Valentini Puffer... trustworthy in reef?

[bonnie3188]

Hey guys,

At the moment my LFS has a really small saddled valentini puffer that is so cute. Just wondering if I could trust him in my reef aquarium? I have quite a few corals and also a Coral Banded Shrimp, which I've heard they can annoy.
Has anyone had any experience with these guys in reef aquariums? I've seen some pics of reef setups with valentini puffers...

Thanks!

 

[melosu58]

Dont know about the reef but your clean up crew would be endangered

 

[xkenneth]

Just make sure you have snails and crabs atleast half or bigger his size. Just for comparison I keep crawdads with my puffers in brackish that are half as big or bigger and the puffers ignore them. Little snails and crabs would be expensive treats.

 

[bonnie3188]

Thanks for the advice guys.
All of my snails would be bigger than the puffer, but maybe some of my crabs would be a bit smaller...
The coral banded is easily 3x its size, so you dont think that would be a problem?

 

[xkenneth]

I really don't know about the valentini. You're just going to have to watch him like a hawk. Also be aware that he'll probably eat/nip your corals.

 

[Feron]

I have a similar puffer... he's curious about anything that moves, and will nip at things.
He'd prolly be ok short term, but you'd lose something(s) to him over time for sure.
For instance, I added my blue spot puffer (very similiar to the one in question) to a 90g tank populated by LR and a bunch of seagrasses, macros and a purple sea whip.

He's done fine with the shoal and turtle grass, but he mowed down a whole clump of manatee grass, one strand at a time - almost like he just liked chomping on it (prolly more to help his beak?).
I've seen him bite clumps off the sea whip as well.
He's had a couple of the smaller snails for dinner, but doesn't bother my massive mexican turbos. Couple hermits have ended up mysteriously gone too (hmmm).
The larger emerald crabs I have seem to be untouched as well.

I feed him a crawfish a week, and he basically tortures them to death by ripping off the legs..even when the crawfish is the same size or bigger..

Each animal has it's own personality.. just be prepared for a little destruction (which I don't mind too much, it is a semi-aggressive tank anyhow).

hth

 

[i have crabs]

i have had 2 and nether bothered any corals ever,but they will bother crabs (other than hermits) and some other inverts