Puffers are some of the ‘cutest’ and most unique looking fish in the aquarium hobby!

Puffer Fish are adorable looking fish with a comical, chubby appearance. They are particular curious because they have the ability to gulp air or water, puffing up until they look like a round ball. A number of common names used to described these unusual fish including Blowfish, Balloonfish, and Globefish; along with Toadies, Sugar Toady, Honey Toady, and Sea Squab.

The majority of the Puffer Fish are marine inhabitants and are found in most of the tropical oceans of the world. Less than 40 types of puffer fish can be found in brackish waters, and only 29 species are truly freshwater Puffer Fish. Puffers belong to the Tetraodontidae family, which is one of 10 families in the Tetraodontiformes order. Tetraodontiformes are ancient fish, emerging from coral-dwelling species about 40 million years ago. Well-known saltwater relatives of the Puffer Fish also in this order are the Porcupine Fish (Diodontidae family), Boxfish (Ostraciidae family), Filefish (Monacanthidae family), and the Triggerfish (Balistidae family).

Unlike more typical fish, the body of the Puffer Fish is rigid, so they rely on their fins for motion and balance. Puffer Fish, along with their close cousins the Porcupine Fish, have a few unique methods of defense. They can both inflate their bodies and both are covered with prickly spines. The spines are large and prominent on the Porcupine Fish but on Puffers they are smaller, thinner and practically hidden, sometimes only visible when the Puffer Fish is inflated.

Puffers can win your affection, yet they are not a fish for the novice. They require special care and feeding. They are considered hardy only in the sense that they will almost always adapt to aquarium foods and are long lived in a premium environment. To successfully keep Puffer Fish means maintaining top water quality, providing plenty of room, and most importantly providing an adequate diet. They love to eat and look forward to seeing the person that feeds them like a puppy waiting for their owner to get home! Even though they seldom starve in an aquarium, they have special dietary needs that you must be aware of in order to keep them healthy.

The Puffer Fish species list below includes popular varieties as well lesser known puffer fish species. Each fish guide has in-depth pufferfish information including their places of origin, habitats and behaviors as well as the fish care needed for successfully keeping aquarium puffer fish. Puffer Fish pictures are also provided within each fish guide to help with identification, and to aid in choosing Puffer Fish pets.

For Information on keeping freshwater fish, see:
Freshwater Aquarium Guide: Aquarium Setup and Care

Puffers – Pufferfish
Click for more info on Amazon Puffer
Colomesus asellus
Click for more info on Fahaka Puffer
Tetraodon lineatus
Click for more info on Golden Puffer
Auriglobus modestus
Click for more info on Malabar Puffer
Carinotetraodon travancoricus
Click for more info on Pignose Puffer
Tetraodon suvattii
Click for more info on Spotted Green Puffer
Tetraodon nigroviridis

Puffer Fish Facts

The Puffer Fish, also commonly called Blowfish, Balloonfish or Toadies, are rather club shaped. They have a large round body with small rounded fins sticking out. Puffers generally move awkwardly using their pectoral fins for locomotion and the tail fin only when they need to move quickly, as in the case of an emergency or newly arrived food.

These toadfish have large heads with widely spaced, often mobile eyes. The gills are soft openings located close to the pectoral fins, and there are four fused teeth in the jaw. Puffers have no scales, rather their skin is covered with spines, though they are not always apparent. The spines are small and thin and are often not visible when the puffer is not inflated.

As their name implies, Puffer Fish have the ability to ‘puff’ themselves up with water or air if threatened. When they inflate, their spines protrude outward and this helps keep them from being eaten. Another defense of many puffer species is to harbor toxic substances in their flesh that is poisonous if eaten. Predators that do not head the danger signals, and eat puffers anyway and may die from choking, or from toxic poisoning. There are also usually several deaths reported in Japan each year from humans eating puffers which are not prepared properly.

The powerful neurotoxin found in the organs of some puffer fish is called tetrodotoxin, but not all puffers are poisonous. It is believed that puffers don’t actually produce this toxin however, because those kept in the aquarium or on fish farms are totally toxin-free. Rather they most likely accumulate the toxins in the wild as they feed on shellfish prey that may be carriers.

The Puffer Fish can be quite long lived in the aquarium, many living for 10 or more years. They range in size reaching from about 1″ (2.54 cm) to over 24″ (61 cm), though some of the marine species can reach close to 48″ (122 cm).

