The Puffer Forum

I bought the Valentini Puffer last week. So far he is very calm and non-agressive. He like to he enriched brine and seems to hunt for copepods. He seems a little shy but is starting to come out when it is feeding time. I noticed that the PufferPedia didn't have much info so I decided I could write what I have observed so far and will post more later.

If you could share with us your tank's size, equipment, and whether or not you are keeping other fish or corals with him that will also help broaden our knowledge about keeping Valentinis in home aquaria. There is another member on this forum who has hers in a reef with many tankmates including another Canthigaster species, but I'm sure this isn't typical of most Valentinis. Maybe you can help enlighten us in the months/years ahead.

Btw- be sure to feed brine shrimp only as a rare treat, find some nice clams/mussels, snails, shrimp, and other frozen Marine Fish foods so he gets enough nutrition.

I have a 45gal FOWLR and his tank mates are (common names) Yellowtail damsels, Coral Beauty Angel, Scooter Blenny, Solarensis Wrasse, Red Star, snails and crabs (which he may eat a few) and a blue damsel.

I'd like to contribute to the Valentini Pedia, too.

I've had mine for the past three months. He is about 2 inches from nose to tail, maybe a mite bigger.

He is housed in a 45 gallon FOWLR (with a few frags of zoo's and mushrooms) with a Midas Blenny, (2) False Percs, Sixline Wrasse and a Pygmy Angelfish. The tank also has a few hermit crabs and snails (whose numbers he has slowly but surely dwindled) as well as a Boxing Crab and a Coral Banded Shrimp.

The tank has about 40 lbs of LR and 25 lbs of Live Sand. It is heavily skimmed by a Coralife Super Skimmer, and it also has a 15 gallon sump that houses all of the "ugly" equipment. The tank has four powerheads, two of which have the rotating deflectors.

Diddy, as I like to call him, gets along with everyone in the tank. He doesn’t nip at the zoo’s or mushrooms, but he did manage to kill a tiny feather duster that hitch-hiked in on some zoo’s. He likes to ambush hermit crabs and snails, but that was expected. (The hermits and snails have learned to barely move until night-time, when Diddy is asleep. Then they’re out in full force!) He hasn’t nipped at any of his fish tank-mates and seems to be pretty congenial.

He gets along with the Coral-Banded Shrimp because he has to. The CBS is pretty feisty, but he really only comes out at feeding time and at night, so they don’t have much contact with each other anyway.

During the day, Diddy roams the rockwork, picking at invisible things and looking for hermit crabs and snails. He has learned to recognize me, and will come to front of the tank to say “hello.” At feeding time, he swims straight to the top of the tank where I have a small “feeding station” and will eat freeze-dried shrimp from my hand.

I also feed a mixture of Formula Two algae flakes/pellets, Spectrum New Life pellets, Emerald Entrée, mysis shrimp, mussel, shrimp (w/ shell), clam, and freeze-dried shrimp and bloodworms. He eats all of these with enthusiasm.

At night time, as soon as the lights are off, he circles the tank a few times before settling down on his favorite rock, where he attaches himself to the side and camouflages himself.

I’ve never observed him puffed up, and I’d like to keep it that way.

I am currently raising the salinity (slowly) and it is at 1.021 at the moment. I’d like to get it to 1.023.

pH maintains a steady 8.0 – 8.2
Ammonia is undetectable
Nitrites are undetectable
Nitrates vary from 0 – 10

Is there anything else I could add that would be helpful?

I love writing stories, and wouldn't mind writing a short story about Diddy

I would like to add in also.

I have a Valentini Toby, which is the correct description as they are in a different family than the normal puffers.
I have had Camo (thats the name my daughter gave the valentini) in my reef tank for 5 months with very little trouble at all. The only thing he does is harass the snails and he will nip at new coral additions but not enough to damage them, and it only occurs to new corals. Once the corals have been in the tank for a day or so, he totally ignores them. He does not bother any of the inverts (3xPeppermint Shrimp, Skunk Cleaner Shrimp, Michaels Bullseye Pistol Shrimp, 2xCoral Banded Shrimp). Even with the snails, he just harasses them and has never eaten one (granted they are all types with a operculum so they can completely retract and hide). I do have two fancy nassarious snails in the tank that do not even dare come out of the sand during the day though, he has attacked them on several occasions, so I would say they are definitely at high risk. Generally I have found the Valentini to be very reef safe as I have SPS, LPS and Softies, plus Zoanthids, Mushrooms, and Bubble Tip Anemones in the tank with no problems at all. For feeding I use a mixture of foods for my tank. I combine Mysis Shrimp, Spirulina Brine Shrimp, Squid, Krill, Cyclopeze, Rotifers, whole river shrimp (come in a can from Seachem I think), Formula two pellets, and formula two flakes. To this I add Zoe and Zoecon vitamins. The puffer primarily eats the Mysis, the squid, the river shrimp and the Formula Two pellets. Oh yeah, I forgot he also eats the sheets of Nori and red Seaweed, I put in a clip for my tang. Did not know puffers even liked algae. He has only blew up one time when the Lawnmower blennie scared him to death by jetting out of a hole in the rocks as the puffer was looking in. It was rather hilarious to have watched it, Poor Camo looked like a little round balloon for about 20 seconds or so.


Here is my setup and a couple of picts.

Params:
Temp = 77
PH = 8.2-8.4
Salinity = 1.025
NO2 = 0
NO3 = 0
NO4 = 0
Mg = 1320
Ca = 420
dKh = 9.6
PO4 = 0


Setup:

90 Gallon Bowfront w/ Bottom Drilled returns
20 Gallon Sump/Refugium
Deltec APF600 Skimmer
12 Lbs Fiji Refugium Mud
88 Lbs of Pucani Live Rock
1/4HP Chiller
2x250 HQI MH 14000K
2 96W CF Actnics
6 LED Moon Lights
Phosban Reactor
Charcoal Filter
MAG9.5 return Pump
2xSEIO 1100 Powerheads

LiveStock

3 Green Chromis
1 Lawnmower Blennie
1 Yellow Diamond Goby
1 Pink Spotted Watchman Goby
1 Yellow Neon Goby
1 Valentini Toby
1 Sturgosis/Striatus hybrid Tang
1 Copperband Butterfly
1 Red Mandarin
8 Astrea Snails
3 Large Turbo Snails
3 Peppermint Shrimp
1 Bullseye "Michaels" Pistol Shrimp
1 Skunk Cleaner Shrimp
12 Blue Legged Hermits
2 Fancy Nassarius Snails
2 serpent starfish
and Lots of Corals

what an awesome tank!!!!

That is an awesome tank setup. I have also seen mine puff up once. I am not sure what scared him. Also one of my Feather Dusters decided to jump out of his tube one day and Puffy (gee I am so creative) decided he looked like food. I can not seem to get him to eat anything but Flake, Vitamin enriched Brine and Krill. He shys away from clam and squid. Not sure why. Other than that he seems to be very docile.