Fish tank mates with Porcupine puffer- suggestions requested

[gizmo duck]

Don't have a tank yet but the one fish I know I'm getting is a porcupine puffer. The tank will be in the 200-300 gal range so space won't be an issue.

Here is what I plan on having in the tank:

Porcupine puffer
Flame angel
tang (not decided on species)
Maybe flame hawk
pair of clowns with RBTA
A hasha yasha goby and shrimp pair ( I know this is dangerous but was thinking since the shrimp will have the goby to keep an eye out for predators they can survive and hide in the substrate when puffer comes around????)
A few fire fish (hoping they will school)

I know snails/crabs/shrimp are not safe but if I keep porky well fed and have lots of snails/crabs could I maintain a decent population with just a few picked off here and there?

Tell me your thoughts/suggestions and don't be shy about criticism.

 

[dodgerblew]

Invertebrates are their natural prey and foraging for them is their natural behavior so in my opinion the more inverts you add the more it'll pick them off. They also may eat smaller fish so that might be an issue over time too. Firefish are territorial and will pick on each other until they pair off and that's iffy too. If a porky is your centerpiece I'd consider larger fish.

 

[five.five-six]

Porcupine puffer will eat anything that it can fit in it’s mouth and it has a really large mouth.


Large fish, lions, groupers, eels, big tangs, triggers, harlequin tusk, that sort of thing is safe with porcupines. Everything small will get eaten.

 

[gizmo duck]

We’ve been toying with the idea of starting a reef tank for years and now that our boy wants a reef tank for Christmas we are making the plunge. The only fish he wants is a porky ��. He also wanted a shark but I was able to convince him that an aquarium is not a place a shark can thrive.

An aggressive tank just doesnt do it for me, I dont care for eels, triggers, lionfish etc.

I’ll start off with a small puffer and see how it goes, what’s life without a little risk.

 

[gizmo duck]

And it helps that puffers are super easy to catch if he starts eating his fish tank mates.

 

[five.five-six]

We've been toying with the idea of starting a reef tank for years and now that our boy wants a reef tank for Christmas we are making the plunge. The only fish he wants is a porky ��. He also wanted a shark but I was able to convince him that an aquarium is not a place a shark can thrive.

An aggressive tank just doesnt do it for me, I dont care for eels, triggers, lionfish etc.

I'll start off with a small puffer and see how it goes, what's life without a little risk.

Sharks are great in a tank, it's just a matter of the size of the tank LOL

I agree with your son, porcupine puffers are magical with their stunning eyes and dossel appearance and friendly face, but they are fish vacuum cleaners.

 

[dodgerblew]

I'll start off with a small puffer and see how it goes, what's life without a little risk.

I'm quite certain the small fish and invertebrates disagree with this concept

 

[m0nkie]

The clowns will be dead.. i had one for awhile that ate all my clowns inside the anemone. You can keep a large maroon clown if you want.

You will need to resupply CUC. You wont have enough snails.. mine was in a 500gal

If you insist on smaller fish, they need to be at least x2 the porkys mouth size imo.. and porkys grow FAST

 

[gizmo duck]

Thanks for all the advice,

We are going to a fish store today to look and I am going to attempt to convince my boy that a porky isn’t the way to go. When he sees all the other cool fish we can add to the tank I’ll just say we can’t have that bc the porky will eat it. Ive got a couple months at least before we start adding anything to a tank that I don’t even have yet.

 

[five.five-six]

Personally I'd rather eat at Ruth's Chris or Nobu then spend that kind of money on a meal for my puffer LOL

 

[five.five-six]

Since you won't have any hermit crabs and I think snails and sea hares would be fine, you could keep Harlequin Tusk and some docile angels and some tangs just no mandarins or clown fish or any of the little fishes

 

[dodgerblew]

Even better, show him reef safe fish and set up a reef instead of a FOWLR. All the other fish you have on your list are reef safe or with caution. You can do a simple reef and get the little guy interested