Lion fish and Pufferfish

Porcupine Reefer · Jul 10, 2023

I have a porcupine puffer in a 125 gallon 5 foot aquarium and thought about getting a fuzzy dwarf lionfish, would they get along?

stovenut · Jul 10, 2023

They actually make a perfect pair in a FOWLR tank. They both swim and hunt at similar speeds and eat similar foods. What other fish will you be adding later? Keep in mind that both fish can be messy eaters. They leave plenty of crumbs. Lol. You will need some scavengers to clean up their mess, like large hermits.

I had both fish in a FOWLR tank years ago with a lunar wrasse and big eye squirrel.

Porcupine Reefer · Jul 11, 2023

stovenut said:
They actually make a perfect pair in a FOWLR tank. They both swim and hunt at similar speeds and eat similar foods. What other fish will you be adding later? Keep in mind that both fish can be messy eaters. They leave plenty of crumbs. Lol. You will need some scavengers to clean up their mess, like large hermits.

I had both fish in a FOWLR tank years ago with a lunar wrasse and big eye squirrel.

which hermits do you recommend?

stovenut · Jul 11, 2023

Porcupine Reefer said:
which hermits do you recommend?

Your puffer may try to pick off smaller hermits. I'd try to find larger varieties of hermits like white leg hermits. Or pick out the largest hermits available at your LFS. Hopefully your predatory fish don't get a taste for hermits or you may need to replace some of your clean up crew every few months. Another option is to order hermits online in bulk (200 or more) from reeftopia.com

You can also try to purchase the large Mexican turbo snails that can't as easily be pulled from the glass. They are great cleaners.

Keep your fish interested in tastier food so they aren't hungry enough to sample your clean up crew members.