Porcupine Pufferfish
Snapshot: Also known as the Longspined Porcupinefish. This fish rocks spiny appendages in shades from light gray to mottled tan, often featuring dark spots.
Other tidbits: Can grow up to a whopping 50cm or so! Distrubuted throughout the East Indian Ocean, West Indian Ocean, Australia, Japan, The Red Sea, The Mexican Golf, West Atlantic, Indonesia, East Pacific, New Zealand, Central/West Pacific Oceans. This species is packed with personality, bringing fun to any aquarium.
Bare bones must know: Fish-only aquarium. Top-notch filtration to cope with messy eating habits. Use a container, not a net, for transfer to prevent stress. Handle with extreme care, its defense mechanism, tetrodotoxin, is lethal. When threatened or when it dies, it releases a toxin deadly to other tank mates. Best kept in its own aquarium. Larger sized aquarium needed.
Aquarium set-up: Maintain an aquatic utopia by nailing the basics: rock-solid water quality with top-notch filtration and routine partial water changes.
Feeding: These fish thrive on a diet of clams to keep their teeth from overgrowing. If they get too long, grinding them down is needed, but it’s a super stressful process. The Porcupine Puffer craves a meaty feast, chomping on a mix of squid, krill, clams, and hard-shelled shrimp to keep its ever-growing teeth in check
AQT note: All our fish feast on a diet of seaweed, marine pellets, flakes and frozen treats under our care. Keep the feast going in your tank!