cuc with puffers??

[hlcroghan]

I am going to have a dogface and a tusk in my 150 gal. is there anything that i can put into the tank that will clean up the bottom that they won't eat?? i know they go after crustaceans mostly so what other things don't they eat that are good for doing some tank maintenance?

 

[hlcroghan]

uhh help anyone??

 

[salt210]

Ive got that same issue minus the tuck and add a zebra moray. I know that there are some fish that do this. but which one will depend on your substrate as well. You will get some more specific details just everyone has to get on first

 

[hlcroghan]

the substrate will be sand, prolly black, with lots of live rock.

 

[prime311]

You might have to experiment a bit. Things I've heard before are Chocolate Chip Starfish, large Hermit crabs, Mexican Turbo Snails, even Sea Urchins(though I doubt this). You're best is either something big enough to defend itself/not be eaten or cheap enough that you don't mind experimenting with and/or replacing.

 

[hlcroghan]

so a cc starfish would do okay?? i think they are pretty cool. are they relatively hardy? and do they do an okay job of cleaning? anything else you can recommend?

 

[prime311]

TBH I think the Choco will be eaten by the Puffer, but I've seen them suggested and for 10$ it's worth a shot

 

[drtito]

get a extra large hermit crab. They will not mess with it.
NOTE. if its on the floor and edable he will eat it. futherduster worms snails

 

[hlcroghan]

so a bunch of large hermit crabs? anything else? i may try a cc starfish and make sure that he is in there a while before i add the puffer. which one is going do the best with those? i like the dogface, golden and the striped.

 

[hlcroghan]

bump

 

[nordy]

I love the dogface puffer! Being a dog (the furry ones) person of many years, I was amazed at just how much personality these guys have. My first one jumped out of the tank

and it broke my heart. I gave my second one away when I went reef. I always had hermits and snails in my 55gal tank and while the puffer was the king of that castle, I never saw it bother the hermits or snails. probably 'cause I fed it so well

Both of my puffers would come and eat out of my hand after just a little coaching/training. All the other fish in the tank would make way for the puffer-he was for sure the best fed guy in my fowlr tank.
I fed the puffers every day, sometimes twice a day, and as they are messy eaters there was plenty for my CUC to do and everybody was happy.

 

[hlcroghan]

okay so the key would be to keep them well fed then. i guess i won't worry until they start getting picked off and i won't keep anything really expensive...lol. one other question then, can you keep two puffers together? i had the porky in mind and the dogface.

 

[prime311]

Thats crazy your puffer left your snails alone. My Porc Puffer has been in my tank for a few days and I've only seen one snail(a larger turbo) since after the first day. All my sundial snails have, um, disappeared. What do you feed your puffer anyway? I'm using frozen krill, but he won't even look at any small chunks so if I dethaw it, it all falls apart right away and he won't touch it. I stick a frozen chunk in and hes all over it.

 

[nordy]

My dogface puffers absolutely loved mysis cubes. I would just pop a frozen one in the tank and they would attack it. I tried giving them krill cubes and thay just did not care for them at all, tasting them and then swimming away. I have heard (don't remember where) that krill isn't as nutricious as mysis. I have also heard not to keep more than one puffer in a tank due to territory issues.

 

[prime311]

From what i heard using the frozen cubes w/o thawing them can be bad for the tank. Unless you know you're adding cubes that don't contain any phosphates or other bad chemicals.

 

[hlcroghan]

okay so not more than one per tank.....got it. i will only keep a dogface then. maybe i will put some large snails in there first and hope they get big enough that they are not appetizing looking.....or is that like saying a big juicy steak doesn't look good to me??