Hi! I’ve been thinking about future stocking for my biocube 32, and have considered the valentini puffer, they seem really neat but I am wondering if there are any cleanup crew they won’t eat. I’ve heard they defiantly would eat shrimp, but what about bigger snails? Or serpent starts or something like that. If someone who’s had experience could chime in thad be great!
Any cleanup crew a Valentini puffer won’t eat?
- Thread starter Jack_10218
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Before my Valentini committed suicide, he just killed all the snails. Him and the cleaner shrimp were actually best friends. But he did have the nickname, Benjamin "The Snail Annihilator." Lets just say I had to make bi-Monthly runs to the LFS for snails. lol
I had a Valentini puffer for a while. He left my sea stars and sea cucumber alone, but he definitely would go after shrimp. Snails were hit or miss. If a snail was stuck to the glass he would tend to ignore it, but if one happened to get flipped over he would eat it.
I have a Toby puffer now and he also picks at my urchin a bit. My urchin now hides in the rocks during the day and comes out at night when the puffer is asleep.
Hmmm, I guess it’s hit or miss then with them! Maybe I could try and ask my lfs to “test him” and if he doesn’t work return him. Thanks for sharing your experience
I was lucky though because he never touched coral
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Mine leaves the cuc alone. Never had a problem, but YMMV
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Conch, cowries, tuxedo/pincushion urchins, large hermits and tiny dwarf ceriths. Urchins and cowries have never been picked on. Conches keep hidden but I did lose one. Large hermits last until the puffer out smarts them and ceriths just hide in crevices and will get picked off slower.
The key is the keep puffers very well fed with crunchy food.
The key is the keep puffers very well fed with crunchy food.
My VPs eat everything that interests them, regardless of how well fed they may be or what the circumstances. If it's new to the tank it gets "investigated". If upon investigation it's determined to be edible it gets nibbled.
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Does yours continue to go back to certain critters or corals more? Mine will taste something everything new once but after a while leaves most corals alone after a nip or two
Yes, they certainly do have their favorites. I eventually moved the VPs to FOWLR tanks where the only thing they can wipe out are my CUCs. One medium size Valentini will eradicate a $100 CUC in a week. The main problem I have with them is they kill everything but eat very little. Starfish, conchs, Mexican Turbo Snails, Astrae Snails, small hermit crabs, you name it.
So far the Chocolate Chip Starfish and BIG hermit crabs are the only things I've found tough enough to hold up to Valentini Puffers.
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