Tank size for a porcupine puffer?

[ddc0715]

Question--- wife an i want a porcupine puffer. Can't have him in my reef tank. So the plan is to free up one of our living rooms fresh water tanks. I have two 75s side by side behind the coach. Would a 75g tank be OK for just one with some rock and sand. Nothing else, no other tank mates. So one tank will have a puffer and the other will have a dinnerplate albino oscar. Google says 100 min.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Question--- wife an i want a porcupine puffer. Can't have him in my reef tank. So the plan is to free up one of our living rooms fresh water tanks. I have two 75s side by side behind the coach. Would a 75g tank be OK for just one with some rock and sand. Nothing else, no other tank mates. So one tank will have a puffer and the other will have a dinnerplate albino oscar. Google says 100 min.

Surprisingly, Diodon hystrix grows to almost three feet long, Diodon holocanthus reaches about 18". If you get a small one, it is unlikely they will reach that size in an aquarium, but figure on perhaps 80% of that max, so long term, neither species is going to be happy in a 75. There is a smaller species from Australia, but I forget its name....

Jay

 

[vetteguy53081]

Minimum- 125g

 

[vetteguy53081]

Surprisingly, Diodon hystrix grows to almost three feet long, Diodon holocanthus reaches about 18". If you get a small one, it is unlikely they will reach that size in an aquarium, but figure on perhaps 80% of that max, so long term, neither species is going to be happy in a 75. There is a smaller species from Australia, but I forget its name....

Jay

Australian I believe is Diodon holocanthus

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Australian I believe is Diodon holocanthus

Both hystrix and holocanthus are found in the Atlantic and the Pacific, I looked it up, the slightly smaller species I was thinking of is Diodon nicthemerus...I doubt that it is in the trade though.

Jay

 

[ReefHog]

I’ve kept a few holocanthus over the last 30 years. It’s been my experience that they grow quite quickly from a few inches to about 6 or 7 inches over the first two or three years. Then they seem to hit a wall and grow slower. I feed four or five Days in a row then a day off. Once they get past 6-7 inches, the 18” wide tank will be too small for them. My last one was about 8 years old and did just fine in my 220 mixed reef. Never even went after the snails or hermits. I feed with custom tweezers for grinding his teeth/beak. Unfortunately I lost most of the fish to velvet in 2019. I just got a new one I’m keeping in a 90 gallon with a fiji damsel. I can’t put him in my 220 cause I have a CBB That eats clam from tweezers and the puffer would end up crushing the CBBs face. I’ve got a 240 gallon in the planning stage for next year for my retirement present to myself.

 

[ddc0715]

Well I may roll the dice and add one to my reef tank. Its a 150.

 

[Triple.T]

A family friend of mine had one in her tank when I was younger. The tank was a whopping 600G DT and she had it for many many years. I'm not sure this helps you any, I could reach out to her if you were interested in knowing more.

 

[ReefHog]

Well I may roll the dice and add one to my reef tank. Its a 150.

Make sure you have a plan in place. Puffers are poop machines. So nutrient control will be important unless you want algae issues. Also many people report that the puffers chomp/taste corals and go after their crustaceans, mullusks and clams. I believe my success is because I feed with tweezers from the beginning and they learn to associate that as their food source. I kept mostly softies and LPS and a few hardy SPS with no issues.

 

[ddc0715]

good point about nutrient control I was considering running a second skimmer in my X-refuge chamber.

 

[JoshH]

Make sure you have a plan in place. Puffers are poop machines. So nutrient control will be important unless you want algae issues. Also many people report that the puffers chomp/taste corals and go after their crustaceans, mullusks and clams. I believe my success is because I feed with tweezers from the beginning and they learn to associate that as their food source. I kept mostly softies and LPS and a few hardy SPS with no issues.

Can you share more about the tweezers you used? I have a 125 Gallon tank and I saw this little guy at the store today, took everything I had not to pick him up but now it's got me thinking....

 

[najer]

Can you share more about the tweezers you used? I have a 125 Gallon tank and I saw this little guy at the store today, took everything I had not to pick him up but now it's got me thinking....

Do it!

 

[ReefHog]

Can you share more about the tweezers you used? I have a 125 Gallon tank and I saw this little guy at the store today, took everything I had not to pick him up but now it's got me thinking....

Sure. I bought some small stainless steel "diamond dust" coated files and cut them to about an inch long. Then I epoxied them to the outside ends of a pair of plastic feeding tongs. As an alternative, you could use a hacksaw or thin grinding wheel and rough up the outside ends of metal feeding tongs. Then I feed with these a few times a week. My puffer bites the tongs when getting his food. You do have to be mindfull of their eyes when feeding so you don't poke them. It's never happened in the last 8 years since I've been using this method but I can absolutely see how it could happen.

 

[JoshH]

Sure. I bought some small stainless steel "diamond dust" coated files and cut them to about an inch long. Then I epoxied them to the outside ends of a pair of plastic feeding tongs. As an alternative, you could use a hacksaw or thin grinding wheel and rough up the outside ends of metal feeding tongs. Then I feed with these a few times a week. My puffer bites the tongs when getting his food. You do have to be mindfull of their eyes when feeding so you don't poke them. It's never happened in the last 8 years since I've been using this method but I can absolutely see how it could happen.

Awesome, thank you for sharing!

 

[JoshH]

Do it!

You are evil lol

 

[najer]

You are evil lol

I had a baby one like an inch, I fed it by hand, I had a tank crash and took it back to my lfs as the upgrade was cancelled, the first time they tried to feed it it bit someone, they are a pet fish, like getting a baby to train, ...

 

[codycolina707]

Question--- wife an i want a porcupine puffer. Can't have him in my reef tank. So the plan is to free up one of our living rooms fresh water tanks. I have two 75s side by side behind the coach. Would a 75g tank be OK for just one with some rock and sand. Nothing else, no other tank mates. So one tank will have a puffer and the other will have a dinnerplate albino oscar. Google says 100 min.

ive had my dogface for about 7 months in my reef tank also 150 and the only time hes ever bit a coral which im sure he learned a lesson was i dropped a clam by his cave the powerhead blew it over by my elegance coral he ended up taking a bite of a tentacle spit it out and got stung had a white spot by his mouth for a couple days

 

[Paul B]

Puffers and especially porcupine puffers are a very personable fish and I have also kept and collected many of them. That being said, they do not like aquarium life and some of them just constantly swim up and down the sides of the glass until they infect their eye. They are also very susceptible to going blind as are many big eyed fish.

They will not get to 18" in a tank but they will get 6 or 7" in a 150 gallon tank. They eat an enormous amount and poop quite a lot. IMO not a great fish to keep in a tank.

In the sea they are pretty common and I have followed a lot of them. They are actually long distance swimmers and although slow for a fish, hard to catch up to.

I collected this little half inch burrfish in the Atlantic here in New York. He grew to about 6" in a year and I gave him to the New York Aquarium.

 

[nereefpat]

I agree with Mr Hemdal.

A 75 doesn't work for a porcupine.

 

[Clownfish_Boy]

75G is way to small for a Porcupine Puffer. Recommended minimum tank size is 180G for that fish. They grow to a foot or more in length. I so wanted one myself, they are so cute - but my 60G is only half the minimum recommended size !