My Puffers: Puffers I have kept: T lineatus T miurus A modestus T biocellatus C valentini C coranata C papuan C lorteti DPs suvattii burrfish T niphobles
I still fear for that Mandarin though. Although it may eat prepared foods, nutritional deficiency is so easy for these guys. None of the puffers bug him? Cool new puffer!
The only puffer that ever bugged the mandarin was a toby who was peaceful for months then one day just nipped his tailfin. He got moved to another tank and is doing great...
As for the mandarin, there is a copopod population in there but odd as it may sound he seems to prefer the spectrum pellets most of the time. Then again, he also tried to "breed" w' the longhorn cow before so he is a bit strange. We love him anyway.
210: golden puffer, harley tusk, black dogface, juv emp angel, green wolf eel, purple tang
75/58: dogface, powder blue tang, longhorn cowfish, juv niger trigger
lol you have a crazy fish! I do too, my kole tang has recently decided that it likes to do laps around and around and around a certain peice of live rock...I think he gets dizzy, bacause then he swims funny..we love him too!
We are well aware of the ostratoxin issue and keep an eye on the cowfish to make sure nobody bothers/nips/harasses him and that his health is good. However; he is an uber hearty fish since day one and is the oldest member (in residence) of that tank. Its a very low aggression tank (personality of each fish). Were he to ever get sick or have someone who started to pick on him we'd do something about it but until then the community does great together.
210: golden puffer, harley tusk, black dogface, juv emp angel, green wolf eel, purple tang
75/58: dogface, powder blue tang, longhorn cowfish, juv niger trigger
They are really fun. My girlfriend is probably more attached to our longhorn cowfish than she is to me.
Big deal I know...but if you get them in the 2" or so size and have a low aggression tank they should do well. Keep a close eye on their personal eating habits. If they devour dried seaweed (hair scruncie + a bit of dried seaweek + live rock for seaweed rock) + the normal foods and you should be fine.
YES, they can nuke the tank with ostratoxin but that only typically happens when they are uber stressed by someone harassing (fin nipping) them or when they die.
If either is possible best to put them in QT. Otherwise they are an excellent addition to FO/FOWLR tank.
Ours has been literally part of the family for a year and change. He eats anything put in front of him (seaweed, mysis, pellet, mixed fresh market stuff) and does very well as long as we don't put anyting stupidly aggressive with him. In the past 6 months he has gone from 1.5" to past 3.5" so be prepared to have some tank volume longterm. Other than that, they are model companion fish.
As much as I hate to say it, think the girlfriend (10+ years professional saltwater experience likes that fish better than me!) but they have awesome personalities if you can keep them healthy and draw them out so to speak.
Best of luck....Lee
Hope this helps...Lee
210: golden puffer, harley tusk, black dogface, juv emp angel, green wolf eel, purple tang
75/58: dogface, powder blue tang, longhorn cowfish, juv niger trigger
