Compatibility Question

Vapor_Tsunami · Apr 15, 2021

Hello! I am fairly new to the saltwater side of the hobby, and I have a 10 gallon coral tank with some montis and softies that I like a lot (no fish rn, might add a tailspot blenny or something similar). Either way, I'm liking the marine side of things a lot, and I was considering getting a 40 gallon long for fish and I was wondering if a Valentini puffer and Longnose Hawk together would be acceptable, both in terms of aggresion and tank size. If not I was also considering one or the other.

nereefpat · Apr 15, 2021

Vapor_Tsunami said:
Hello! I am fairly new to the saltwater side of the hobby, and I have a 10 gallon coral tank with some montis and softies that I like a lot (no fish rn, might add a tailspot blenny or something similar). Either way, I'm liking the marine side of things a lot, and I was considering getting a 40 gallon long for fish and I was wondering if a Valentini puffer and Longnose Hawk together would be acceptable, both in terms of aggresion and tank size. If not I was also considering one or the other.

Your corals will actually do better with some fish in there to give some nitrogen and other nutrients from fish food.

A 40 gallon that's 3' long or so would be fine for either of those, and those two fishes shouldn't notice each other. The puffer can nip at corals, although some people are okay with a little bit of that.

Vapor_Tsunami · Apr 15, 2021

nereefpat said:
Your corals will actually do better with some fish in there to give some nitrogen and other nutrients from fish food.

A 40 gallon that's 3' long or so would be fine for either of those, and those two fishes shouldn't notice each other. The puffer can nip at corals, although some people are okay with a little bit of that.

I was probably gonna make the 40 FOWLR anyway, and yeah once the tank is stable I'll probably introduce a dwarf blenny or goby. Thanks for the advice, I wasn't too sure on stocking and aggression.

nereefpat · Apr 15, 2021

In case you haven't seen, tailspot and bicolor and other blennies in the genus Escenius *can nip at SPS. Great fish though.

Vapor_Tsunami · Apr 15, 2021

nereefpat said:
In case you haven't seen, tailspot and bicolor and other blennies in the genus Escenius *can nip at SPS. Great fish though.

Oh I didn't know that blennies nip sps, I didn't look into it too much since the monti was a fairly recent addition, hmm, I might try out some inverts like cleaner shrimp or turbo snails, I do know that there are a couple common bristles that came in as hitchhikers (freaked out my mom), but I'll look into other options.