Porcupine puffer

Care at a glance

The porcupine puffer is covered in spines that normally lie flat against the body; when threatened it takes in water and swells into a spiny ball that most predators can no longer swallow. With its large eyes and slow way of swimming it is one of the most characterful marine fish there is.

Never make it inflate on purpose: for the animal this is a stressful emergency response. It grows big, produces a lot of waste and eats every shrimp, snail and crab, so plan for a large tank without invertebrates and for hard, shelled food to wear down its continuously growing teeth.

Good to know

• Outgrows most home tanks
• Preys on shrimp and snails

Best not combined with

• Cleaner shrimpLysmata amboinensis
• Hermit crab (red leg)Clibanarius sp.
• Turbo snailTurbo fluctuosus
• Blue leg hermit crabClibanarius tricolor
• Scarlet reef hermit crabPaguristes cadenati
• Electric blue hermit crabCalcinus elegans
• Dwarf zebra hermit crabCalcinus laevimanus

Related species

• Bluethroat triggerfishXanthichthys auromarginatus
• Dogface pufferArothron nigropunctatus
• Clown triggerfishBalistoides conspicillum
• Yellow boxfishOstracion cubicum
• Niger triggerfishOdonus niger
• Volitans lionfishPterois volitans