Striped Dogface Puffer (Arothron manilensis)

The Striped Dogface Puffer (Arothron manilensis) is the puffer people fall for at the store and then spend a decade keeping. Narrow chocolate stripes run the length of a pale cream body, a dark patch surrounds the pectoral base, and the tail flares bright yellow. What sells it is not the pattern though, it is the face: independently swiveling eyes that track you across the room, and a fish that genuinely recognizes the person who feeds it. Puffers beg, they follow you, and they have more visible personality than almost anything else in the marine hobby. Browse the rest of our saltwater livestock and supplies to build the tank around it.

Care Guide

• Tank size: 100 gallons is the floor and 150 gallons is the honest number for an adult. They reach about 13 inches, they are heavy bodied, and they are messy eaters, so the tank has to carry both the swimming room and the bioload.
• Filtration: oversize it. A carnivore this size eating chunky frozen food puts real waste into the water, so plan on a strong skimmer and generous water changes.
• Teeth are the whole diet question. Puffer teeth are fused beaks that grow continuously, and a diet of soft food lets them overgrow until the fish cannot eat. Feed hard shelled items regularly, like frozen clams on the half shell, plus krill, silversides, and chunky frozen mixes such as Prime Reef and Formula Two.
• Water parameters: 72 to 78°F, pH 8.0 to 8.3, salinity 1.020 to 1.025, nitrate as low as you can hold it.
• Medication warning: puffers have no scales and no gill covers, which makes them far more sensitive than the average marine fish. Copper and many standard treatments can kill them at normal doses. Tell us what you are treating before you dose a tank with a puffer in it.
• Never let it gulp air. Move a puffer in a container of water, never in a net through open air. A puffer that inflates with air instead of water often cannot expel it, and that is frequently fatal.
• Do not make it puff. Inflating is a panic response, not a trick. It is stressful and it is not something to induce for fun.

Specifications

Compatibility

Not a reef fish. Corals are generally safe, but every mobile invertebrate in the tank is on the menu. Assume a Scarlet Skunk Cleaner Shrimp, Emerald Crab, Mexican Red Leg Hermit, snails, and a Feather Duster will all be eaten. This is a fish only or fish with hardy corals setup, and you will be cleaning the glass yourself.

Good tank mates. Match it with fish of similar size and confidence that are too big to swallow and too tough to bully: the Humu Picasso Trigger, Blue Throat Trigger, Eclipse Hogfish, Purple Tang, Naso Tang, and larger butterflies like the Auriga Butterflyfish. Small gobies, blennies, and anything nano sized will eventually vanish.

Want a puffer without the 150 gallon tank? Our freshwater Amazon Puffer gives you the same swiveling eyes and begging behavior in a fraction of the footprint.

Recommended Foods & Supplies

• Ocean Nutrition Frozen Clams on the Half Shell, the tooth grinder
• Ocean Nutrition Frozen Prime Reef
• Ocean Nutrition Frozen Formula Two
• SFBB Mysis Shrimp Cube

FAQ

Can I keep it in my reef tank?
Only if you are willing to lose the cleanup crew. Corals themselves are usually fine, but shrimp, crabs, snails, clams, and tube worms are all food. Most people keep these in a fish only tank with live rock.

What happens if I only feed soft frozen food?
Its teeth keep growing and eventually overgrow the mouth, at which point the fish starves and needs its beak trimmed under sedation. This is the single most common way puffers are killed by well meaning owners. Hard shelled food is not optional, it is dental care.

Is it really going to hit 13 inches?
In a big enough tank, yes, and it takes years to get there. Buying one at a few inches and planning to upgrade later is how most people end up with a cramped adult puffer. Buy the tank first.

Are puffers poisonous?
Many carry tetrodotoxin in their organs and skin, so they are not a fish to handle casually and definitely not one to eat. Normal aquarium keeping is perfectly safe, just do not manhandle it and wash your hands after tank work.