The Puffer Forum

I put in my first coral yesterday. Naturally it's not amused by having been man-handled and being under new lights(I am getting my final lights this week, poor thing is gonna be grumpy for a while I guess ).

In any case. If being man-handled and new lights weren't enough you also have to deal with fish sitting on you.



He does open up when the aquarium lights go off and its just the room lights, very stunning coral reddish brown.

Yep, that's what they do. Very "moody" coral.

I am sorry about the Moody coral, but that is one cute pic of the yellow fish

I love clown gobies!

My favorite so far, it was shy at first, but now it perches on the front glass and every other very open area .

Contemplating getting a few more in a few different colours preferably.

He's in there together with

2 Ocellaris clownfish
1 Flameback dwarf angel
1 6-Line wrasse
1 4-Stripe damsel
1 Yellowtail blue damsel

Given the 140G tank I am hoping aggression won't be a large issue. I am not planning on adding many more fishes anyway (aside from gobies ), want that tank full of various corals instead.

Tim wrote:My favorite so far, it was shy at first, but now it perches on the front glass and every other very open area .

Contemplating getting a few more in a few different colours preferably.

He's in there together with

2 Ocellaris clownfish
1 Flameback dwarf angel
1 6-Line wrasse
1 4-Stripe damsel
1 Yellowtail blue damsel

Given the 140G tank I am hoping aggression won't be a large issue. I am not planning on adding many more fishes anyway (aside from gobies ), want that tank full of various corals instead.

I love my two Ocellaris clowns (one is b&w). They certainly are characters.

I believe you have to be careful with angels around corals. I believe that is one that is less likely to nip but still. I was looking into a few of the dwarf angels there for a bit but I decided against just in case it wanted to take a bite out of corals. Especially since I may already have one fish that will do that same.

Once I decided against and angel I looked back into wrasses. I was originally going to get a six-line but was worried after reading a lot of accounts of them becoming aggressive. I ended up getting a Melanurus Wrasse and I have to say I am very happy with my decision. He's such a lovely colored fish and has not been the least bit shy.

Heres a picture of mine, its not the best as he does not sit still but it give an idea of his coloring.



Also, I love the little gobys! I have a thing for gobys and blennys

Speaking of blennys, why not add one on your stock list? They certainly won't bother any corals and I love my starry.

I have leather that I just recently acquired. I attest to their moodiness. Mine has not had a fish perched on it but did have snail cross over it slightly in its path and the leather was not happy.

*GSP*Fan* wrote:

Tim wrote:...

I love my two Ocellaris clowns (one is b&w). They certainly are characters.

I believe you have to be careful with angels around corals. I believe that is one that is less likely to nip but still. I was looking into a few of the dwarf angels there for a bit but I decided against just in case it wanted to take a bite out of corals. Especially since I may already have one fish that will do that same.

Once I decided against and angel I looked back into wrasses. I was originally going to get a six-line but was worried after reading a lot of accounts of them becoming aggressive. I ended up getting a Melanurus Wrasse and I have to say I am very happy with my decision. He's such a lovely colored fish and has not been the least bit shy.

Heres a picture of mine, its not the best as he does not sit still but it give an idea of his coloring.



Also, I love the little gobys! I have a thing for gobys and blennys

Speaking of blennys, why not add one on your stock list? They certainly won't bother any corals and I love my starry.

I have leather that I just recently acquired. I attest to their moodiness. Mine has not had a fish perched on it but did have snail cross over it slightly in its path and the leather was not happy.

Thats a very nice wrasse . I think the most aggressive fish I have, theoretically, is the 4-stripe damsel. However, only the yellowtail has shown some aggression, when he was just put in the tank he attacked a clownfish that wondered into his hiding cave. The clownfish didnt even seem to notice.

I decided against angels for the nipping, but I couldn't resist this tiny bugger . The LFS told me these flamebacks are generally the most wellbehaved. They keep these with corals actually, none showed annoyance or anything worse.


Blenny-wise my LFS doesn't have them atm.

I do really like this one though, the Striped blenny. Seems he likes to hunt small critters. I have plenty of scavenger and algae grazing isopods.


My reefing LFS imports everything themselves so they can generally get anything. Though they may use distributors for fish from around Australia. I think the paperwork is a bitch .

I think I'll order one along with a canthigaster jactator or solandri, though I am not sure on the puffer, just doesnt feel complete without a puffer though , not going to decide until more corals are in the tank.

Very Nice

Tim wrote:

*GSP*Fan* wrote:

Tim wrote:...

I love my two Ocellaris clowns (one is b&w). They certainly are characters.

I believe you have to be careful with angels around corals. I believe that is one that is less likely to nip but still. I was looking into a few of the dwarf angels there for a bit but I decided against just in case it wanted to take a bite out of corals. Especially since I may already have one fish that will do that same.

Once I decided against and angel I looked back into wrasses. I was originally going to get a six-line but was worried after reading a lot of accounts of them becoming aggressive. I ended up getting a Melanurus Wrasse and I have to say I am very happy with my decision. He's such a lovely colored fish and has not been the least bit shy.

Heres a picture of mine, its not the best as he does not sit still but it give an idea of his coloring.



Also, I love the little gobys! I have a thing for gobys and blennys

Speaking of blennys, why not add one on your stock list? They certainly won't bother any corals and I love my starry.

I have leather that I just recently acquired. I attest to their moodiness. Mine has not had a fish perched on it but did have snail cross over it slightly in its path and the leather was not happy.

