Is puffer ok with these fish?

[yannifish]

I am getting a 55g tank and these are the fish I'm getting:
1 Flame Angel
3 Green Chromis
1 Royal Gramma
1 False Perc Clown
1 Pajama Cardinal
1 Spotted Mandarin
These are the inverts I am getting:
1 Fire Shrimp
1 Cleaner Shrimp
1 Pink Tip Anemone
10 Blue leg Hermit crabs
1 Red Gogorian
1 Starfish
I am also getting some coral. Will a spotted puffer be ok in this tank?

 

[undulated guy]

puffers love to eat inverts also any large enough puffer like a porcipine will eat the chromis.

 

[jonthefishguy]

research research research, if it can fit in its mouth, it will eat it...

 

[team2jndd]

Not really... puffers tend to peck unlike lions or groupers that swallow whole. A puffer can do plenty of damage to fish who are of the same or even greater size. Not to mention that the mandarin would have to wait until your tank is better established and even then, they do better in larger tanks. If you do go that route, I suggest you dose with live pods. Also, why get two different cleaner shrimp? If you get two of the same they will more likely stick together which I think is more interesting. Otherwise, you look like you have a nice list.

 

[team2jndd]

Originally Posted by yannifish
I am getting a 55g tank and these are the fish I'm getting:
1 Flame Angel
3 Green Chromis
1 Royal Gramma
1 False Perc Clown
1 Pajama Cardinal
1 Spotted Mandarin
These are the inverts I am getting:
1 Fire Shrimp
1 Cleaner Shrimp
1 Pink Tip Anemone
10 Blue leg Hermit crabs
1 Red Gogorian
1 Starfish
I am also getting some coral. Will a spotted puffer be ok in this tank?
I didnt see the starfish part. What kind? Anything but a brittle star would be a bad idea.

 

[yannifish]

I was thinking an Orange Linckia Starfish. Why a brittle? And, are there any kind of puffers that would be ok in this tank? This site says Spotted puffers would be ok.

 

[jamparty]

wait wait wait...you're getting a 55 gallon tank...
and how long are you waiting to add all these fish?
not to mention, mandarins need at least 100-125 gallon tanks IMO with a large amount of LR and copepods being as that is the only thing they will eat...

 

[jamparty]

Originally Posted by yannifish
I was thinking an Orange Linckia Starfish. Why a brittle? And, are there any kind of puffers that would be ok in this tank? This site says Spotted puffers would be ok.
no linkia
go with a green bristle...they're hardier and easier to care for as well as they will do a nice job scavenging and eating uneatin food that settles to the bottom of the tank

 

[yannifish]

I will get them very very slowly and are you sure I can't get a mandarin?

 

[jamparty]

Originally Posted by yannifish
I will get them very very slowly and are you sure I can't get a mandarin?

it's just my opinion, but I'm sure others on the forum would agree. In order to keep a mandarin (for longer than a few days), you need a well established REEF tank with lots and lots of live rock as well as an established population of copepods from which the mandarin can feed off of. My general rule of thumb is one mandarin for every 100 gallons of established reef/copepods. So if you had a 300 gallon reef tank, you could technically get 3 mandarins.. (that's just me though) I like to play things safe.

 

[yannifish]

I'll wait at least a year to put the mandarin in and have 100lbs of live rock. I'll look at the bristle star.

 

[coral keeper]

A puffer will eat all your inverts even a cleaner shrimp.

 

[equinecpa]

Green brittle star? Aren't they the bad ones? I thought they were the ones that eat fish?
I've had a huge regular ole black one for years-he's never bothered a soul. Sand sifting stars might be another option.
Carolyn

 

[jonthefishguy]

Mandarin fish are picky eaters that spend their days going from rock to rock back to front in search for tasty morsals. (amphipods,copepods and the such)
To get one before your tank is ready to handle one, is not only sentencing that fish to death, but also would show that would have little respect for the marine life and their special needs diet. My advice to you as well as many others will tell you, is that wait till your tank is ready for it and not a minute sooner.

 

[kanicky]

Originally Posted by Coral Keeper
A puffer will eat all your inverts even a cleaner shrimp.
I have a Valentini, who, while he has attacked most of my hermits and snails, refuses to bother my CBS. My CBS can hold his own, even against P. Diddy

 

[feelingfishy]

Listen Man DONT GET THE MANDARIN i did this in my reef tank i got refugium packed full of copopods waited 2 years with 90 pounds of live rock. Idk how bad you want it dont get it please. I hate people hew dont listen when people have made the same mistake other people have already had.

 

[srfisher17]

Originally Posted by feelingfishy
Listen Man DONT GET THE MANDARIN i did this in my reef tank i got refugium packed full of copopods waited 2 years with 90 pounds of live rock. Idk how bad you want it dont get it please. I hate people hew dont listen when people have made the same mistake other people have already had.

There are also plenty of people who have had good experience with Mandarins (in established tanks). That is why this is called a forum--an exchange of info, and opinions. Mandarins require a lot of study;but can work in the right tank. But that is just my opinion; not an absolute fact. You're doing the right thing. Do your homework, gather opinions, weigh your possible costs;then make an informed decision.

 

[aquaknight]

Originally Posted by equinecpa
Green brittle star? Aren't they the bad ones? I thought they were the ones that eat fish?
I've had a huge regular ole black one for years-he's never bothered a soul. Sand sifting stars might be another option.
Carolyn
They are, not sure why JamParty recommended it. I also would put a sand sifting star in anything less then 150lbs of sand. Less and it will run out of food and die slowly.

 

[firerescue]

I have a pocupine puffer with a cleaner shrimp and they get along just fine, the puffer even let it do its job and climbs all over it cleaning, even near the mouth and i also have 2 clowns and a firefish and all are happily together for at least two years. Just my experience, maybe not the same as some others.

 

[rudedog40]

Just put a Spotted Puffer into my 55g. 5 minutes in the tank, and he started hitting the cerinth snails. Only have 3, but every one of them buried themselves into the sand. He hasn't messed with the hermits yet, but he started harrassing my emerald crab. The EC popped him up side his head with his claw, and ran for cover under the LR. My LFS guy told me it MAY eat my inverts, but it appears the MAY is an eventual WILL definitely kill them. Kinda sucks cause my wife is getting attached to the EC, and said she didn't like the idea of an aggressive fish tank in the first place. She was eyeing a red fromia star the other day, but now that won't happen with the puffer in the tank. If he knocks off all my inverts, I may take him back and see if I can trade for a Coral Beauty or a maroon clown. He's a personable fish, but I'd rather have cleaners in the tank to avoid algae and other buildup.