Porcupine puffer?

[porcpuffer]

Hello there, new to this forum.

So, I have absolutely no experience with a saltwater tank and was recently intrigued by the idea of owning a porcupine puffer. I did do some research on WWM, and various library books, but suffice to say my research is still in its infancy. In any case, the original plan was to have a porcupine puffer in with a snowflake eel in a tank size about 120 gallon, with a protein skimmer and live rock as filtration. Will this suffice for filtration?

There are, however, quite a few issues with such an arrangement.
Firstly, a 120 gallon is enormous, are there any species similar in appearance and personality to diodon holocanthus that may stay under 30cm and more importantly, may allow me to downsize the tank but still comfortably house the specimen.

Secondly, I have always read that to replace water loss from evaporation, one uses an equal volume of freshwater. Does anyone actually use a lid in conjuction with the saltwater tank? The puffer will be placed in the bedroom, and the idea of rolling onto a puffer that has jumped out of the tank whilst asleep is quite unpleasant.

Lastly, anyone with advice and input about experience with their own porcupine puffers that may comment on this thread is appreciated as well.

[trekenk]

Hello porcpuffer and welcome to the Puffer Forum. Ok first off you are right as far a filtration goes for saltwater. Live rock 1 1/2 - 2 Lbs per gallon and a good skimmer with good water follow is suffice ( sump is alway good to). As far as the snow flake eel and puffer as tank mates , I don't believe eels and puffer make good tank mates although I have never attempted to keep them together so hopefully someone who knows for sure will add here. 120 gallon is the min. size for one porc with no tank mates. As far as a smaller similar species there are other type that are in the burrfish family but most are not for the inexperience hobbyist. Never wise to not to have a lid on your tank always the possible of your fish ending up on the floor.

[ILoveLola]

I don't know much in the way of porcs... But I was looking into getting a snowflake eel, they're amazing. (unfortunately tank plans fell through.) I remember reading, however, that eels and puffers shouldn't be housed together for the fact that eels don't eat nearly as fast as puffers do, & end up starving.

[Pufferpunk]

Snowflakes get as thick as your wrist. That's a lot of extra bioload to a 120g tank with a 12" puffer in it.

[chuckfriedrice]

Yes Porcs can get 10 to 12" . I have a 170g for my boy ! Hes got some other fish with him , along with a 55g sump with macro algea . I would suggest when you go to pick your porcupine try to get it from a place that is feeding it frozen foods already a pain in the but to do the switch to frozen . Dont listen to the LFS that try to sell you krill , Dont buy Krill ever, lol ! Its bad for them and the LFS always insist that its good food for them . The lid is a must Porcs can spit water, lol . I built my canopy out of wood , From what I can see the wood canopy prevents the salt creep unlike the plastic lids that are so easily to obtain . Not a big deal but horrible to keep clean . You might wanna watch out getting any puffer species that are small enough to become food for the snowflake. Thats there is my 25 cents worth, LMAO!!

[porcpuffer]

Thank you for all the help and information. So I could assume therefore that holocanthus tend to get to 10 to 12 inches in captivity. I will also assume that the burrfishes are difficult to maintain in captivity.

See, here's the issue. The idea of having a 120 gallon will be hard to conceal from my parents, or for that matter, any other fish tank.

It is most likely that I will have to forgo the puffer and go for the eel instead, which can be suitably housed in a 90 gallon on most accounts.

[Pufferpunk]

Good choice!

[ReefYeti]

I have a medium (6") porky puffer with a snowflake eel (eel is about 18" long and about 1.5" thick) and some other assorted fish in a custom setup.... essentially its 2 x 100 gallon tanks plumbed together, one on top shelf, on on bottom shelf.
I feed the snowflake with a feeding stick every 3 days or so, and I need to distract the puffer with some floating food while I feed the eel, or sometimes the puffer tries to steal it. Sometimes the reverse is true, and the eel swims up and tries to catch the floating food, and sometimes he "sits" on the puffer in the process, which is pretty funny to watch. Snowflakes (and zebra's) are good eels to have with other fish, as long as the other fish arent too small, or bottom dwellers (like blennies). I've witnessed a large tessalata eel (2'+ long and 3"+ thick) disembowel a 8" stars & stripes puffer that had peacefully shared the same tank for months. The guys at the pet store had moved them into a smaller tank (like 50 gallons) and werent target feeding the eel. Fatal mistake, and I was very sad for that puff.

