Porcupine Puffer feeding schedule? -first ever post- (1 Viewer)

[T S Hughes]

Recently added a 6" Puffer to a 265 gallon FOWLR system. He was aggressive to hermits and snails and also had a 3" Niger Trigger living in fear... so I divided the display tank to 1/3 and 2/3 with the Puffer and a Lion in the larger section. The puffer has alot of personality and has been a fun addition. The trouble is, he is a very messy and wasteful eater. The store where he was purchased was feeding him frozen fish.... but I read that shellfish were the proper diet for them. Aside from the hermit crabs he snatched, I've been feeding him large shrimp. If i cut them into narrow enough strips, he sucks them down without making as much of a mess as usual. Because he's such an inefficient eater, I'm concerned about the water parameters being less stable -and I'm wanting to add some corals to the smaller section of the tank. My question is: how often does the puffer need to be fed? And, does anyone know of a food that he would be more likely to take better care consuming?

 

[flexrac]

this is what i found on them:
The Porcupine Puffer is also known as the Porcupinefish or Porcupine Pufferfish. It has spiny appendages which cover most of its body, which may vary from light gray to mottled tans, sometimes with dark spots. Its teeth are actually a fused beak-like structure. The Porcupine Puffer lacks pelvic fins but has learned to use the pectoral fins to move about.
A 180 gallon or larger, fish-only aquarium with a good protein skimmer is a suitable home. It may be aggressive at times, nipping the fins of tank mates and leaving a circular hole as its mark. It will eat invertebrates found in a reef aquarium. It has the ability, when threatened or scared, to inflate its body to almost twice its normal size. Parts of its flesh are poisonous if digested. The Porcupine Puffer needs a varied diet of meaty foods including; squid, krill, clams, and hard shelled shrimp to help wear down their ever growing teeth.

http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=15+39+244&pcatid=244

as far as how often, i think 1-2times per day would be fine.
what kind of corals do you plan to add? i'm thinking only soft coral would be suitable, but i could be wrong.

 

[T S Hughes]

Thanks for the reply. To start with corals, I was thinking of going with some "pulsing xenias" and "zoanthids". The tank is divided with a piece of acrylic drilled with many holes too small for the aggressive fish to get through. The Puffer won't be able to physically access them- I'm just concerned that he makes so much waste, it'll be hard to keep the nitrates down for the health of the corals.

 

[Ostentum]

I have had them in the past with lionfish, triggers and a couple of tangs. I had pretty much all softies. I am actually going to take my sps dominate 110g and go this route by year end. Couple things you can do. Prodibio, which is very effective at keeping Nitrates and Phosphates low, oversized skimmer, or even something along the lines of biopellets. The goal is to remove the dissolved organics via skimming and also creating a massive population of bacteria to break it down. Also for algae control, I used a long spin urchin, sand sifting star. You can use smaller shell hermit and snails, but the puffer will still get to some of them, the larger shell ones are easier for them to pull the inhabitant out.

 

[T S Hughes]

Thanks for the good tips. I will look in to getting the spin urchin and sifting star. The sump/refugium is 55gal and has plenty of live rock and chaeto algae- but the protein skimmer is a bit small. I'll need to upgrade that.