Keeping a valentini puffer

As I've mentioned, the main reason for the 20 gallon conversion was to buy a small puffer commonly called a Valentini or saddleback puffer. Prior to wanting to purchase one I would often see one in the various shops.  Puffers in general are very interesting fish with complex and intelligent behavior. The Valentini was of particular interest to me because it remains small, unlike many marine puffers which easily reach 19 inches or more, a 3.9 inch fish was a lot closer to my liking.

After seeing one for the first time I did a lot of research on the species.  That's something I do with each fish, coral or plant that I plan on putting in my tank.  Not only is this a good idea so you know what you're getting into, but I really enjoy learning things. I start with the Internet.  I've yet to find a single source of fish knowledge that I rely on totally, instead I use several sites.

Once I learned all I needed to about the fish, I decided I was going to buy one. 

There were a few things to worry about

• Not reef safe, so no corals in the tank
• Nips fins, so only certain fish
• Not safe with invertebrates, so I would have to take my chances on the snails, hermit crabs, chocolate chip starfish, and coral banded shrimp.

I decided to take my chances because it has been my experience with puffers that they don't always live up to their reputation.  A well fed puffer seems to play well with others.  I've fed my other fish live food before and have no problem with it so if he happened to eat one of my $.99 crabs it wasn't the end of the world.  I felt the coral banded shrimp was large enough to take care of itself and the chocolate chip starfish is pretty well protected by the spikes on its back.

What happened

After an hour and a half acclimation time I placed the new fish in the tank.  He immediately began to explore his environment so I carefully watched as he approached each living thing in the tank.  As expected when he came to a snail he tried to nip it but got only shell.  Some puffers, and perhaps this one when it is full grown, can crunch right through a thick shell to get at the meaty animal inside, but not this one, just yet.  Then he bumped into the shrimp and left it alone. This is what I expected, the shrimp is large and looks formidable. Then he came across a tiny little hermit crab and tried to eat it.  Drawing into the protection of its shell the crab escaped without harm. He did take a nip at the starfish, which worried me, but there was no damage to the starfish and after that he left it alone.

So far so good, but what I was really worried about was the two skunk clowns. They could be safe in their anemone, protected by its stinging nematocysts or a brave puffer could take a circular bite out of them.  For a moment he was distracted by the back and forth movement of the power head, he took a strike at it. That certainly didn't bode well for the timid little clown fish, anemone or no.

Not clowning around

After a few moments of his back and forth exploration and the above mentioned encounters the puffer noticed the two clowns wiggling and frolicking in the anemone. He didn't seem to care.  Valentini are known as community fish so perhaps I had nothing to worry about. He hovered about a few inches above the anemone but wasn't really exploring.  At one point he dipped a little bit closer, this was too close for comfort for the clown fish and one of them darted out from hiding and nipped at the puffer who ran away like a little baby. After that the puffer seemed uninterested and stayed away.

I  have confidence that once it gets used to the environment, and is well fed, the puffer will make a nice addition to the tank.

Update

I've had this fish for months now, and it has turned out to be a real beauty, and quite tame.  It does like snails but they seem to have altered their behavior and come out onlyl at night now.  I've not had trouble with the hermit crabs, he seems to leave them alone.  Beause of this I put in a couple of true crabs and they haven't been picked on once.

In fact, the valentini has been so docile that I have tried out a few coral frags, soft corals like zoanthus and mushrooms and even an anemone for the clown fish.  The puffer doesn't bother them at all.

One quick note, they are kind of jumpy so I recommend a cover on the tank, or don't make any sudden moves, other wise your prized puffer will jump out of the tank and onto the floor, not a pretty site and frightening for fish and aquarist.

Information contributed by: Chad