I have the "Anti-Friendly" Puffer!!

[jrflex]

Saw another thread on cute, friendly Porcupine Puffers and posted this there, but thought it may be a good thread in and of itself. Anyone have a similar experience?


Relatively "newbie" to the aquarium world, but with the help of some good friends I have a nice 55-gal tank setup as FOWLR.

I recently got a Porcupine Puffer, relatively small (~4"). We thought he'd be friendly and tame, as I had a previous Puffer who would eat out of my hand, etc.

So my buddies are watching my tank the other day, and see the puffer eat a chromis! Shocked everyone!

I also have a moray eel in the tank, and sometimes feed him a few goldfish. I did the usual and put 2 goldfish in for a nice dinner for him...and....the puffer chowed both goldfish before the eel even had a shot at dinner!

Needless to say, makes me think twice about hand-feeding "Puff Daddy Jr.".

FYI, in the tank I have:

• A moray eel (~8 inches now and growing)
• The puffer
• A blue damsel which has been a survivor (eel ate the other 2 blue damsels weeks ago...but I think the eel and this guy have arrived at some sort of agreement)
• An anemone
• A huge Calico crab.

Also, interesting fact: A clown fish (Nemo) will not automatically go to the anemone...and if the eel finds the clown fish first, it is not good for the clown. But after seeing my cute lil' puffer chow down a few other fish, we also think it may have been the puffer who ate the clown.

Such is life....

 

[Jeremy Blaze]

Just because a puffer is 'friendly and will eat out of your hand' does not mean its not going to eat other fish or anything else that looks tastey.

Fish do not have human emotions.

You should really reasearch your purcheses as you are giving your fish some expensive meals.

The clown is next.

What about the anemone, what species? Are you providing it with intense light, and great water quality?

 

[humaguy]

just being a puffer...I would recommend not feeding the eel live food...puffer will get your crab too...

 

[NewbyReefer]

+1 on puffer being a puffer.

Will eat anything that is of edible size. I don't know what you have been feeding it but it needs something with a shell in its diet to wear down its teeth as well and a 55gal is way to small to house the porc when fully grown or even halfway grown for that matter.

 

[olemiss reb]

You should really research your purchases

^this. Porc needs a much larger tank and may eat everything in your tank including the nem. What type of eel? Feeding goldfish to marine animals will lead to fatty liver disease and ultimately death.

 

[anbosu]

Get rid of the puffer. It will eat pretty much any fish that fits in that size tank.

 

[sandwi54]

Puffer, eels, triggers, etc. are aggressive carnivores! They should not be kept with small fish that can fit into their mouths. You will need to rehome the clownfish as it will become their meals very soon.

Also, stop feeding feeder goldfish. It's the worst food ever (even for freshwater carnivores). There is very little nutrition and will almost always cause fatty liver disease as the above post claimed. Most LFS will still tell you to feed feeder goldfish, but that is old, archaic knowledge and there are much better (and cheaper) foods. You will also need to feed hard-shelled food to puffers a couple of times a week to trim down their teeth. Although, porcupine puffers don't suffer the continuously-growing teeth problem as much as the Arothron species, but it'll still be good to feed him some hard-shelled foods.

Puffer foods should be: clams, mussels, squids, whole raw shrimps, silversides, etc. Basically the seafood you can buy at supermarkets. Make sure you freeze them overnight in the freezer to kill all potential parasites, bacteria, etc., before feeding them to your carnivore fishes.

 

[Khemul]

Say good bye to your crab also while you have the chance. The anemone is a possibility although not guaranteed to be a meal. The damsel is definitely on the menu if this Porc likes fish.

And then you are left with a rather ridiculous stocking for a 55g tank.
That is if the Porc doesn't kill the Moray through competition or outright murder.

 

[viggen]

Like mentioned he is in a tank way to small for him which could be making it easier/more tempting to eat anything else that's alive in there. Whoever you purchased that puffer from shouldn't of sold it to you, they just get way to big!!!

Eels are really slow eaters, thus any live food unless you dump a dozen feeders in there the puffer will get it & even then the eel might be to slow/blind

Porc's personality is hard to beat, but he needs a tank 2x's++ bigger then what you have as a min!

I would take the puffer back to the LFS & get something that works in your tank before puff daddy eats everything

 

[LisaD]

I had a porcupine puffer in a 210 gallon tank, lightly stocked. The puffer was about 5". It swam laps in the tank (so I agree, they need large tanks). This puffer was the last one in, and harassed to death a harlequin tuskfish (6") and killed a dogface puffer (5"). So no more porcs for me. My favorite community FISH tank puffer is the dogface puffer and I will stay with those. Crabs, shrimp, various corals, zoas are still not going to be safe.

I gave the porc away to a FOWLR friend with large, aggressive fish.