Valentini Puffer

[apb03]

So I ignored all the warnings and decided to give a Valentini Puffer a home in my reef tank. Turns out he's as advertised and he has caused some damage to some of my corals. He seems to taste just about everything I add to the tank at least once, but what I found most peculiar is that he eats branching monipora. I tried two Forest Fire Digitata frags and he absolutely demolished them, also he ate my Bali Green Slimer. Strangely, he seems to leave the rest of my corals alone.

Has anyone else had a similar experience? I think anything with polyps he leaves alone for the most part. I try to keep him well-fed, but he's sneaky. Still my favourite fish though.

 

[Townes_Van_Camp]

Yes, and I say they are worth the price if they effectively prune the digitata. What a score all the way around. Keep the digitata in check with a great fish.

 

[apb03]

Haha, they are amazing fish. He eats from my hand and even lets me pet him. Oddly he ignores my Tubbs Stellata. I wish I can get a Digitata to at least survive, he takes it down to a nub within a few days!

 

[To(meany)Tang]

So I ignored all the warnings and decided to give a Valentini Puffer a home in my reef tank. Turns out he's as advertised and he has caused some damage to some of my corals. He seems to taste just about everything I add to the tank at least once, but what I found most peculiar is that he eats branching monipora. I tried two Forest Fire Digitata frags and he absolutely demolished them, also he ate my Bali Green Slimer. Strangely, he seems to leave the rest of my corals alone.

Has anyone else had a similar experience? I think anything with polyps he leaves alone for the most part. I try to keep him well-fed, but he's sneaky. Still my favourite fish though.

I just left that ship. Lol my honeycomb toby was my baby until she destroyed my acan. Left my zoa and mushroom alone.. may have nipped my favia but barely and never reoccured. I gave her a second chance and added a torch and 2 hammers a few days ago and my toby wanted both of them. I had to spend 2 hours breaking my scape catching the demon fish and rescape my entire 180. I still felt like a bad fish dad taking her back to the store though. Side note: anything that entered the waters from above was hers and only hers. I even put in a dry rock one time and she started biting pieces off of it lol. It's only been 3 days and I miss her so much

 

[vetteguy53081]

So I ignored all the warnings and decided to give a Valentini Puffer a home in my reef tank. Turns out he's as advertised and he has caused some damage to some of my corals. He seems to taste just about everything I add to the tank at least once, but what I found most peculiar is that he eats branching monipora. I tried two Forest Fire Digitata frags and he absolutely demolished them, also he ate my Bali Green Slimer. Strangely, he seems to leave the rest of my corals alone.

Has anyone else had a similar experience? I think anything with polyps he leaves alone for the most part. I try to keep him well-fed, but he's sneaky. Still my favourite fish though.

These fish are not reef safe and even as a freshwater version will shred plants and nip at fish in the tank.
Often when they display this behavior, they will not turn back but continue nipping at polyps and zoa, etc

 

[To(meany)Tang]

Female honeycomb ...I love her green face and eyes <3

 

[apb03]

These fish are not reef safe and even as a freshwater version will shred plants and nip at fish in the tank.
Often when they display this behavior, they will not turn back but continue nipping at polyps and zoa, etc

Yeah, guess I will just have to choose my corals carefully. Fortunately, he leaves my LPS and Zoas alone. He also ignores my Acros, so I really can't complain. He's incredibly friendly and gets along great with the rest of my fish. Even the Mandarin is safe around him.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Yeah, guess I will just have to choose my corals carefully. Fortunately, he leaves my LPS and Zoas alone. He also ignores my Acros, so I really can't complain. He's incredibly friendly and gets along great with the rest of my fish. Even the Mandarin is safe around him.

yeah, its the little polyps he's attracted to.

 

[Cantusaurus]

So I ignored all the warnings and decided to give a Valentini Puffer a home in my reef tank. Turns out he's as advertised and he has caused some damage to some of my corals. He seems to taste just about everything I add to the tank at least once, but what I found most peculiar is that he eats branching monipora. I tried two Forest Fire Digitata frags and he absolutely demolished them, also he ate my Bali Green Slimer. Strangely, he seems to leave the rest of my corals alone.

Has anyone else had a similar experience? I think anything with polyps he leaves alone for the most part. I try to keep him well-fed, but he's sneaky. Still my favourite fish though.

That's funny. I service client tanks, and there is one with a bunch of soft corals and a few LPS. He doesn't really nip those. I think they're all different. Puffers are just pickers and like to pick everything. I think he eats the small Vermetid Snails in the tank which is pretty good. I don't see anymore small ones in the tank, but the large ones don't get touched.

I would get one, but I have way too much variety in terms of corals in my mixed reef, and I don't want to risk them. I don't have acros or digis, but I have sooo many types of birdsnests and stylos and I don't want to risk them.

