Puffers and reefs

[CrayolaViolence]

Is it absolutely impossible to have puffers in a reef tank? Perhaps not with SPS corals but with leathers?
I have had very good success with my figure eights and my green spotted puffer but they are small and seem to have little interest in chewing on the corals. I figure most of the threat is to inverts. Which, by the way, what do you do to keep substrate clean. I use narssis (sp?) snails in my main tank and an astrea in my tank with my green spotted (it's bigger than he is). I've had peppermint shrimp and ghost shrimp in with my smaller puffers as well as snails and they leave them alone.
I know my dogface will grow. Right now he's barely 2 inches, but in the future, if I want to decorate his tank, are all corals out of the question?

Just curious to know. Thanks

 

[scooter31707]

From my understanding Puffers will not bother your corals, but snails, clams, shrimp, and crabs, etc. are open game. Usually they are not really recommended because they can be messy eaters which can cause problems with the water parameters for a reef tank.

 

[GimpyFin]

A dogface needs some hard shelled foods to help keep their teeth ground down, so snails, shrimp, corals are all fair game. Also, any smaller sized fish are potential for being lunch. A black longspine urchin might also help in keeping the tank clean.

 

[CrayolaViolence]

A dogface needs some hard shelled foods to help keep their teeth ground down, so snails, shrimp, corals are all fair game. Also, any smaller sized fish are potential for being lunch. A black longspine urchin might also help in keeping the tank clean.

He would most likely be the only fish in the tank except for maybe a bat fish or a frog fish. But I hate seeing a bare boring tank with only rocks.

What substrate should I use? Regular black aragonite? or do I need a larger stone? I plan on keeping live food in the tank (ghost shrimp) so he can eat when he wants too along with supplemental foods like clams. I would like to be able to put a few leathers in the tank to give it some color but I don't want him to eat them and get sick.

 

[Deinonych]

What size is the tank?

 

[CrayolaViolence]

What size is the tank?

He will eventually be in a 150-180. Right now he is in a 60 but he's only 1.5 inches long.

My two figure eight puffers are bigger than he is. He's so cute. He curls up in a ball and sleep in a knot hole in one of the rocks.

 

[brad]

I have a 270 and usually keep a toby or smaller puffer. They do taste everything, and for most coral, that won't matter. Biggest problem is my clam, he won't do real damage, but will cause it to close up. I can't keep snails as I have a tusk and trigger too.

 

[ThRoewer]

He will eventually be in a 150-180. Right now he is in a 60 but he's only 1.5 inches long.

My two figure eight puffers are bigger than he is. He's so cute. He curls up in a ball and sleep in a knot hole in one of the rocks.

He will get to know you and let you pet his belly. I've seen a large dogface puffer once in a store in Germany and when he saw someone in front of the tank he came up to the surface and turned on his back to have it petted.

Corals should generally be fine, though he may use them to sharpen or grind his teeth.

Fish should be fine for the most part as well.

Clownfish in anemones may be ideal companions.
I would go with magnificas on isolated rock piles with larger clownfish like clarkii or the like. I would probably avoid carpets as they may be dangerous to the puffer.
Another option would be maroons or tomatos in a single large BTA or in a BTA clone cluster.

Other cautious fish should work as well, especially blennies.

The biggest issue is to keep him entertained all day as a bored puffer (or trigger) can be up to all kinds of nonsense.

Also, don't have any exposed cables in the tank he can reach - they like to bite into them.