55 stocking- single species

[Psychocircus91]

Fuzzy lions are cool but you would run a huge risk by having one in your tank. I a species tank, the lion fish will associate you with food and may get too close while you clean the tank.

I wouldn't call this a huge risk. A sting from one would be painful, but not dangerous. Use a mag float to clean the glass and a sump for the equipment.

OP: You could keep a pair of fuzzy dwarf lions. very cool fish with a lot of personality.

 

[marsh]

I wouldn't call this a huge risk. A sting from one would be painful, but not dangerous. Use a mag float to clean the glass and a sump for the equipment.

OP: You could keep a pair of fuzzy dwarf lions. very cool fish with a lot of personality.

I have a longer tool to clean the acrylic with and a mag float. I'm curious if a pair would need to be male/female?

Also would fuzzy lions eat any snails?

 

[marsh]

Any body know more about spotted puffers? I have not seen any V. Puffers in my lfs yet

 

[Psychocircus91]

I have a longer tool to clean the acrylic with and a mag float. I'm curious if a pair would need to be male/female?

Also would fuzzy lions eat any snails?

I know with many species of lionfish you can keep as many together as you would like, so I would say no, but perhaps someone else will chime in.

In terms of eating snails, I don't believe so. They'll definitely go after your shrimp or crabs, but probably not snails. If you're worried about it you could get larger snails like turbos or come conch.

 

[marsh]

Thanks Psychocircus.

Now after reading about all 3 options(dwarf fuzzy lion, spotted puffer and Valentini puffer) I am now leaning heavily towards the Valentini.

I am going to ask around to see if any local fish stores carry any. Probably in San Francisco at least, about an hour and a half drive m

In a 55 is it possible to keep a mated pair or does "will fight with conspecifics" mean it will fight any other Toby, either sex?

 

[woody390]

Yeah you will only be able to keep 1 in a 55 from what I have heard but never tried it. With a valentini in a 55 you will be able to keep other fish in there though If you wanted

 

[marsh]

What types of fish are typically able to get along with the Valentini? I love gobies and dragonettes.

 

[woody390]

With mine I have 2 clowns a sleeper goby and 4 shrimp, from my experience they will go with any fish really as they're not aggressive at all apart from to my hand lol

 

[bettaowner]

I don't know what you plan on adding but I would add a wrasse like the rainbow wrasse or banana wrasse.

 

[marsh]

So if the Valentini was in a 55 gallon the bioload isn't maxed? No sump, only a skimmer and maybe 25-30libs of live rock in the tank.

I like the suggestions am I'm glad to hear the Valentini isn't particularly aggressive!

By the way I found a new lfs to the south that has a very cool Hawaiian fish (the one with the crazy long name.... State fish) that looked so smart and funny.

He was almost similar looking to a trigger, not quite by had a big ol' tooth on his chompers. The downside to these guys is they are constantly grabbing rocks as rubble and spitting it out against the sides of the tank, which he warns scratches the hek out of acrylic tanks. I wonder if I can line the inside of my tank somehow?

 

[amanda_marie]

Any body know more about spotted puffers? I have not seen any V. Puffers in my lfs yet

There are a few puffers that I've seen called spotted including the one I have which is a Solandri.

Puffers are the reason I set up my tank and I absolutely adore mine. She does have a ton of personality, eats well, and does great with her tankmates. She was a little shy the first couple days, hiding behind rocks, but warmed up quickly and is now out constantly. She is in a 60g with a pair of clownfish, melanurus wrasse, and a starry blenny. She was the last addition as far as the fish go but I'm in the process of upgrading to a 90g with sump and will be adding more fish.

I knew it was a risk going into it but I did add her to my tank that contains corals, various snails, hermits, conch,and peppermint shrimp. She has not touched any corals and has not ate my shrimp. I can't say for sure if she had messed with any of the crabs or snails but I'm not concerned about them or the shrimp really. I do have a decent amount of money in corals so I'll set up another tank if she ever messes with them.

All of the Toby puffers have basically the same needs especially when it comes to their diet and such. All the Toby puffers do stay pretty small but there is a small range in sizes. I believe the leopard Toby is the smallest.

Anyway, I'm not familiar with lionfish but just wanted to speak up about puffer as I love these fish.

Here she is; the first photo was taken her first night in my tank and the second was taken after she had been in the tank a few days and had warmed up to her new home.