All fish / Tetraodontidae

White-spotted Puffer

Arothron hispidus

Also known as whitespotted puffer, stars and stripes puffer, white spotted blowfish, hispidus puffer, stripebelly puffer, no, ปลาปักเป้าจุดขาว, buntal, サザナミフグ, 纹腹叉鼻鲀, 白点河豚

This is a large, chunky pufferfish. It has a grey-brown to olive body covered in small white spots, and pale stripes on the belly. Keepers like it because it is intelligent and full of personality, and it often learns to recognise the person who feeds it.

Care at a glance

Care level

Moderate

Temperament

Semi

Adult size

35 cm

Temperature

23 to 28 °C

pH

8.1 to 8.4

Smallest tank

750 litres

Keep as

Keep singly

Diet

Carnivore: shellfish, crustaceans, squid and snails, which also help keep its teeth worn down

Swims

Middle of the tank

Lifespan

10 to 15 years

Water

Marine (saltwater)

Wild range

Indo-Pacific and eastern Pacific, from the Red Sea and East Africa to Hawaii, Japan, Australia and Panama

Breeding

In the wild the eggs are scattered over the seabed. It has not been bred reliably in home aquariums.

Good to know

It grows big and eats invertebrates, so it is not safe in a reef tank, and it may nip slow fish with long fins. Its tissues contain tetrodotoxin, and the beak-like teeth need hard-shelled food to stop them overgrowing.