Thats a very nice wrasse . I think the most aggressive fish I have, theoretically, is the 4-stripe damsel. However, only the yellowtail has shown some aggression, when he was just put in the tank he attacked a clownfish that wondered into his hiding cave. The clownfish didnt even seem to notice.

I decided against angels for the nipping, but I couldn't resist this tiny bugger . The LFS told me these flamebacks are generally the most wellbehaved. They keep these with corals actually, none showed annoyance or anything worse.


Blenny-wise my LFS doesn't have them atm.

I do really like this one though, the Striped blenny. Seems he likes to hunt small critters. I have plenty of scavenger and algae grazing isopods.


My reefing LFS imports everything themselves so they can generally get anything. Though they may use distributors for fish from around Australia. I think the paperwork is a bitch .

I think I'll order one along with a canthigaster jactator or solandri, though I am not sure on the puffer, just doesnt feel complete without a puffer though , not going to decide until more corals are in the tank.

Thanks I think so too, very happy with my choice.

I've read a lot about damsels being aggressive or turning aggressive. I hope yours don't give you any troubles. A lot of the damsels have some loving coloring. Once I'm finished stocking, the puffer being next/last, I believe the puffer will be the only aggressive fish in my tank. Even that will depend on the puffer I supposed but all of my others are listed as peaceful and haven't shown any signs of aggression yet.

The flamebacks are nice looking fish. That one, the flame, and coral beauty were ones I was interested in. The day I got my wrasse the LFS had a very nice flame and coral beauty I was so tempted by. But was just too afraid to risk it, or even more so as I know the puffer will be a risk as well.

You know, I think that blenny and the midas were two blennies I was deciding between when I ended up getting the starry. The 'fang' part kinda threw me off on the striped But I love the colors and pattern on him.

I know I'm getting a toby puffer but am not 100% sure which one yet. I'm leaning towards the Canthigaster papua then the Canthigaster bennetti. Liveaquaria has the papua in stock now at medium size and I'm so tempted to just go ahead and get him

*GSP*Fan* wrote:

Tim wrote:

*GSP*Fan* wrote:...

Thanks I think so too, very happy with my choice.

I've read a lot about damsels being aggressive or turning aggressive. I hope yours don't give you any troubles. A lot of the damsels have some loving coloring. Once I'm finished stocking, the puffer being next/last, I believe the puffer will be the only aggressive fish in my tank. Even that will depend on the puffer I supposed but all of my others are listed as peaceful and haven't shown any signs of aggression yet.

The flamebacks are nice looking fish. That one, the flame, and coral beauty were ones I was interested in. The day I got my wrasse the LFS had a very nice flame and coral beauty I was so tempted by. But was just too afraid to risk it, or even more so as I know the puffer will be a risk as well.

You know, I think that blenny and the midas were two blennies I was deciding between when I ended up getting the starry. The 'fang' part kinda threw me off on the striped But I love the colors and pattern on him.

I know I'm getting a toby puffer but am not 100% sure which one yet. I'm leaning towards the Canthigaster papua then the Canthigaster bennetti. Liveaquaria has the papua in stock now at medium size and I'm so tempted to just go ahead and get him

The papua sure is gorgeous, only reasons it's not on my list is reading they are more prone to nip at corals. I've never had one before so who knows .

Only the Yellowtail damsel shows aggression, but it's like a small dog . All bark no bite. He tries to intimidate by flaring up and swimming next to the other fish, but noone is impressed . So now he comes to the front glass and does it to me instead . I doubt the aggression will be a major issue. All fish are at least semi-aggresive and can fend for themselves. Only exception might be the clown goby, but even the goby wasn't impressed by the Yellowtail .

New lights came without anything to put it on the tank . I'll have to go back and pick up a ceiling mounting kit. I had hoped not to go back to the LFS soon. They have this adorable little 2"-ish porcupine puffer that always asks me to buy him and it's getting harder to say no .

Yellowtails were the nicest of all the damsels I kept.

Perching on a Vortech MP40 at fullpower like a boss.

The papua sure is gorgeous, only reasons it's not on my list is reading they are more prone to nip at corals. I've never had one before so who knows .

Only the Yellowtail damsel shows aggression, but it's like a small dog . All bark no bite. He tries to intimidate by flaring up and swimming next to the other fish, but noone is impressed . So now he comes to the front glass and does it to me instead . I doubt the aggression will be a major issue. All fish are at least semi-aggresive and can fend for themselves. Only exception might be the clown goby, but even the goby wasn't impressed by the Yellowtail .

New lights came without anything to put it on the tank . I'll have to go back and pick up a ceiling mounting kit. I had hoped not to go back to the LFS soon. They have this adorable little 2"-ish porcupine puffer that always asks me to buy him and it's getting harder to say no

I think it is as well. I haven't found a whole lot of information on the papua and bennetti compared to other tobys. In terms of the toby puffers it seems like the valentini is more likely to be well behaved around corals from what I've read. It'll all come down the the individual puffer I guess so its hard to say

The solandri is very similar in coloration as the papua and easier to come across though.

Your damsel must think he is much more ferocious and intimidating than he truly is. Got to give him credit for trying though and I'd say the others not paying him any mind is a good thing

Oh yes, the porcupines are adorable My LFS has one as well but he's bigger. I'm more for the dogfaces when it comes to the larger marine puffers but the porcs are a close second.