Valentini tankmates 30g

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Silly clownfish
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Valentini tankmates 30g

Post by Silly clownfish »

Hi,
I have been keeping reef tanks since the 90's and have a couple of my fish that long. I decided to set up my old 30g as a FOWLR a while back, and my only fish in there is a Valentini puffer that has been there for about 6 months. The tank has no sump, a CPR bakpak2 skimmer, pengun 330 HOB filter, and VHO lights. The substrat is a very thin layer of crushed coral. The same setup supported a reef an multiple fish for about 16 years, but was shut down for a couple of years, so the current LR is only about 9 months old. It is supposed to be FO, but I thros in frags that break off in my main tank on occassion - leathers, 'shrooms, frogspawn, montis, birdsnest - but all expendable.

In spite of what I read about puffers being messy, mine is actually pretty tidy and picks thorugh her rock to get pieces of food thst drop. As I result, I have little hair algae, and do not register nitrates or phosphorus.

I would like to add another small fish or 2 a something that I can't put in my main tank which has mixed corals, tridacnid clam, ocelaris clown, flame hawk, Randalls goby, one spot Foxface rabbitfish, solaris wrasse, green mandarin, orchid dottyback. I am finding that there aren't a lot of non-reefsafe fish that can go in a 30g.

At the moment my top contenders are a coral beauty angel - but I think the tank is too small. I know that cherubs are smaller, but I had one of those for over 7 years and would like soemthing different. Or a long nose hawk, which I have seen suggested here. I love my flame hawk, who I have had since 1999, so I would never chance putting another hawk in the main tank with him, and the long nose and flame are different enough that I don't think they really duplicate each other.

That said, if I add a long nose, I may be maxed out for the tank, so I want to make sure I am not missing out on another idea. I kinda feel like I would like something a little faster moving to balance out the tank. The 30g isn't big enough for a wrasse, plus not having a sand bed really is limited there.

Also, my lFS guy is very particular about only sourcing fish thst are healthy and from sustainable sources, so I have been waiting about 2 months for him to find a long nose.

Any suugestions are welcome.

Kim
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Pufferpunk
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My Puffers: Filbert, the 12" T lineatus
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2 T biocellatus
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Re: Valentini tankmates 30g

Post by Pufferpunk »

I would think the Coral Beauty might be a better choice, since puffers have been known to be nippy & a fish that sits around a lot like the hawk, could become an easy target.
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bertie 83
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My Puffers: lineatus R.I.P, South American puffer. Valentini puffer, porcupine puffer.
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Re: Valentini tankmates 30g

Post by bertie 83 »

I agree with pp. long nose hawk is one of my favourite fish too. My large longnose worked with my Valentini but the hawk was well established prior to adding the puffer, he was also much bigger and wouldn't take stick from anything else
It's amazing how easy maintenance is. If done regularly and thoroughly
Silly clownfish
Puffer Fry
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Joined: Tue Nov 01, 2016 2:19 pm
Location (country): Usa

Re: Valentini tankmates 30g

Post by Silly clownfish »

Thanks puffer punk. I am still concerned about the tank size for a coral beauty, so any other ideas for a tank mate are welcome.

Since I have only had my valentini by herself, I don't have a feel for what her personality is like with other fish. I am thinking that the second fish can't be too small because that might be asking for trouble.

Kim
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Pufferpunk
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Posts: 32764
Joined: Tue May 31, 2005 11:06 am
Gender: Female
My Puffers: Filbert, the 12" T lineatus
Punkster, the 4" red T miurus
Mongo, the 4" A modestus
2 T biocellatus
C valentini
C coranata
C papuan
Also kept:
lorteti
DPs
suvattii
burrfish
T niphobles
Location (country): USA, Greenville, SC
Location: Chicago
Contact:

Re: Valentini tankmates 30g

Post by Pufferpunk »

Personally, I'd just keep it alone in a tank that size.
You are getting sleepy... you only hear the sound of my voice... you must do water changes... water changes... water changes... water changes...

"The solution to pollution is dilution!"
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