Possible threat to sps?

[Drewbaby]

Would a porcupine puffer be of any threat to sps corals. The puffer is currently 4-5 inches long and the tank is a 180. I know she will eventually grow to the point where she could damage colonies, but for the time being are there any risks involved with adding some acros and such??

 

[olkeller]

I have no idea except puffers are notorious sloppy eaters which mean lots of waste and lots of nutrients in the water. I cant say I've ever seen a reef tank with a puffer and there is most likely a reason for it.

 

[nano427]

You could keep the puffer, but like olkeller said they are sloppy eaters so water quality would become an issue

 

[nano427]

oh and say goodbye to your inverts

 

[reefinder]

you cannot keep a puffer with any corals, he will devour them.

 

[reefinder]

Its like candy to puffers

 

[returnofsid]

It's quite possible that it will eat corals. Keep in mind that these Puffer fish have bony teeth that constantly grow. It needs HARD things to eat, otherwise, the teeth will overgrow. Sometimes, they even need to be filed down, by hand. Feeding it store bought clams or oysters will help. Make sure the shell is closed, so the Puffer has to chew through the shell to get to the meat.

 

[Drewbaby]

We currently feed her clams that are only partially opened making her have to work for the food. As far as water quality goes would it help to run a skimmer rater for a larger tank and run a refugium? I also have an old 25 watt UV sterilizer that I could hook up if needed, but I have heard that Uv's arent that beneficial overall.

 

[jfingers8]

I have a porcupine puffer in my 125 fowlr and yes they are not reef safe and pretty much eat everything in sight. i once put in a dieing piece of some kind of acro and the thing didint' even have a chance to hit the sand bed before it was in his tummy.

 

[Drewbaby]

Well I noticed with our puffer that she will try to attack anything that she sees fall into the water that could be food, but if I put something in there and she doesnt see it she tends to leave it alone, but Ive never tried it with corals. I know most people say they arent reef safe because they will destroy inverts

 

[ReefTECK]

You could keep the puffer, but like olkeller said they are sloppy eaters so water quality would become an issue

Have you ever had a large tang?! lol

My hippo and purple tang are beasts! They're totally disgusting, if they're not making a mess with their food in their mouths they're spraying a stream of crap all over every time they think I'm going to feed them! lol Fun.

But, to weigh in on this topic, I wouldn't do it, I've seen porcupine's tear into urchins, hermits. I wouldn't put sps past them, they like chompin!

 

[Drewbaby]

Ok do you think there are any corals that would stand a chance against a puffer?

Also would that fact that I got the puffer when she was really young and have only fed her by hand make a difference??

 

[olkeller]

Try it out you never know it might work just dont br too surprised if it doesnt.

 

[nano427]

I guess I got lucky, my porcupine doesn't even look at coral however my stars and strips chomps on it, needless to say the s&s is gone