porupine puffer info/help?

[claytonrd]

i am kinda new to salt water tanks and was in a pet store picking up a few needed supplies with my girl and she noticed this puffer and had to have it , i was gonig to get it for her and was wondering what all is needed to support them and just some basic info on what and how to hanle and care for them . thanks clayton

 

[fishieness]

the porkupine puffer is the fish that got me into saltwater, the only problem is, they get to be almost 2 feet long in captivity and need at least a 90 gallon tank to keep them from getting stressed. So there goes that, for now anyways. The need crunchy foods because their teeth constantly grow like a rodents, and also like a rodent, if they dont have anythign to crunch on, they will not be able to eat and they will die. Suposedly they are great fish. They eat meaty foods, weather it be krill, silversides, or any other type of raw fresh seafood like clams or shrimp. Make sure your water conditions are good, or they may puff up and can actualy become stressed and die for that. also, when purchasing him or aclimating him, try to catch him in a container while transporting him instead of a net, if he tries to puff up when he is out of the water, he will swollow air and die. He will eat most inverts you put in there, including corals and crabs, so larger hermits and snail should make up your clean up crew. There are some that have been known to live peacefuly with inverts and corals, but it is a big risk that can end up expensive. It all depends on the fish, but they can and probalby will dothis.
hmm... lets see... thats all i can think of, i do not have a porky, i have a velentini because its pretty much the only puffer big enough to fit in my 29 gallon tank, i love him though. good luck! and i hope your tanks big enough.
anyone else have anythign to add?

 

[texasex]

I had a porcupine for 3 years before I moved. He died due to ick that was brought into the tank.

I tried again, but that one had some disease that only puffers can get (and is incurable), and he too died! Anyway, all that is to say, I absolutely love porcupine puffers. They are the most docile and social of the puffers, but they do require special care. They need a decent sized tank (I had mine in a 55gal and that was pushing it), and they have to have "hard" things to eat to file down their "teeth." I had a starfish and snails in my tank, and he didn't bother them, BUT every fish has it's own personality. While one might leave everything alone, another of the same species might eat everything that it can get it's mouth on! Just do a search on puffers and do research to decide if this is a pet that you want to take care of! They have great personalities!

 

[claytonrd]

thanks for all the help, and one omre do you know any thing about lionfish. again the care and handling of them thanks alot and again clayton

 

[fishieness]

lionfish are realy cool, but what type of lion are you looking at? the V lions get largeR THAN 15 inches, while fu manchus only get 4. Once again, they are a preditor and may be picky eaters. To get them to eat, it is recomended to first use live feeder saltwater shrimp. Ghoast shrimp can be used, but because they are freshwater, only use these to ween them to frozen foods like krill or silversides. Do not feed them freshwater feeder fish or ghoast shrimp as their main diet because they do not have the vitamins they need and they will die of fatty liver disease. If you lionfish needs to be weened onto frozen foods, but there is nowhere around to buy saltwater feeders, and you dont want to order from online, then i recomened getting a vitamin suppliment and adding it strait to your tank. It willl say how much to add pergallon of water on it. But most importantly...BE CAREFUL WHILE CLEANING YOUR TANK AND REARANGING YOUR LIVE ROCK!! Esspecualy the dwarf lions, they like to hide under it and if you get stung with one of those, i hear it hurts like the dickens It does depend on the persons immunity to it though. Some say it hurts like hell, while i have seen accounts from others that said it didnt hurt at all. And if you are allergic to the poison, you could die. If you get stung apply lots of heat to the area weather it be hot water or a hairdryer for about a half an hour.
anyone else got some help?

 

[claytonrd]

thanks for all you help , also is putting a loion fish and a puffer in the same tank a good idea ? thanks for all the help clayton

 

[fishieness]

once again, that subject is iffy, but not recomended. Puffers are known fin-pickers, and the long, temping fins of a lionfish can be pretty tempting, even with the poison. It all depends on the puffer, the chances are not in your favor though from all the posts i have read on the subject. If you get a porky first, and he seems realy peaceful, then you can try a lion if you would like. I would recoment getting one of the smaller types, like a fussy dwarf or a dwarf zebra, just one of the ones with small fins, although their fins are still large compared to most fish, they do not have long extentions hanging out like a large V lion would. Also if you get a dwarf lioin, that would leave much more room in yoru tank for another fish or 2, depending on the size.

 

[greg2424]

what do you mean by hard things??

 

[claytonrd]

just say i get a puffer and wanted to add a few more fish to my tank, what are some very good mates for him and some not so good ones. also do you know where a good site to view and purchase these fish you have talked about. there is just so much info out there and every thing i read tends to be a bit different than the first or the next , it seems the more i read the more confused i get, becasue the ones you listed i dont see for sale on swf. You seem to know what you are talking about thanks for all the help clayton

 

[exile415]

Whoo Lions are so nice. they are vemonous DUH , Eat small fish such as damsels and other small ones , Get very big , Meaty. needs a big tank.