[J-P]

what about a box fish / cow fish? They are much smaller.

[ReefYeti]

Cowfish need at least 180 gallons when fully grown. Some boxfish/turretfish stay small and can hang in 60 gallons or so, but they all run the risk of wiping out the tank with toxins if they ever get pissed off or attacked/harassed.
I dont think I would ever mix a cow/box/turret fish of any kind with an eel of any kind....eel's are too spastic & weird, I think they would stress the fish to the point they would toxin-dump the tank.
Minus the eel, some boxfish might work, I would add the boxy 1st, and they really arent %100 reef safe....they like to sample.
That being said, cow's & boxy's are really cool looking.

[ReefYeti]

Oya, just wanted to point out: The reccomended tank size listed for fish is sometimes rated on physical size (like for tangs, who need swimming room) and sometimes for bioload size (like for puffers/eels) and sometimes for physical space (the fish just gets so big it needs room enough to move). If you dont have the space for a 120 gallon tank, consider getting a 90, with a 75 gallon sump. There are stands that conveniently hold both, and it takes up the same amount of space & floor footprint, but you get 2 tanks or 1 tank and 1 sump. The benefit of plumbing 2 tanks like this are many... you can overflow from the top to bottom and then pump from bottom to top creating a nice loop. You can use the bottom as a sump and throw in all your skimmers, filters, heaters etc. Can use the bottom as a 2nd tank or big refugium also.

Just an example: One of my current setups is 2 x 100 gallon tanks, one over the other, plumbed together. So total volume is 200 gallons. I have a 5 gallon tank sitting in the bottom 100 which I place my return pump in and I have egg crate over the top of it to keep fish out. It also doubles as a small frag rack. I have non-reef safe fish in the top tank, and a couple reef safe guys & shrimp in the tank below, in addition to corals and a TON of live rock.

The actual bioload is:
Top Tank
1 porky puffer
1 snowflake eel
1 scopas tang
1 foxface lo
2 yellow tail damsels
1 humbug damsel
1 Condy
1 Choco-Chip Star
1 Niger Trigger
Many BIG turbo snails

Bottom Tank
1 Blue Chin Trigger
2 Green Chromis
1 Coral Banded Shrimp
3 Peppermint Shrimps
3 Emerald Mithrax Crabs
Lots of tiny hermit crabs
1 Fighting Conch
1 Pinchushion Urchin
Lots of snails
About 9 Taro & Kenya Tree Corals
1 Xenia
2 Random Zoa's
1 Green Mushrrom

Filtration:
About 240 Lbs of live rock
About 150 lbs of live sand
One 5 gallon refugium with macroalgae
Skimmer rated for 300 gallons
2 Phos-reactors: 1 Loaded with seagel & 1 loaded with carbon & purigen ( I have the flow rate on these turned VERY low, and change them about every 4-6 months)
I do a 33 gallon water change every 3-4 weeks. (I have a 33 gallon rubbermaid trashcan I use for this).
I use tap water treated with Prime. I add it all to trashcan and add salt, then let pump circulate it in the trashcan for a day or 2.

I do not have algae problems or nitrate problems. My PH is always stable and my calcium is always over 400.
Purple coraline algae covers the entire back of the tank and is starting to cover the sides as well.

[J-P]

Cowfish need at least 180 gallons when fully grown. Some boxfish/turretfish stay small and can hang in 60 gallons or so, but they all run the risk of wiping out the tank with toxins if they ever get pissed off or attacked/harassed.
I dont think I would ever mix a cow/box/turret fish of any kind with an eel of any kind....eel's are too spastic & weird, I think they would stress the fish to the point they would toxin-dump the tank.
Minus the eel, some boxfish might work, I would add the boxy 1st, and they really arent %100 reef safe....they like to sample.
That being said, cow's & boxy's are really cool looking.

Well yes and no... I was thinking more along the lines of a species only tank, but it appears the OP has made up his mind. Burrfish are VERY VERY cool. Myaj has / had one named "Paris". Absolutely beautiful.

[trekenk]

ReefYeti in my opinion you are way over stocked in the top tank all the way around. Not enough comfortable space for all those guys in a 100 gallon.

[Pufferpunk]

I agree--100g for the puffer's bioload alone. Snowflakes have flat teeth, for crushing crustaceans, which is why they are fish safe, unlike the Tessalata eel. I'm confused--what are in the bottom & top tanks?

[bertie 83]

Whoa far too overstocked.