Puffer Fish Care

Since puffers do not have gill covers or scales, they are thought to be more susceptible to diseases, nitrite, nitrate and ammonia levels. Consequently they are not a good fish to cycle an aquarium with. Also because they usually don’t eat all of their food (messy eaters!), these fish will usually put more load on the aquarium filtration requiring more frequent water changes and better maintenance in general. A 50% weekly water change is the standard recommendation for a puffer aquarium.

Puffer Fish need plenty of room to maintain water quality and they will most likely need to be kept singly. The temperament of these fish can vary greatly from one puffer to another, not only between species but often within a single species as well. These fish are predators and can be aggressive. For tank mates too large to eat in one bite, puffers can be extreme fin nippers. Sometime juveniles will be reported as good community fish, only to turn aggressive upon maturity. A single specimen tank is the safest route, and extreme caution should be taken when choosing tank mates at any time.

In the wild Puffer Fish are predators eating a variety of snails, shellfish, crustaceans, and other fish. In captivity they will eat almost everything that is offered and should be fed a variety of live, frozen and freeze dried meaty foods. Though puffers are fun to feed and will become quite adept at ‘begging’ for tidbits from their keepers, keep in mind how often to feed and the resultant load on the aquarium. Feed small puffers (under 2″) daily, mid sized puffers (2 – 4″) every other day, and large puffers (those over 4″) can be fed just two or three times a week.

As an interesting note, many puffers in the wild will blow or ‘spit’ at the substrate to uncover hidden crustaceans or other foods. In an aquarium some keepers have experienced their puffer spitting water at them from the surface of the water in an attempt to earn some tidbits of food. Be careful not to be fooled into overfeeding them.

Puffers have strong teeth that grow throughout their lives. They need to be offered hard shelled live food often to keep their teeth worn down. Acceptable foods include shellfish, crustaceans and hard shelled foods such as snails. If the teeth get too long, they will be unable to eat, requiring the owner to clip the teeth.

Types of Puffer Fish

There are approximately 150 Puffer Fish species but only 29 species are truly freshwater Puffer Fish. The majority of the puffers live in a marine environment with less than 40 of these found in brackish or freshwater. These species are found primarily in estuaries, where river mouths meet the ocean, or in freshwater streams. Some will enter periodically for feeding or breeding, and possibly stay as juveniles, while others spend their entire lives in brackish conditions.

The chart below provides a guide to type of environment each Puffer Fish species needs. For Information about strictly Saltwater Puffer Fish, see Puffers, Boxfish and Porcupine fish.

Asia: Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia FreshwaterAsia: Mekong basin FreshwaterAsia: Indonesia FreshwaterAsia: Thailand, Malaysia, Borneo, Sumatra, Indonesia FreshwaterWestern Pacific: Philippines to Solomon Islands, Ryukyu Islands, Marianas, Vanuatu Brackish to MarineIndonesia: Borneo FreshwaterIndonesia: Sumatra FreshwaterAsia: Indochina, Malaysia, Indonesia FreshwaterAsia: Sarawak, Malaysia FreshwaterAsia: India FreshwaterSouth America: Amazon basin Freshwater Slightly BrackishSouth America: Western Atlantic Gulf of Paria to the Amazon River in Brazil Juvenile: Freshwater Adult: Brackish to Marine Eastern Pacific: California, USA to Pisco, Peru, Galapagos Islands Brackish to MarineWestern Atlantic: Newfoundland Canada, northeastern Florida USA Brackish to MarineAsia: Indochina, Malaysia, Indonesia Juvenile: Freshwater Adult: BrackishAsia: India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Myanmar and Malay archipelago Freshwater Slightly BrackishAsia: India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Borneo Juvenile: Freshwater Adult: BrackishAsia: northern Borneo FreshwaterAsia: Thailand to Indonesia, Mekong basin Freshwater to BrackishAfrica: Nile, Chad basin, Niger, Volta, Gambia, Geba and Senegal Rivers Freshwater to BrackishAfrica: Lake Tanganyika and the Congo basin Freshwater to BrackishAfrica: Congo basin FreshwaterAsia: Sundaland, Indochina, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Philippines, Malaysia,Indonesia, and possibly India Juvenile: Freshwater Adult: BrackishAsia: Laos, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia FreshwaterAfrica: Nigeria – Gross River Freshwater to BrackishAsia: Indonesia FreshwaterAfrica: Congo basin FreshwaterAsia: Mekong Basin FreshwaterIndo-Pacific: Red Sea and East Africa Breeding: Brackish Juvenile: Brackish Adult: MarineIndo-West Pacific: Red Sea, East Africa, south coast of South Africa Breeding: Brackish Juvenile: Brackish Adult: MarineIndo-West Pacific: north to Ryukyu Islands Breeding: Brackish Juvenile: Brackish Adult: MarineIndo-Pacific: Red Sea and East Africa Breeding: Brackish Juvenile: Brackish Adult: MarineIndo-Pacific: East Africa, north to China, south to Australia Breeding: Brackish Juvenile: Brackish Adult: MarineWestern Indian Ocean: Xora River mouth, South Africa, Western Central Pacific: Papua New Guinea Breeding: Brackish Juvenile: Brackish Adult: MarineWestern Pacific: East China Sea, South China Sea. rivers in China and Korean Peninsula Juvenile: Freshwater to Brackish Adult: MarineAsia: China and Viet Nam Juvenile: Freshwater to Brackish Adult: MarineNorthwest Pacific: western Sea of Japan, East China, Yellow seas north to Muroran, Hokkaido, Japan Juvenile: Freshwater to Brackish Adult: Marine

