Valentini Puffer and Inverts

[grayne]

I was wondering if anyone had any experience on how tough this little puffer is on inverts. I (actually the wife) would like to add one to our fish only tank, and wasn't sure if he would go after hermits, crabs, shrimp, etc.. Any info or lessons learned would be greatly appreciated.

 

[jumpfrog]

I have a valentini in my aggressive tank. When I first added him I had a huge hermit crab. About the size of a silver dollar. The puffer would follow the crab around. Of course when he got too close the hermit would hide. The puffer was vigilant and persistant. Took about a week but he finally got the hermit.
Don't know what they normally do but that's my valentini experience.
All that asside. I love the fish. Just don't keep inverts in my aggressive tank.
Good Luck!

 

[grayne]

My concern is I would like to have something to keep the substrate cleaned up a little. I am curious if anyone has any suggestions of some invert that would be puffer safe that could do the job.

 

[ddaddy]

My valentini puffer never bothered anything in my reef. He was always happy and never ate any shrimps, crabs, corals or anemones that I'm aware of. I know that my feather duster mysteriously died and i'm not sure if that was the puffer or not. He may have gotten away with some things like eating crabs or something at night but if he did it was never a problem. Overrall I think that adding the fish and watching its peculiar behavior outweighs not having one.