TankBud

Blue-spotted toby

Canthigaster solandri

Also known as Blue Spot Puffer, Spotted Sharpnose Puffer, Solander's Toby

SaltwaterFish

Blue-spotted toby (Canthigaster solandri)
Nhobgood Nick Hobgood · CC BY-SA 3.0

Care at a glance

Temperature
75–81°F
24–27°C
pH
8.1–8.4
Adult size
4.7 in
12 cm
Minimum tank
50 gal
189 L
Temperament
Mostly peaceful
Social behavior
Solitary
Own kind
One male per tank
Tankmates
With caution
Swim level
Middle
Diet
Carnivore
Difficulty
Medium
Breeding
Hard
Rarity
Common
Reef safe
Reef safe with caution
Family
Tetraodontidae
Origin
Indo-Pacific reefs, from East Africa to the Hawaiian Islands and the Tuamotus

Overview

The blue-spotted toby is a sharpnose puffer for a saltwater tank. It needs a keeper with a little experience.

Did you know

The blue-spotted toby has no pelvic fins at all, a trait shared across the puffer family. It sculls through the water with quick, synchronized beats of its dorsal and anal fins. It saves the tail fin for bursts of speed when it needs to dart for cover.

Caring for the blue-spotted toby

Give the blue-spotted toby at least 50 gal (189 L), with a mix of open swimming space and live rock to duck into. Keep the water at 75 to 81°F (24 to 27°C) and a pH of 8.1 to 8.4.

Feed a varied meaty diet of clams, shrimp and krill, ideally with some shell or hard body left on. The hard parts keep its beak from overgrowing.

The blue-spotted toby is mostly peaceful, but it can be territorial toward other tobies and similarly shaped fish. Keep only one male per tank. It will occasionally nip at slow or long-finned tank mates.

It is reef safe only with caution. It leaves most stony coral alone but eats snails, small crabs, shrimp and sometimes soft coral polyps. Do not trust it around an invertebrate collection.

Like other puffers, move it with a container instead of a net, so it does not gulp air while stressed. Breeding it is hard.

Good to know

The blue-spotted toby belongs to the sharpnose puffer genus Canthigaster and carries the family's fused beak of four tooth plates. Its skin holds tetrodotoxin as a defense against predators, the same toxin found throughout the puffer family. It is concentrated enough to make the fish dangerous to eat, but the fish does not release it into the surrounding water. The fine blue spotting that covers its body is denser and smaller than the bold saddle markings of its Valentini relative. It gives the species both its common name and its scientific-literature name, spotted sharpnose puffer.

In the wild

The blue-spotted toby ranges across Indo-Pacific reefs, from East Africa to the Hawaiian Islands and the Tuamotus. It lives on reef flats and on lagoon and seaward reefs, from the intertidal zone down to about 36 m. It patrols open sandy or rubble patches as readily as coral heads.

Common questions

What size tank does a blue-spotted toby need?

A blue-spotted toby needs at least 50 gal (189 L). It spends most of its time in the middle.

What temperature and pH does a blue-spotted toby need?

A blue-spotted toby is comfortable at 75–81°F (24–27°C) with a pH of 8.1–8.4.

What does a blue-spotted toby eat?

A blue-spotted toby eats a varied meaty diet of clams, shrimp and krill, ideally with some shell or hard body left on. That keeps its beak from overgrowing.

How big does a blue-spotted toby get?

An adult blue-spotted toby reaches about 4.7 in (12 cm).

Related species