Inverts with Puffer ??

hey guys ... hope im not annoying anyone with this question.. i was wondering!!! i have not been able to keep a clean up crew very long with my porcupine puffer... does anyone have any ideas or can offer any insite to help maintain the tank a little... maybe there is certain inverts he will not go for ? any help would be greatly appreciated ... Diddy is a dirty one lol

 

I had this amazing 7" blue lobster, he was tottally reef safe! I don't know much about puffers buth that should be big for him to go after?

 

unfortunately with a porcupine there is not really anything you can keep in the tank with him. Puffers are known to eat crabs, snails, shrimp etc, while each fish can be different, it sounds like you have a fish that will eat them.

I had a puffer tank (golden and porcupine) and was unable to keep a CUC which means you have to work a lot harder to keep up with the clean up

sorry I couldnt give you anything positive!

 

Puffers are tough you mabe you could try fuzzy chitons but its still a long shot.

 

Haa, inverts with puffers...not going to happen! I've had Rosie my porcupine puffer for...idk how long, and if I even try to put a snail, clam, shrimp..ect..she just has a field day with it! Maybe just maybe a large mantis shrimp would work

 

puffers like porcupine and goldens have 2 large beaks in their mouths. These beaks need to be ground down routinely, and they do this by breaking shells and eating rocks. Some of the other smaller puffers (valentis etc) do not have these large beaks so are sometimes a little safer around CUC and are the reason it is classified as "reef safe"

Puffers with beaks (porcupine, dogface, goldens, mappa, etc) also have another way to make quick response to any cuc....including large turbos, they have the ability to spit or blow water to either find snails buried, or to flip the snails over to get to their underside if they are to big for them to crunch their shell! They can find anything in the rocks, sand, etc.

Manual scrubbing is the only way......... I did buy some crabs and snails for my fish to eat...I would buy them knowing that they would be gone, but would place several in the tank at once, and got a little bit of cleaning out of them...but mainly would buy them so they can grind down their teeth and get a little snack out of it

 

large mantis shrimp (or any mantis) would be HORRIBLE idea Either the puffer or the shrimp would be gone in a heartbeat...........and puffers release toxins sometimes when they die, which would then kill the mantis.......

 

Drs. Foster and Smith Diver's Den® - Panulirus vesicolor

 

Thanks for all the insight.... i bring in big packs of snails and lil crabs all the time... tank stays clean for a lil and then a month or so later they are all gone and i have to buy more... i try to buy the snails that look like the rock so he may look over them and they last a hair longer....