fact I am too scared lol. It is a risk that I am not willing to gamble.

 

[rssjsb]

My experience with tobies (albeit a different species) is that they'll eat snails and probably hermits, but I suspect your hawkfish may be taking care of the crabs anyway. I never had an issue with it eating corals, especially softies. I love them and have been considering another (lost my original some time ago).

 

[Betta132]

You'd have to choose between the snails/etc and the puffy. If you get him, definitely remove the cowries beforehand... they're very pretty, would be a shame if he decided to eat them.

 

[SecretiveFish]

Thanks rssjsb. From what little information there is about these guys, that is what I gathered. Now that I think about it, I have some nassarius snails and a couple emerald crabs in that tank too that I would rather not go missing... It was actually a hermit crab that took out most of my hermit crabs and snails. The hermit was sold to me online as a zebra leg but it was not and I never figured out what kind it was. Imagine a dark brown bodies hermit crab with his claws and legs dipped in white and you would have this hermit crab. He grew to fit into a large turbo shell, and now he is in a separate tank waiting to go to the LFS.

Thanks Betta132. Yeah, I was figuring that was the case. I would be very sorry to see the cowries go. They are so attractive and fun to watch while helping me with a serious hair/turf algae outbreak (have you ever had everything go wrong all at once on an older tank???). ETA, the cowries are about the size of a medium orange!

Someday I want to try a toby, but that day is not today!

 

[SDguy]

The other issue with small puffers like this is powerheads. I lost one to a Tunze 6255. I know a friend that also lost one to a powerhead.

 

[Reef Bass]

My Tyleri Toby has been a delightful addition to my 100g reef. I haven't seen him harass any corals. I have seen him peck a snail shell occasionally but haven't seen him take any snails out. I'd be most concerned about small snails like bumblebees. My mexican turbo bulldozers must weigh more than the puffer!