Convention: Speaking on Puffers?

[Pufferpunk]

I was just at our local Midwest Frag Fest, hanging out with some of the speakers. For many years they have been asking me why I'm not up there with them, speaking on puffers. I kinda felt I didn't want to compete with Kelly Jedlicki (Puffer Queen) for her spot in the speaking circuit. She has been extremely busy, since she started rescuing sharks & lots of furry animals, in addition to puffers. I believe she has >4,000g worth of tanks & countless cats & dogs to care for & hasn't been out much to speak lately. Also, most of her lectures have been on fish diseases (that's what her forum is on Marine Depot). So that seems to leave the puffer spot open.

What kinds of info on puffers do you guys think would be interesting to cover?
What info would be pertinent to the listening public, either keeping puffers now & considering one?
Keep in mind. these are reefing conventions & my strong points are FW/BW puffer species.

[Corvus]

With regard to puffers reefers are mostly interested in Canthigaster spp. I'd make them the center of the contribution.

The main question you'll hear is: Are they going to eat up my SPS and LPS? This should be adressed by positive and negative examples.

GPSs in a soft coral reef would also be an interesting topic new to most reefers.

[Pufferpunk]

Thanks Marco. I haven't had success keeping any species of SN puffers in my "display" reef tank--just with softies. Kelly used to do an entire series on FOWLR-type species, which would include pretty much all the SW puffers. I would of course, include the GSPs & maybe even a small portion on FW puffs thrown in for a hoot.

[JRC3]

Well if you're going to speak of GSPs then you might as well give Wal Mart a quick mention...Give credit where credit is do.

[RTR]

Go for it! Few are better prepared to talk about our problem children knowledgeably.

The one thing I would be sure to include is that other than the pure reef-based puffers from the wild and their potential damage to the inverts (with no doubt a big uncertainty factor) is that for the majority of our pets, captive husbandry may or may not align with little is known about their wild lifestyle. Many hobbyists have had major issues with this for the large-lake Cichlids, and the SW hobbyists seem to have the same issues with a number of reef-dwellers. What a reef in the wild can support versus what a limited-tank-size hobby environment can support may well be radically different. Very few seem to grasp that rather basic concept.

We are not taking a small slice of nature in captivity on a limited scale. We are setting a hopefully sustainable situation, which definitely is not a real slice of a reef of any other wild situation. We are setting what we hope we can maintain successfully- quite a different aim and concept.

HTH

[Corvus]

Thanks Marco. I haven't had success keeping any species of SN puffers in my "display" reef tank--just with softies.

Something worth to mention to the reefers. I guess many Canthigaster sp. are bought and become unwanted pets quickly when taking the first bites out of some expensive Acropora coral. I personally prefer softie reefs anyway... less trouble, less demanding, less light... but fast growth, significant biomass production and what I like the most: waving movements in the current.

I can give a number of successful examples of Canthigaster sp. in softie reefs... we even had a C. jactator in a frag tank with Acropora and clams without any unwanted behaviour. But puffers are individuals... what one specimen will spare another one might eat... and they can change their opinion with time. I think this would be among the important things to tell.

[Pufferpunk]

Very true, my valentini lasted quite a number of months before he started wrecking havoc on my reef.

[Mek0ng]

How about takifugu? They are often overlooked and at least in my experience a perfect reef puffer, never nipped a coral, just watch out for small shrimp.

[Pufferpunk]

I will be trying some corals with my ocellatus, as soon as the stupid algae goes away. I have a feeling I'll be getting much of my info & most of my photos from here!