The Puffer Forum

I have recently bought a juvenile stars and stripes puffer which is about the length of my index finger. It is currently living in a 180l tank with a small maroon clownfish. However on the fifth night (I have only had him for six days) I fear that he may have been bitten by the clown as I noticed that when he fannes out his tail there is small piece missing and a small tear in it, I am not sure whether the clown did this or not since they have been living together peacefully all day. If you have any suggestions of what could have caused this then please reply since I am completely new to marine tanks.
kind regards
Hamish

IMO, maroon clowns are one of the meanest fish alive. Get it out of there.
You're going to need a tank 3-4x the size you have now, to house that beast of a puffer, when it is an adult.

thanks, I am annoyed that the person at the store said that they would live in perfect harmony. but when I looked closely at it it looked more like a tear than a missing chunk and the fish both appear to be getting along fine, unless my presence influences their attitude, I am not sure.

I don't think your fish needs any tank mates ate all. He'll be outgrowing that tank soon & will need all the room he can get & he will produce enough bioload on his own.

thank you I will bear that in mind, I don't imagine that I could afford a tank big enough to house it but would I be able to sell it in a few years time or give it to a sea centre? also at how old does it reach its massive size?

It will be much easier to sell/re-home at it's size now or return to the LFS for a fish you can handle.

Please do research before you buy anything. Don't depend on some kid at the fish store to give you good info. Be sure you are aware of the adult size & proper housing for each species.
How long has that tank been set up? What kind of filtration are you using? How much live rock is in there?

stars and stripes can get seriously big !!!!

Here's some info from the Pufferpedia
viewtopic.php?f=38&t=28771

I used to keep a sns he got seriously big quick 180l just isnt big enough !!!!!!.

I had simular problems with a clown, in the end i just kept the sns alown its just much less hassle. clowns are mean specaily in smaller tanks imo ditch the clown asap and start saving for the bigger tank youll need

heres some simple maths for you : Big Fish = Big Tank

the tank has been set up for about one month with three weeks for the tank to cycle, I'm currently using a juwel 3.0 skimmer as well as a juwel bio and mechanical filtration system. getting live rock but have live sand for the moment.

also how old are they when they start to get realy big?

Depending on how much and often you feed him he can easily get to 12inches in a year

No such thing as "live sand", unless you got it from an established tank. That tank doesn't sound cycled at all to me. Can you test the ammonia, nitrite & nitrate levels please?

I have done and everything's as it should be. I have cycled the tank for three weeks and added the fish to the tank the right way etc.
http://saltaquarium.about.com/cs/livesa ... 070198.htm this is the live sand I was talking about