It’s hard not to love pufferfish. They have many great qualities that can make them an excellent candidate for a truly interactive pet fish. They also, unfortunately, have a “bite first, ask questions later” tendency that other fish and corals don’t really like. In this episode, we discuss a variety of saltwater puffer species that are available in the aquarium hobby, as well as care requirements, tank mates, reef-safeness, and more!
 
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Species mentioned in this episode:

Porcupine puffer, diodon holocanthus
Webbed burrfish, chilomycterus antillarum
Stars and stripes puffer, arothron hispidus
Dogface puffer, arothron nigropunctatus
Mappa puffer, arothtron mappa
Immaculate puffer, arothron immaculatus
Narrowlined puffer, arothron manilensis
Guineafowl puffer, arothron meleagris
Masked puffer, arothron diadematus
Birdbeak burrfish, cyclichthys orbicularis
Milk spotted puffer, chelonodontops patoca
Green spotted puffer, dichotomyctere nigroviridis
Blue jewel puffer, canthigaster solandri
Papuan toby, canthigaster papua
Caribbean sharpnose puffer, canthigaster rostrata
Valentini puffer, canthigaster valentini
Leopard sharpnose puffer, canthigaster leoparda
Goldface toby, canthigaster jamestyleri

 
Sources referenced in this episode
1. Stump, E. Et al. Global conservation status of marine pufferfishes
(Tetraodontiformes: Tetraodontidae). Global Ecology and Restoration
14, (2018). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gecco.2018.e00388
2. Gladstone, W. The courtship and spawning behaviors ofCanthigaster
valentini (Tetraodontidae). Environ Biol Fish 20, 255–261 (1987).
https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00005296
3. Zhu, H., Sonoyama, T., Yamada, M., Gao, W., Tatsuno, R., Takatani, T.,
& Arakawa, O. (2020). Co-Occurrence of Tetrodotoxin and Saxitoxins
and Their Intra-Body Distribution in the Pufferfish Canthigaster
valentini. Toxins, 12(7), 436. https://doi.org/10.3390/toxins12070436
4. Large Saltwater Pufferfish for Big Tanks. Hobbist Tropical Fish Magazine
by Mark Denaro, https://www.tfhmagazine.com/articles/saltwater/large-saltwater-pufferfish-for-big-tanks
5. Fishbase.se Web link: https://fishbase.se/Nomenclature/ScientificNameSearchList.php?crit1_fieldname=SYNONYMS.SynGenus&crit1_fieldtype=CHAR&crit1_operator=EQUAL&crit1_value=Canthigaster&crit2_fieldname=SYNONYMS.SynSpecies&crit2_fieldtype=CHAR&crit2_operator=CONTAINS&crit2_value=&typesearch=simple&group=summary&backstep=-2&sortby=sciname
6. National Aquarium. https://aqua.org/explore/animals/striped-burrfish
7. Palacios, M. M., Muñoz, C. G., & Zapata, F. A. (2014). Fish corallivory on
a pocilloporid reef and experimental coral responses to predation.
Coral Reefs, 33(3), 625–636. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00338-014-1173-y
8. Moura, R. D., & Castro, R. M. (2002). Revision of Atlantic sharpnose
pufferfishes (Tetraodontiformes: Tetraodontidae: Canthigaster) with
description of three new species. PROCEEDINGS-BIOLOGICAL
SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON, 115(1), 32-50.

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