The Puffer Forum

Im cycling a tank for a Porcupine Puffer as we speak and am getting conflicting advise on two tank mates...Long Spined Sea Urchin and Volitan Lionfish. Some people say these are great with PP and others say its a big no-no..??
The tank is 600 UK litres.

My feeling is that the puffer will know exactly how to deal with the sea urchin, and will go for it the second it hits the tank. But that's just a guess.

The lion/porc combo will be fine, as long as they're pretty close in size.

Hey there! my Lion and porcupine puffer get along fine. Lion chases the porc out of his "spot" every now and then but nothing dangerous. It was just cause he wasn't getting enough food cause the puffer likes to eat everything as fast as possible before the lion can. My porcupine is about 4-5 inches long and the lion is about 6-7 including tail. I had conflicting answers on it but I tried it anyway. It depends on the fish whether they fight or not. Good Luck! possibly try another puffer with him unless you are set on the exotic lionfish!

NF, How big is that tank?

Nightfoxx220 wrote:Hey there! my Lion and porcupine puffer get along fine. Lion chases the porc out of his "spot" every now and then but nothing dangerous. It was just cause he wasn't getting enough food cause the puffer likes to eat everything as fast as possible before the lion can. My porcupine is about 4-5 inches long and the lion is about 6-7 including tail. I had conflicting answers on it but I tried it anyway. It depends on the fish whether they fight or not. Good Luck! possibly try another puffer with him unless you are set on the exotic lionfish!

I have the same tank, but I also have a chocolate mimic tang and a foxfish rabbit fish with em. They all get along fine. I had to take both the porcupine and lionfish off the aggressive foods like live silver shiners or frozen becuase I felt like they were bullying the other fish.. But other than that everybody gets along fine.. been running this tank (besides the foxface and tang) for 5-6 years now with no problems

Sounds like a cool tank!

Thanks for the replies, I guess I will give it a go and see how we get on with them. the guy at the fish store is great and has said that he will take the Lionfish back if it doesnt work out. My tank is almost ready to introduce the puffer now so Im soooooooooooooooo excited..!!!!

I keep my porcupine puffer ( 6'' )with one green spotted scat 6'' one black saddled valentini toby puffer 4'' pair of clarkii clowns 5'' and 2'' the little guy just hides in the rocks. I need to get them a anemone. 3 peppermint shrimp 2 emerald crabs lots of scarlet reef and other hermit crabs and a crew of turbos. I think I may find a new home for the Toby puffer I just dont like the idea of 2 fish with toxins in the same tank, thinking about adding a blue powder tang and or a picasso trigger. The trigger would go in last. the tank is a 90 gallon but I plan to upgrade to a 1800 or 2 million gallon well maybe a 180 or 220 gallon to start but soon the dream will come true when I own my own ocean. HAHAHA
PH:8.2
DKH:11
SALINITY:1.025
NITRATE:0-3PPM
AMONIA:0
NITRITE:0
TEMP:77
LIVE ROCK 150 #
30 GALLON FUGE WITH DSB AND CHEATO

I wouldn't add any more fish until you upgrade. How do you keep your nitrate so low?

I would be considering a new fish in place of the Toby puffer. To keep nitrate low I do weekly 15 to 20% RODI water changes once a week and I always vacuum the bottom with each change. The big ball of cheato algae in my fuge does a great job keeping it low too.

Considering the porc will require 100g by itself, I'd still wait.

Well my Porcupine Puffer will arrive next Wednesday if all goes well