 

[Seansea]

Im gonna put one in my tank once corals are adult colonys and not baby frags. Then will be a method of pruning. I already have a bicolor angel that is annoying enough with coral nipping. Cant have 2 monsters in my tank at this point

 

[Budman93]

Thinking about getting one for the personality. Have a tank with mostly soft corals and some monti caps. Dont really care if he nips at the montis. Just lost my filefish and I think the quirky personality is pretty similar so why not give it a try? Only other tank mates are a damsel, Tailspot blenny, and Watchman goby. I guess the only one of those slow enough for him to possibly nip would be the tailspot?

**What about cleaner shrimp? They safe with them?

 

[To(meany)Tang]

Thinking about getting one for the personality. Have a tank with mostly soft corals and some monti caps. Dont really care if he nips at the montis. Just lost my filefish and I think the quirky personality is pretty similar so why not give it a try? Only other tank mates are a damsel, Tailspot blenny, and Watchman goby. I guess the only one of those slow enough for him to possibly nip would be the tailspot?

**What about cleaner shrimp? They safe with them?

Unfortunately cleaner shrimp would be goners. Before buying one i would consider future plans as well. I bought mine with no intentions whatsoever to buy corals. Over time that changed and I now own corals lol. If all you plan to keep is the current corals you have and only those then I'd give it a shot and make sure he doesn't go into overdrive. If you even slightly think you might buy more varieties of corals in the future I would pass on it. Once they get a taste they really don't stop. I really wish mine behaved

 

[apb03]

Thinking about getting one for the personality. Have a tank with mostly soft corals and some monti caps. Dont really care if he nips at the montis. Just lost my filefish and I think the quirky personality is pretty similar so why not give it a try? Only other tank mates are a damsel, Tailspot blenny, and Watchman goby. I guess the only one of those slow enough for him to possibly nip would be the tailspot?

**What about cleaner shrimp? They safe with them?

Go for it! You won't be disappointed if you don't mind the puffer chowing down on certain corals. My tank is pretty new (5 months) so I can't get some frags to establish, but that's about it. The only annoying part is picking out new corals, you never really know what he'll leave alone until it's in the tank. So far I think he only eats branching Monti's and Bali green slimer. Everything else he seems to leave alone for the most part. That said, I just got a JF Jolt frag and he nipped at it for the first day and the polyps haven't come out since, so I'm a bit annoyed by that one.

Shrimp, crabs, and Snails have been no problem at all. My hermit crabs are so comfortable around him that they freely walk around right beside him, so if your puffer is like mine, the inverts should be 100% safe. My cleaner shrimp got murdered by my hawkfish. The puffer left him alone.

 

[To(meany)Tang]

Go for it! You won't be disappointed if you don't mind the puffer chowing down on certain corals. My tank is pretty new (5 months) so I can't get some frags to establish, but that's about it. The only annoying part is picking out new corals, you never really know what he'll leave alone until it's in the tank. So far I think he only eats branching Monti's and Bali green slimer. Everything else he seems to leave alone for the most part. That said, I just got a JF Jolt frag and he nipped at it for the first day and the polyps haven't come out since, so I'm a bit annoyed by that one.

Shrimp, crabs, and Snails have been no problem at all. My hermit crabs are so comfortable around him that they freely walk around right beside him, so if your puffer is like mine, the inverts should be 100% safe. My cleaner shrimp got murdered by my hawkfish. The puffer left him alone.

I wish my inverts were safe lol. You have a well behaved puffer considering this information you provided that's awesome

 

[Budman93]

Unfortunately cleaner shrimp would be goners. Before buying one i would consider future plans as well. I bought mine with no intentions whatsoever to buy corals. Over time that changed and I now own corals lol. If all you plan to keep is the current corals you have and only those then I'd give it a shot and make sure he doesn't go into overdrive. If you even slightly think you might buy more varieties of corals in the future I would pass on it. Once they get a taste they really don't stop. I really wish mine behaved

Yeah this is what I've been reading up on. I mean it makes sense. Pufferfish literally have mouths designed to crush crab/shrimp/shells as it's their diet. Cant fault him. Would do my shrimp a solid and return him if I decide to buy.

Mimic Saddle Puffer might be safer for the shrimp? Looks identical to the Valentini but is actually a filefish and is rated for the same size tank...Of course it is not readily available online that I can see and is like 4x the price.

 

[apb03]

I wish my inverts were safe lol. You have a well behaved puffer considering this information you provided that's awesome

Haha I guess I've been pretty lucky, now if only I can find a way to get some red corals in my tank, that'd be swell! Maybe I'll try sneaking one in and gluing it somewhere where the puffer doesn't go. I find if there isn't much space beside the corals, he tends to forget about it. My 2nd shot at a slimer seems to be working with that trick, but out in the open on top? It's crunch time.