Dogface Puffer

The dogface puffer is likened to a dog's face because of the dark area around its snout and eyes. Its body color varies by individual from gray to brown, sometimes to yellow–golden tones, with small black spots scattered over it. Because it is a curious fish with a "facial expression," it forms a strong bond with its keeper.

Toxin warning: the internal organs and skin of puffers carry tetrodotoxin. Keeping one in an aquarium is not dangerous, but the fish must never be eaten. The silver-cheeked toadfish (Lagocephalus sceleratus) spreading along the coasts of Türkiye must not be eaten for the same reason. Do not take the fish out of the water; a puffer taken out of the water can inflate by swallowing air, which seriously harms it.

It lives in lagoons and on reef slopes of the Indo-Pacific. In the wild it feeds on coral tips, sponges, tunicates, crabs and snails.

• Volume: at least 500 liters and 150 cm in length.
• Water: salinity 1.023–1.026 specific gravity, pH 8.1–8.4, temperature 24–27°C. It is a messy eater; a strong filter, a protein skimmer and regular water changes.
• Decor: a rock layout and plenty of swimming space. Install the heater with a guard.
• Maintenance: because of shell-on food leftovers and the high bioload, a 15–20% water change weekly; keep nitrate below 20 mg/l.
• Reef compatibility: not reef safe. It eats corals, shrimp, crabs, snails and tridacna clams.

Carnivorous. Shell-on foods are essential: shell-on shrimp, mussels, oysters, crabs and small snails. Krill, squid and fish meat can be added to these. A puffer's teeth form a fused beak that grows throughout its life; hard shells wear the teeth down. Juveniles are fed 1–2 times a day, adults once a day.

A relatively calm puffer; it generally gets along with fish its own size and larger. It recognizes its keeper, waits at the front glass at feeding time and can learn to take food from the hand; but its beak can bite a finger badly. It may catch small fish that fit in its mouth, especially while they sleep at night. It has also been seen nipping the fins of slow-swimming fish.

Good companions: in a large, fish-focused aquarium: tangs, large angelfish, foxface, large wrasses, calm triggerfish.

Avoid: all invertebrates and corals, small fish, seahorses, aggressive triggerfish.

Kept as a single individual in the aquarium.

Little is known about its breeding behavior in the wild. It is not expected to breed in a home aquarium; since it is kept singly, it is not possible anyway.

• Overgrown teeth: in fish fed soft food, the beak overgrows and the fish can no longer eat; trimming by a veterinarian may be needed.
• Copper sensitivity: because of its scaleless skin, it is sensitive to copper treatment.
• Marine white spot: prone to it; quarantine is recommended.

The sexes cannot be told apart externally.