The Puffer Forum

Well, short term so far! I fragged a few corals of mine the other day that were getting too big for my nano and tried them out in my puffer tank...Well both took bites of the xenia and colt corals but quickly spat it out and have not touched either again. My GSP still stares at the xenia but doesnt touch. He seems mesmerized by its pulsing! I also added some Green Star Polyps which my chromis has decided he will lay in all day...weird. The two puffers do not touch the Green Star Polyps...yet! Hopefully it will stay this way. I tried this after going to a guys house a week ago, who has a 300G reef with a bunch of tangs, chromis, gobies, ect. but also two Green Spotted Puffers and a Valentini! The only corals he said they picked at were his brain corals.

Anyways, so far so good!

LOL, I can just see the puffers staring at the pulsing xenia!

Yeah, Im going to take a picture soon. Tonight I came home to the xenia missing a polyp...Hmmmmm, we will see how long this lasts! I am hoping that after one bite each, they realize it isnt really food! Im thinking that adding more could help so that they are not amazed by this one cool new thing in their tank...

So far so good with the corals I have added. I now added a frogspawn (sp?) and they have completely left it alone also. Im getting nervous though...If they eat them, I of course will not be mad at them but Im nervous because I want this to work!

Do you guys know anyone who has kept a GSP around corals?

What corals worked well with a GSP?

Of course it depends on the individual puffer but ideas can't hurt!

PufferPunk, what would you try out???

At the moment I have brown buttons and a bleu sponge in with my GSP. I also have some fluorecsense green starpollyps and a Mushroom Anemone in with the GSP, no probleems whatsoever.

Some pics.







All small pieces just to try. I'm just getting ri of the algea but everything is working out fine till now

Well, I have added a bunch of new corals and they have no interest in eating them! Again, who knows how long this will last!

They have nipped a few once but then never really go back, so I hope thats how it will be. I know my GSP will never go back near the frogspawn, it stung him when he bit it! His mouth was quite swollen for a day but hes fine now. He still loves the xenia though!

can you post a pic of this xenia sounds fasinating!

Yeah, my girlfriend has my camera today but I will tomorrow if she brings it home from work.

I currently have Trumpet Coral in with my Hawaiian puffer. He took one bite of the coral and spit it out. He hasn't touched it since. But for the sailfin blenny, thats a different story

I now have my puffers in a full reef...Well I consider it a reef now because there are more than 15 different corals. The more i add, the more they ignore them, including the xenia.

Its very interesting because they will pick at everything on the LR around the corals but will not touch the corals. As I said before, they took a bite of one or two but now have no interest, especially the GSP, he could care less.

I have been very lucky though, I have puffers who so far, have not bothered each other in the least, not bother tankmates and dont touch corals really!

Hope it lasts...Nice thing is, they are both pretty much full grown size now, so this is not just a young puffer that will suddenly change one day. Well of course they could suddenly change but less likely now, I think.

Too bad they are not actually reef fish because they look amazing amongst all the color of the corals!

I demand more pictures!

Oooh ... yes, piccies please.

What fish do you have with your GSP in total now?

And any fin casualties?

Pics are coming tonight!

I have a GSP, Valentini Puffer and Blue/Green Chromis. The tank is doing very well and not a single nipped fin ever! I check everyday and still nothing. The guys get along very well and eat side by side and no problems. I knew both puffers very well though before they became tankmates. I had the GSP since he was a tiny baby, two years ago and the Valentini was a friends puffer and was a very peaceful community fish in his reef. So I knew the Valentini was used to being in a reef and had never eaten corals before. I hope that the GSP would also leave them alone and so far he has! But I am very lucky I think, Ive broken so many rules and yet they are so happy and the tank is starting to look great I think.

By the way, I have a Maroon/gold stripped Clown in QT also which with be the next tankmate. I had a dwarf lion that I QT'd but he is going to a friend for some corals because I dont wanna push things by also having a lionfish in a reef! I dont think I would be so lucky to get three unsafe reef fish who behave!

Sounds great!!

I'm also hoping to pair my GSP with a Valentini when I eventually go marine, but I'm worried that because the GSP has been on his own for a while, that he might not take kindly to company. Anyway, I'll give it a try ...

I've been looking for a while now to see what GSPs look like in the wild when they're fully grown ... haven't found any pics.

How big is your GSP now?

Hes about 5 inches I guess. I will take pics tonight when I get home. My GSP had tankmates since he was an inch long, so he was used to other fish. He has never nipped a single fin ever, unless it was before I got him! This is actually the second Valentini I have tried with him, the first one lasted a day and went back to the store, it picked on my GSP. I wasnt going to mix two puffers ever again until a friend asked me if I could take his Valentini. I said no but when I went to see him and how calm and shy he was, it reminded me of my GSP and I thought Id give it another shot. Its worked out.

Just be careful though and make sure you know your puffers personality. I am able to keep other puffer tankmates and corals with mine but most will not work that well...I feel very, very lucky to have found these two who get along.

I am hoping to upgrade tanks at some point too though. The 65G they are in is fine but a bit more room even would be amazing. I think I am gonna pick up a 125 as soon as I have the time to switch it all over, build a new sump, plumbing, ect. ect...