The Puffer Forum

After five weeks of deliberation i finally took the plunge and bought what was labelled in the shop as a "spiny boxfish".I believe that he is a type of burrfish maybe "Chilomycterus Antennatus" or "Chilomycterus Schoefi" but the pictures ive looked at on the net are inconclusive i was wondering if you guys have a better idea I have taken a few pics i will post some more at a later date and yes they are not great quality my camera isnt the best and neither is the operator :wink

Def. a burrfish of some kind. Cute little guy.

WOW! That's a beauty! He looks like a little devil, though, with those "horns".

How cool is that little fella. I have never seen one like it, you lucky devil

How big is he? Looks so tiny in the pics. It's definitely a burrfish, but not one I've ever seen before. Awesome find! What kind of set up do you have him in?

He is about 2 inches (5 cm) appox from nose to tail so he is quite small.He seems in very good health & eating well Im feeding him krill,mysis,& artemia at the moment.He is in my 5 foot reef system which contains a flame angel, scarlet hawkfish,regal tang,&pair of common clowns.
I used to have a porcupine puffer in the system about a year ago with too many fish really if im honest and i decided to return the porc to the shop along with some of my fish to get nitrates under control and left the system for about a year with the 5 fish to settle, added a better skimmer,bought a 6 stage ro di system ,nitratereducter and separated part of the tank in which live rock and caulerpa grow and my nitrates have been nil for quite a while now.The tank was missing the character that a puffer brings though and i have pretty much always kept puffers and with the exception of the hawkfish they are the most personable fish you can keep and could nt resist this one plus i have never seen a fish quite like him.
Yes it is a risk putting him in to my tank with hermits and snails but a risk im prepared to take and hopefully it will work out.
There seems a lack of info on this guy though and thats why i posted here in the hope that someone will be able to help. I used to take part on this forum some time ago when i owned puffers but having been puffer free for a while i would just observe from a distance until now hope people on the forum dont mind

It is definitely a burrfish - probably chilomycterus schoepfi is my guess from the pics.

Did you quarantine the new addition for at least 6 - 8 weeks?

These are often infested with worms and need to be dewormed while in QT. They are also prone to ich and will fall 'prey' to the parasite easier than other fish.

The diet needs to contain better meaty options - squid, scallops, silversides, shrimp, etc.....brine shrimp is not a good source of nutrition. A diet high in krill will lead to nutritional deficiencies.

Are you adding any vitamins or supplements to the puffer's diet?

I'm so jealous! Your's looks very much like a chilomycterus schoepfi, commonly called a spiney boxfish (burrfish).

Thanks for the kind words he seems happy and has settled in very well, he is eating well and in addition to what i was first feeding him he is also eating, pre fed ghost shrimp,prawn,and small pieces of cockle

That's a really cute puffer. It looks very similar to the Chilomycterus antillarum at http://www.marinecenter.com/fish/puffers/burrpuffer/ I don't know how reliable their identification is, but both fish seem to have the same yellow spikes and the devil horns.

What a gorgeous specimen!

Nice advice too Puffer Queen!

I have been researching the net and i agree with samaki that Chilomycterus antillarum looks the most similar burrfish and has the horns that mine has I have nt quite decided on a name for him but my 9 year old daughter alice want to call him "horney dude" not sure that will be appropriate long term but im sure she will understand one day

I think he looks like a Damian.