Your first hurdle will be housing your potential eating machine, as well as maintaining good water quality.<\/p>\n
This is easier said than done; you\u2019re going to need a big tank with a big filter. In my opinion, 125 gallons (473 L) is the minimum for any Arothron or Diodon species you may want, and you\u2019ll need even bigger tank for some of the rarer (but beautiful) giants like the Map Puffer (A. mappa) or Starry Puffer (A. stellatus).<\/p>\n
Obviously, the larger the aquarium, the better \u2013 I house my marine puffers in a 175 gallon (662 L) system. If you are on a tight budget, ask your local aquarium shop if they have any used large tanks lurking in the back room.<\/p>\n
Filtration<\/strong><\/p>\n Got the puffer tank? Now you\u2019ll have to filter it. A large protein skimmer is a must, as well as an oversized biological filter.<\/p>\n Wet\/dry and fluidized wet\/dry filters are recommended, though creativity with canister filters is also possible. A deep sand bed will help control the copious amount of nitrates produced and keep the nuisance algae from taking over your tank, though other denitrating options are always possible (coil, chemical ad\/absorption).<\/p>\n I personally have a 60-gallon (227 L) sump with a built-in wet\/dry filter, and two protein skimmers to handle my messy eaters.<\/p>\n Don\u2019t forget the most important aspect to keeping your water in tip-top shape: water changes. Weekly or bi-weekly water changes of at least 25% are highly recommended, and will be necessary for nutrient control. Make sure the temp\/pH and salinity of the freshly mixed water are matched to those of your aquarium water.<\/p>\n Tankmates<\/strong><\/p>\n Once your system (and it will be quite a system once you\u2019re adequately prepared for long-term marine puffer care) is ready, you\u2019ll probably want to consider suitable tankmates.<\/p>\n Remember, pufferfish consume mollusks and crustaceans in the wild, and are definitely not reef safe! Large marine puffers are ideal candidates for fish-only aquariums, and should only be kept with fish of similar temperaments. Puffers can definitely be described as \u201cobnoxious\u201d and shouldn\u2019t be kept with anything that has tempting appendages, or they will likely be happily chomped upon by puffer beaks.<\/p>\n Puffers can make suitable tankmate finding challenging, but likely your puffers will be the stars of the show anyway. To their credit, puffers are not piscivores and will not chase down and eat small fishes.<\/p>\n Faster-moving schooling species such as Bluegreen Chromis, Silver Monos, or a group of Golden Wrasse can coexist with a puffer or puffers, and larger, rugged angelfishes such as the Yellowbar or Maculosus Angelfish are also a possibility if good water-quality is maintained.<\/p>\n Other tough fishes that can share space with puffers are groupers, hawkfishes, triggerfishes, and larger wrasses. Always be wary of overloading the filtration capacity of the tank, however.<\/p>\n Feeding<\/strong><\/p>\n In my experience, feeding is a grossly neglected topic when discussing captive pufferfish.<\/p>\n First of all, it helps to have some information on how puffers feed in the wild: in nature pufferfish are opportunistic predators, hanging out around rock shelves searching for snails, or actively searching the seafloor for anything buried (usually crabs, shrimp, or worms).<\/p>\n They usually do not consume fish of any type, and often do not even get a meal every day. Keep this, and the following in mind when feeding your pufferfish: they need fresh, meaty seafoods in the shell (shrimp, prawns, crab legs, oysters, mussels, crayfish \u2013 all available at your local grocery) as a staple and to keep your puffer\u2019s teeth worn down.<\/p>\n I offer freeze-dried foods (krill, plankton, prepared carnivore foods) a few times a week or when in a hurry. At least once a week, don\u2019t feed your puffer at all (don\u2019t fall for the begging!) as it is not good to feed big carnivorous fish every day.<\/p>\n Many puffers die from improper diets, and although this can take a few years, it will happen if they are not fed a variety of foods, and if fresh seafood is not a staple.<\/p>\n As a final note, do not feed your puffer freshwater “feeder” fish \u2013 ever. This is a completely inappropriate food source for any marine animal, and can cause intestinal blockage leading to demise.<\/p>\n Who doesn\u2019t love pufferfish? They\u2019re my favorite marine family, and I\u2019d like to share some information that has allowed me to be successful with this fascinating, intelligent group of fishes. Marine puffers are cute when small, engaging when large (who can resist those big puffer eyes), interactive, and BIG! The vast majority of commonly (and … Continue reading VI. Marine Pufferfish Care<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-131","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-puffers-in-focus"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thepufferforum.com\/forum\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thepufferforum.com\/forum\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thepufferforum.com\/forum\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thepufferforum.com\/forum\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thepufferforum.com\/forum\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=131"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.thepufferforum.com\/forum\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thepufferforum.com\/forum\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=131"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thepufferforum.com\/forum\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=131"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thepufferforum.com\/forum\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=131"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Young](\"http:\/\/www.thepufferforum.com\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/01\/younggoldenmappuffer.jpg\" "\\"Young")
<\/a>
\nA young Golden Map Puffer being raised by the author<\/em><\/small><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"