Valentini Puffer Question

[pb_master]

The past couple of days my valentini puffer has been spreading his tail fin and I had never notice him do it prior. Is this any thing to be worried about, what does it mean?
Thx

 

[fishieness]

i have a valentini and have seen him do this. it is only when i come up to the tank though. I also only see if right before feeding time so i alwaysthough he was saying he was hungry and trying to get my attention. they have so much personality i didnt put it past him.
anyone else have any ideas?

 

[jonny bolt]

My friend has had one for about a year now, he is wickid cool, and like the above post mentioned....total personality. I went to tha LFS last night to pick up some live brine shrimp, and noticed they had a beautiful baby Valentini in one of the tanks. I couldnt resist, I had to take him home Its the last fish for my tank. He seems to be doing ok. 6 hours after he was in the tank, he was swimming up next to my Peppermint Shrimp and getting "cleaned up" lol. Pretty cool. I noticed him open his tail fin more than several times. Doesnt seem to be anything to worry about....I have also seem my friends Valentini do this, and he is pretty old now, and is doing great

 

[billb]

I wouldn't worry about the tail fin spreading thing..just a form of communication I'd say, but not bad.. They are great little fish and are about the best personalities I have ever seen. Mine found a spot on the powerhead in which he sleeps every night, right after the lights go out... and if I turn them out a little later, at times he has already gone to bed, an hour before. He lays absolutely motionless on the powerhead all night. He sleeps pretty soundly too. I have had my hand in the tank in the morning and accidently brushed him off off the powerhead. He would slowly fall down the tank motionless until he landed on the sand or a rock, then slowly start swimming for about 20 seconds before he would awaken and start out the new day. He eats just about anything and tends to eat until you can actually see his tummy is full. I never have seen him be agressive towards any other fish or any corals. He occasionally will pick at a rock, but that always just seems to be occasional algea picking.
One thing I will mention is that mine is a Saddled Filefish or Valentini mimic (Paraluteres prionurus) which is almost always sold as a 'Valentini Puffer'.
A true Valentini Puffer, is the Saddled or Valentini Toby (Canthigaster valentini) ...(poisonis to it's preditors)..
They look almost just alike... Photos can be seen with a discussion in the Book:
The Conscientious Marine Aquarist
by Robert Fenner
ISBN 1-890087-02-5
Pages 317 & 320
Great Book, by the way, and is available through our Host under Dry Goods -> Books.
cheers,
Bill

 

[sweetreef]

I have had one going on five years now they do that all the time and as well he is in my reef tank some say they are not reef safe but i have never had problems with him they are awsome little fish i also have a spotted puffer!!

 

[jer4916]

I love these puffers, i've personally owned a porc puff, anyways im looking at a spotted for my 125.
do you guys think he would be safe with my fish?
V-lion
Niger Trigger
Yellow Tang
Koran Angel
Cream Angel
speaking of which, my cream angel is in QT he has something on his gill,..looks crusty as all get out...hes been in qt for about 2 weeks and it wont go away....but thing is..he acts COMPLETELY normal...it doesn't seem to bother him...
anyone know anything?
thanks guys
also how many fish do you think i can have in my 125?...i also have a 40 gallon refugium.
~chris

 

[fishieness]

the short nosed puffers are known fin pickers. you might have problems with him and your lion. But who knows, it depends on your fish. as you saw with sweetreef, hes got one in a reef tank, and they are also classified as not being "reef-safe". And his reef is beutiful. So there are always fish that can go against the odds.

 

[scubadoo]

The spreading of the tail fin is a good sign. Sick puffers will constantly clamp the tail fin and tuck it behind them when sick. No worries...sounds like he is happy. But as previously posted....known for picking. fins.

 

[slipknotno]

Hey I am converting my community 125 to a more of an aggressive and right now I have about 50 snails it it I also got a 4-5 inch striped dogface from a guy who didn't want him . I just put a recently purchased valantini puffer in the tank and the valantini single handly sucked up every snail he could find. I was atually alittle upset. Anyways I put him in QT and he's doing fine right now actually he'll eat out of my hand. Anyways the 125 is getting some alge buildup and I am going to put some more snails in. Is there anyway to discourage the valinitini from eating all my snails again, or is it a lost cause.
Sorry for the babbling
Matt

 

[fishieness]

wow, i would think the dogface would do that first. whattype of snails are they? try mexican turbos. they are large and like a tank. Your valentini will also eat the agle, or at least some of it once hes out of QT

 

[scubadoo]

Originally Posted by Slipknotno
Hey I am converting my community 125 to a more of an aggressive and right now I have about 50 snails it it I also got a 4-5 inch striped dogface from a guy who didn't want him . I just put a recently purchased valantini puffer in the tank and the valantini single handly sucked up every snail he could find. I was atually alittle upset. Anyways I put him in QT and he's doing fine right now actually he'll eat out of my hand. Anyways the 125 is getting some alge buildup and I am going to put some more snails in. Is there anyway to discourage the valinitini from eating all my snails again, or is it a lost cause.
Sorry for the babbling
Matt
Natural part of his diet in the wild. Good to crunch on the shells to keep the teeth filed down

 

[jonny bolt]

I had a few Cerith Snails in my tank before gettin my Valetini, and I noticed one of the shells upside down on my live rock...so I think he may have gotten that one lol. I expected it. I also have a hermit crab, and the same night I got the puffer, I picked up a larger shell for the hermit cuz I could tell he was gettin big and was sick of the cone shell he was in. Well I put the bigger shell right near him, and the next day when I got up, I noticed he had "moved in" to the new shell sometime during the night. Pretty cool. Luckily the Puffer didnt get him during his move HAHA. I have seen my Puffer peck at his new shell pretty hard, but I tell the puffer to "shoo" when I see him do it.
Now, my friends Valentini Puffer, which he has had for like a year now, wont even bother his Turbo Snails. His Valentini isnt violent at all lol. Guess he got one of the more tame ones.

 

[fishieness]

this is true, but i think youd rather have you puffer be eating other things like krill or shrimp to get is teeth filed down instead of a 3-5$ snail.lol But if he eats any one you put in there, i dont think there is a way to discourage him. This isnt like a cat where you could squirt him with a water bottle. I dont think they are realy trainalbe to not eat them. A large mexican turbo might be okay though just because of the size of their shells. My valentini picked at mine a few times, but never did any damage.
its your desicion though. There are pleanty of other things that will eat algae.

 

[slipknotno]

well the problem is is that when he attacks them he hets down beside them and nocks them over and the sucks out the meat. I have yet seen him bite the shell. I guess it would be OK if he was filing down his teeth but I think he does it just inspite of me. Like I could finish feeding my 1.25 inch puffer with 1-2 krill and after he won't take my food any more he would start hunting the snails.

 

[edwar050]

Puffers are some of the smartest fish IMAO. My puffer does the same, he will nearly swim out of the water to get at the soft flesh of shrimp.

 

[zeromus-x]

My Hawaiian puffer knows what the food container looks like. If I walk over to the tank and grab the food container, and move it around the front of the glass, he'll follow it. Move it to the left side, he'll swim left with it, etc. Move it to the bottom, he's there. It's pretty funny. The clownfish I have is starting to act the same as the Puffer; I think for some weird reason they're bonding or something. They're almost inseperable.