Green spotted puffer

Care at a glance

Overview

The green spotted puffer is an aggressive, solitary puffer for a brackish to marine species tank. It is best left to experienced keepers.

Caring for the green spotted puffer

Give a single adult green spotted puffer a tank of at least 32 gal (120 L). Leave open swimming space, with some rock or wood, and run a mature filter to keep the water clean.

Its salt needs change with age. Juveniles start in fresh or slightly brackish water, but adults are healthiest in high-end brackish to marine conditions. Raise the salt gradually as the fish grows, or it will slowly decline. Use hard, alkaline water at 75 to 82°F (24 to 28°C) and a pH of 7.5 to 8.5.

Its teeth grow throughout life. Feed it hard-shelled foods such as snails, clams, mussels and shell-on shrimp.

The green spotted puffer is aggressive and territorial, despite its harmless looks. It will nip and attack tank mates, so keep it alone in a species tank rather than a community. It is not reef safe. Aquarium breeding is essentially undocumented.

Good to know

The green spotted puffer belongs to the family Tetraodontidae and was long known as Tetraodon nigroviridis. It has a bright green back covered in dark spots and a clean white belly. Like all true puffers, it has four fused, beak-like teeth and can swallow water to inflate into a ball. Its skin and organs carry tetrodotoxin, a powerful natural poison. The fish in shops are wild caught from brackish coastal waters.

In the wild

The green spotted puffer is found across South and Southeast Asia, in coastal rivers, estuaries and mangroves. It is euryhaline, at home where the water shifts from fresh to fully marine with the tides.

Common questions

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