is this too inhumane

[Nick]

I thought yellow tangs really preffered the swimming space of a 4 foot or longer tank?

[bonnie3188]

So im a college student and i have 2 years left. My wife already promised me a 125G as a graduation present, do you think i could have a procupine juvie in a 60 G with 2 clowns and a yellow tang until then or would it still not work?

I wouldn't do it. I would prefer to just wait and get a porcupine when you have a big enough tank for it. Also it would mean a lot more water changes if you kept it in a 60 gallon. I'm not sure about porcupines growth speeds, but I think it would outgrow a 60 gallon in 2 years.

[crazedpuffer]

Porcs are pretty slow growers, but I can't see one in a 60 gallon doing good for that long. I'd just wait it out if I were you.

[schlecht13]

I know waiting is difficult - personally with a 2 year window, I would wait until you find the perfect healthy porc. If you should happen to - I have kept baby porcs in 55G for brief windows of time (always knowing I had an upgrade around the corner!) Kinda like now....as you can see my list is long and some of mine will grow quite large if not huge...honestly if I didn't have an upgrade plan soon - four 200G and one 800G - the benefits of pursuing a PhD in Marine Bio of course - otherwise I wouldn't have even thought about it...

So if you know you are in good habits when it comes to water changes, at least in my humble opinion, keeping a baby porc in a 60 for less than 2 years, wouldn't hurt at all...just take your time on choosing one and be good about teh care - again just my experience...

[solastsummer]

ok I've given up on the idea of having a porc, sometime in the future right? How well do you think a Valentini and a blue spot would get along?

[schlecht13]

Again - personal experience has found that all these smaller "tobies" can most definitely be fin nippers - to each other and other fish. That being said, I recently kept a Valentini, Saddle puffer (looks close to Valentini but not quite), White Spotted, Janthinoptera (sometimes called blue spot/honeycomb - common names vary for even different species) and epilamprus in the same tank for about 8 months before 'donating' all but the latter two to friends wanting to get started with smaller puffers.

They all did great together. Yes sounds kinda weird - but they did - I will say they were in a large very aged tank and were added at the same time - kept a close eye for the typical additional 'cycle spike' when adding new fish and nothing really to worry about...they ate, got along and even seem to enjoy each others company - as you may now, the Canthigaster genus likes to sleep vertically perched on rocks and often I'd see two or more close together sleeping...

I wouldn't ever suggest the above scenario without a fallback tank (I always keep an up and running 55G in the garage with humbug damsels in the sump to keep the bacteria colonies always ready in the event I need to move a tank resident...

[solastsummer]

Again - personal experience has found that all these smaller "tobies" can most definitely be fin nippers - to each other and other fish. That being said, I recently kept a Valentini, Saddle puffer (looks close to Valentini but not quite), White Spotted, Janthinoptera (sometimes called blue spot/honeycomb - common names vary for even different species) and epilamprus in the same tank for about 8 months before 'donating' all but the latter two to friends wanting to get started with smaller puffers.

They all did great together. Yes sounds kinda weird - but they did - I will say they were in a large very aged tank and were added at the same time - kept a close eye for the typical additional 'cycle spike' when adding new fish and nothing really to worry about...they ate, got along and even seem to enjoy each others company - as you may now, the Canthigaster genus likes to sleep vertically perched on rocks and often I'd see two or more close together sleeping...

I wouldn't ever suggest the above scenario without a fallback tank (I always keep an up and running 55G in the garage with humbug damsels in the sump to keep the bacteria colonies always ready in the event I need to move a tank resident...

Tell me how you think this stocklist would work

1 blue spotted
1 valentini
2 clowns false perc
1 yellow tang
1 watchman (im starting to think he would be dinner)
1 firefish (maybe dinner too)
if i cant do the watcman and the firefish then i want a fire angel

[schlecht13]

I'll say this - its just about impossible to determine how the list would do (or any for that matter with several fish) The more different animals you add, the more variables you introduce...If anything I may see the tang harassing a few if too large, the two puffers if introduced together will give you the best chance of them getting along - as well as them being the same size. I would say a tank of at least 55-75 Gallons is appropriate for the stock and besides adding the puffers together to avoid aggression, I would not add all at once...need to allow those small cycle spikes

All in all though, I really don't want to say no or yes - simply because each situation is so unique...Overall its not a bad combination and could work for the most part if you keep a watchful eye and keep a spare 29 Gallon handy...just my 2 cents

[crazedpuffer]

The only thing that could be really problematic is the 2 puffers. Otherwise it should be fine.

[iplaydrums1]

try "halloween hermit crabs" not sure of their scientific name, but usually thats how you find them in the marine stores. i have one and have seen a few and they are huge, non aggressive, and clean well. and they look awesome. none of my puffers have even looked at him as a meal. nor has my snowflake eel. which was a suprise.


good luck on the toby, such great fish.