Freshwater and/or Brackish Puffer Fish
Common NameScientific NameOriginHabitat
Bronze Puffer
Golden Puffer
Auriglobus modestus
Greenbottle PufferfishAuriglobus nefastus
Northbornean Golden PufferAuriglobus remotus
Gold Green Puffer
Golden Puffer
Auriglobus silus
Compressed Toby
Fingerprint Toby
Fingerprint Sharpnose
Canthigaster compressa
Borneo Red-eye PufferCarinotetraodon borneensis
Red-tail Dwarf PufferCarinotetraodon irrubesco
Red Eye PufferCarinotetraodon lorteti
Banded Red-eye PufferCarinotetraodon salivator
Malabar Puffer FishCarinotetraodon travancoricus
Amazon puffer
South American Pufferfish
Colomesus asellus
Banded Puffer
Parrot Pufferfish
Colomesus psittacus
Bullseye PufferSphoeroides annulatus
Northern PufferSphaeroides maculatus
Figure Eight Puffer
Eyespot Pufferfish
Tetraodon biocellatus
Ocellated Pufferfish
Sea Frog Pufferfish
Tetraodon cutcutia
Ceylon Puffer
Green Pufferfish
Tetraodon fluviatilis
Kretam PufferTetraodon kretamensis
Twin Spot Puffer
Asian Freshwater Puffer
Target Pufferfish
Tetraodon leiurus
Fahaka Puffer
Lined Freshwater Puffer
Globe fish
Tetraodon lineatus
Mbu Freshwater Puffer
Fresh Water Puffer Fish
Giant African Pufferfish
Tetraodon mbu
Congo Freshwater Puffer
Miurus Freshwater Puffer
Tetraodon miurus
Green Spotted Puffer-GSP
Spotted Green Pufferfish
Leopard Puffer
Tetraodon nigroviridis
King Kong Puffer
Dragon Freshwater Puffer
Tetraodon palembangensis
Puffer Fish
Football Pufferfish
(aka GSP)
Tetraodon pustulatus
Giant Spotted PufferTetraodon sabahensis
Congo Puffer
Spotted Congo Puffer
Leopard Puffer
Tetraodon schoutedeni
Pignose Puffer
Arrowhead Puffer
Mekong Puffer
Tetraodon suvattii
Marine Puffer Fish – Brackish for breeding and juvenile habitat
White-spotted Puffer
Stars-and-stripes Pufferfish
Arothron hispidus
Immaculate PufferArothron immaculatus
Reticulated PufferfishArothron reticulatus
Starry Pufferfish
Stellate Puffer
Arothron stellatus
Milkspotted puffer
Milk Spotted Pufferfish
Chelonodon patoca
Bluespotted Blaasop
Blue-spotted Puffer
Gold-spotted Puffer
Gold Spot Pufferfish
Chelonodon laticeps
Obscure PufferTakifugu obscurus
Peacock PufferTakifugu ocellatus
Japense PufferfishTakifugu rubripes


Featured Photo by Stelio Puccinelli, Unsplash