 

[fishieness]

well you can actualy get kicked off the board for naming other sites, even if they do have things that saltwater fish doesnt, because they want you to be faithful. Do a serch on google, or go to your local fish store and ask them to order you one, you will pay more doing this, but you will get to see what you buy.
And by the way, by hard things, i mean crunchie foods. as i said before, puffer's teeth grow constantly like a rodents because they eat mainly crustaceans. Also like a rabit, they need foods that will wear down their teeth like in the wild because if the get too big, they wont be able to fit any food in their mouth Some examples or crunchie foods are krill, crabs, or for any picky eaters, live feeder shrimp. And to make sure they are wornn down enough, you can place the food on a piece of live rock. The extra roughnes from the rock will file down his teeth
as far as tank mates go, that all depends on the size of your tank. If you have a large tank, your options are pretty high, but smaller tanks, they get low, since you are looking into getting a porcupine, im assuming you have a large tank, but how large is it? Any fish like triggers, large wrasses, larger angels, smaller eels, the types of agressive fish. If you do not want to go all out agressive because you may already have some fish in there, then that limits to the actualy puffer you get. I jsut got back form my LFS and i saw a porky that was about 4 inches long attack and kill, then procede to eat a goby about 3 inches. If you also keep him well fed this will reduce the risk. It would be best to stay away from the fish with realy realy big fins.
To exile; only some lions need big tanks. some dwarf species like a fu manchu only get 4 inches and will do well in a 30 gallon tank.
And by the way, ive only been in this hobby for 4 months, ive just been spending a few hours aday cruising theses sights and getting opinions, as well as reading them.

 

[claytonrd]

right now i have just started doing saltwater aquariums, all my life i have been around freshwater , so i am really good at those thypes of fish and how to handle a care fro them, i have two 110 gallon tanks for freash and since i just started a fresh tank i wanted to start not to big but not to small to just get a feel for it and how things might play out and pllan to get a larger tank in a year if i am successfull at this smaller tank. right now my tank is a 30 gallon square tank made by oceanic. Thats what the guy at the lfs said was a good starting size , i dont have any other fish in the tank right now and it has been setting for about 3 weeks now with no other types of fish in it , i added a couple raw shrimps( for a day or two) in it right after set up to get my water levels works out right, and now i tested my water and am gonig to have a lfs test it to make sure every is right and i have not looked over any thing. if there results came back good als oi was gonig to buy a small puffer from swf and add it to my tank. Also i have never purchased any fish off the internet, HAve you by chance? and if so what were the results? . if you dont mind. But as a tempt tank if all goes well what are some of your favorite fish to have in a tank , and the care levels. ones tyhat you have had success with. thanks for all the help . clayton

 

[fishieness]

i have not bought any fish off of the internet, i like to see what i buy. I have heard numorous success stories from this board though. people seem to be satisfied. The 30 gallon could hold a small porcupine puffer for a while,but he is going to grow a lot, and by the time he gets around 6 inches tops, you will have to upgrade to one of those 110 gallons. A 30 gallonis good to start out with only because of the price, it obviously would cost a lot less than a larger tank. But the larger tanks are actualy easier to maintain. Once set up, there have more water, and therefore, more room for error, so if something goes wrong, you have more time to fix it before it becomes devistating. I have a snowflake eel, he will go well with a puffer. he only gets 2 feet and you only need him in a 55 gallon tank, so in the tank you upgrade the puffer to, he will do great. I have one in my 30 and im upgrading him to a 40 gallon breeder. It is realy wide while a 55 is realy skinny, so you actualy get more surface area.
what is yoru set up besides the tank?
filtration?
live rock?
clean up crew?

 

[sheracr123]

Just wanted to add my 2 cents in here. I had a puffer for 6 years and my boyfriend had one for 5 years before I got mine. We kept it in a 75. I must say this was the hardiest fish I have ever had. Yes, they have a few extra needs with food, but their personality far out weighs the extra effort. My Porc never took his eyes off me when I was in the room, and when I opened the tank lid, he would spit water at me till I fed him.
I do not believe porc puffers actually have the problem with their teeth (I believe the dogface puffers are more likely to have this problem) but they do have an issue with their jaws and getting lock jaw. Mine actually got this, but with the help and massages from my LFS, we were able to get him over it. After that I never fed him Krill again. I bought him a seafood mix from wally world, and fed him an occasional sacrificial damsel.
If you have a tank big enough for one, and are not going to do a reef tank, I would highly recommend one. Mine would eat anything he could fit in his mouth, but never bothered any of my other fish. I believe porc puffers are a low maitenance, high personality fish, and are great for beginners who are starting an aggressive tank. :cheer: