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question about puffer fish

J

jtravapd

hi guys, my dad has a 92 gallon corner reef tank running about a year and he no longer wants a reef tank..he wants to keep his current fish (a couple damsels, 2 clown fish, and two tangs) and he wants to get a dogface puffer. i have a 180 gallon tank which is filled with coral..but im gonna try and take his corals and put them in my tank..most of his corals are shrooms and zoos...he does have a large long tip elegance coral which the clowns live in which he wants to keep...

i know puffers are not reef safe, do they prefer a certain type of coral to eat? would they eat the elegance coral? the clowns do not let the current fish near it, but he does not want to put them in danger fighting to defend it. any help will be great..thanks..
 
C

calaxa

They don't eat coral. They are deemed reef unsafe because they are obligate carnivores and any fish small enough to fit in its mouth is in danger. In addition, they will eat shrimp/crabs and any other invert that us reefers normally keep that they can fit there. That is why they are deemed reef unsafe, not because of corals. Don't go nuts and feed it live goldfish like so many people I see do. Long term liver damage from doing that.
 
R

ReeferNets

Calaxa

They do eat coral why do you think they have a beak. They crush calcified corals with thier beak and their bodies process the broken coral and take out nutrients and when the puffer poops it comes out as sand. Same with triggers and wrasses. They need to be fed a steady diet of inverts with the shells on them. If they do not grind down their beak they will die because they will not eat. Some hardcore fowlr people who dont want the excessive waste from feeding whole inverts will grind down the puffers beak manually.

Puffers are my favorite fish next to clowns.

Heres a couple movies of some different saltwater puffers eating coral
http://www.oceanfootage.com/stockfootage/Puffer_Fish/start_41
 
N

NJ_ychung1

i bet they eat corals. i will also bet they eat your clean up crew be it snails or shrimps or crabs or hermits. also they are pigs so they will foul your water very fast.... these are just educated guesses as i don't own a puffer.
 
R

Rbu1

They will eat hard corals. I had mine in my 300 before the disease outbreak that took its life. My 300 is loaded with leathers and anemones that the puffer never touched.
 
R

ReeferNets

Calaxa,

No offense at all by what im about to say.
Stop checking sites for answers and directly using thier info. I think some of your answers come from sites you check and thats why alot of people are getting a little annoyed. Your answers arent wrong but they usually like a website only portray one view. I repeat im not trying to be a snood by telling you this, I like you i think your energy for answering post it great but be careful when presenting your view or a website's view. Keep posting but make sure if your using a website for reference that you say that so no one thinks its your view.

Puffers for example arent known for eating sps and hard corals but they do. Not many sites will even cover that because it pretty much known that anything calcified is food for a puffer. Corals, shrimps, crabs, urchins, Sand, Rock,
That beak can break off a finger nevermind some acros.
 
R

ReeferNets

For Reference check out the pictures of these chompers

490415807_34a17aee47.jpg


jtravapd
just in case this pictures answers your questions about your elegance. Its likely its if got a hard shell and some flesh it maybe dinner. LOL

Your clowns will bail ship or go down fighting if the puffer starts eaten it.
 
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