Are these fish reef safe?

A

alexmir

Guest
I am planning on turning the new tank( i just moved everything in my old 55 gallon to the new 60 gal. bow-front) into a reef tank. I have a valentini puffer, about 3 inches, and a green filefish thats going to stay at 4 inches. I have had these for about 3 months. I have been researching these fish and seen that they are not reef safe. Is this because they will nibble on polyps? or because the skin of the puffer is venomous? I would hate to have to get rid of these beautiful fish, but i dont want to spend the time and money on buying coral just to have them have an expensive dinner.
Are there any corals that they would be okay with, or am i going to have to try and find them a good home?
 
theappe3

theappe3

Member
it could be a combination of both... remember "reef" means corals (LPS, SPS, softies) also "reef" means shrimp, hermits, snails... they might not touch coral but they will eat hermit... thus no t "reef" safe. I guess you can get the picture...
 
squirreloso

squirreloso

Member
im surprised your valentini and filefish get along..

you can get corals, i wouldnt get sps though since the puffer may want to gnaw at it to grind his teeth down, may not happen but there is a slight chance i wouldnt risk.
the only thing you cant get is inverts, no shrimp, crabs, snails etc.
although i do have one sole surviving blue legged hermit in with my valentini for several months now. all the others are gone so im not sure why this one hasent been picked off yet, even by my snowflake eel or my niger trigger
hes getting so bold he walks right up to my eels den and picks bits of krill that fall from his mouth.
very large turbo snails might make it depending on the personality of your fish.
every now and then i feed my valentini zoa eating pyramid snails from my reef tank. he loves them, one slurp and its all gone
 
A

alexmir

Guest
I wasnt planning on getting any SPS, so they should be fine then? Yeah, the two of them get along great, neither of them has every acted agressive towards any of the fish. Like you said though, my puffer LOVES killing hermit crabs and picking at the feelers of my turbo snails! Ive lost 7 hermits over the past months and all 8 of my snails due to the puffer and my royal gramma. Ive had to rely on a conch for a clean up crew. As long as their good with the corals though ill be happy.
 
squirreloso

squirreloso

Member
yeah they should be fine with corals
get a few inexpensive stuff to test it out, zoas, shrooms. leathers are strong so even if they get picked at once and a while they will bounce back with no problem
royal grammas are invert safe, maybe he was just finishing up the leftovers, but as a whole they wont bother inverts
 
A

alexmir

Guest
mine must be an exception then, there have been numerous times when i was sitting infront of my tank in amazement and seen the gramma grab a hermit crab trying to switch shells or trying to get right side up. He grabs their claw and rips them apart, its pretty horrifying to watch, but once he grabs them, theres abslutely nothing i can do.

Thanks so much for the help, im so happy that i get to keep those two guys!!!
 
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