All fish / Tetraodontidae

Dogface Puffer

Arothron nigropunctatus

Also known as blackspotted puffer, black-spotted puffer, dog face puffer, dogface pufferfish, yellow dogface puffer, blue dogface puffer, gold dogface puffer, caution, ปลาปักเป้าหน้าหมา, buntal, コクテンフグ, 黑斑叉鼻鲀

A chunky, round puffer with a short blunt snout that gives it a dog-like face. Its colour varies from grey or brown to bright yellow or blue-grey, always with scattered black spots and a dark patch around the mouth and eyes. Keepers like it for its curious, interactive personality, and it often learns to take food from the hand.

Care at a glance

Care level

Moderate

Temperament

Semi

Adult size

25 cm

Temperature

24 to 27 °C

pH

8.1 to 8.4

Smallest tank

450 litres

Keep as

Keep singly

Diet

Carnivore: shell-on shrimp, clams, mussels, squid, crab and snails to keep the teeth worn down

Swims

Middle of the tank

Lifespan

10 years or more

Water

Marine (saltwater)

Wild range

Indo-West Pacific, from East Africa to Micronesia, Samoa and southern Japan

Breeding

Spawning has not been reliably recorded in home aquariums. In the wild it is thought to scatter eggs, and the trade relies on wild-caught fish.

Good to know

It is not reef safe, because it eats corals, crustaceans, snails and clams, and it may nip slow tankmates. Its flesh and organs carry tetrodotoxin, so it must never be eaten, and it needs hard-shelled foods so its beak does not overgrow.