What on earth happened to it?

[GreenSpottedPuffer]

I don't know...I just don't think its fair to give up a fish like this just because you have decided you would rather have anemones and inverts. People do it all the time though--which is why I wish people would really think about what they are stocking their tanks with and how its going to work long term.

Not singling you out by any means and I have done this too of course but its not fair to the animals. We KNOW puffers do not belong in a reef. They eat inverts, they eventually cause nitrates to rise over time, ect. ect. They are destructive PREDATORS.

I have kept many puffers in reefs in the past but I go into it knowing that the puffers come first and then the reef. When I stock the tank, I add corals and inverts that I hope will make it but in the end if they get eaten, I don't really mind because the tank is all about the puffers.

If you can't have this kind of an attitude about keeping puffers in a reef then they are best kept in a FO or FOWLR tank.

I think you just have to make a decision here...do you guys want a full blown reef or a large puffer? If you continue to try to do both, you are also going to have to get used to loses. Its just part of keeping a predator with its prey in a small box.

What do you think would happen if you kept a wolf in say a 5 acre pen with a couple deer? Even with heavy daily feedings, the wolf is very likely to kill the deer one day...

Originally Posted by my2rotties

You had me convinced he ate the nem since I have no idea of whom would have done this. The seahare thing blows my mind too since he has never had any interest in them. What other explanation could there be for the losses and deaths? Since you have experience I figured I should believe you since you are the puffer god. He has not had the appetite he usually has so perhaps you are right and I just don't want to believe it since he's my boy.

I don't think I could rehome him although it would make life so much easier in the long run. I would be such a jerk about what home he would go to as well, nobody would want to deal with me. All my fish are pets and I do care whom they go to and the life they get beyond me.

I wish I had another tank for him and just am on the fence about him. He has so much personality. Frank wants a nem and although he knew not to get one did anyways. Then I got the clown since they should be a pair... Frank built the system and my hands are tied with his impulse buys at times. I take losses in my tank seriously and this one has me baffled.

We both know Griff isn't going anywhere I love him too much. Plus who would want a fish that gets indigestion, eats snails and small fish and whatever else he could sample. All I know is something did this to the nem and I wish I could be sure of what happened here...