Valentini Puffer (Canthigaster valentini)

The Valentini Puffer (Canthigaster valentini), also called the Saddled Puffer or Black Saddled Toby, is a pint-sized puffer with a big-eyed, begging-at-the-glass personality. A white body carries four dark saddle bars across the back, the face and belly are dotted with orange-brown spots, blue-green lines radiate around the eyes, and the tail flashes yellow. It stays around 4 inches, so it brings true puffer charm to tanks that could never hold a large porcupine or dogface puffer. It is not reef safe, but in a fish-only or fish with live rock tank it is one of the most entertaining fish you can keep. Browse the rest of our saltwater livestock and supplies and our full fish selection while you plan.

Care Guide

• Tank size: 30 gallons or larger, with live rock to explore. More room helps spread out its curiosity among tank mates.
• Water parameters: 72 to 78°F, pH 8.1 to 8.4, salinity 1.020 to 1.026. Puffers are messy eaters, so strong filtration and regular water changes matter.
• Feeding: carnivore. Feed once or twice a day with meaty foods, and include hard-shelled items like frozen clams on the half shell and krill several times a week.
• Beak care: a puffer's teeth grow continuously. Crunchy, shell-on foods wear them down naturally. A diet of only soft food can lead to an overgrown beak that makes eating difficult.
• Scaleless fish: puffers are sensitive to many medications, including copper. Talk with us before treating a tank that holds one.

Specifications

Compatibility

Not reef safe. Valentini Puffers eat shrimp, crabs, snails, and other small invertebrates, and they nip at coral polyps, feather dusters, and clam mantles. Plan on a fish-only or fish with live rock system.

With fish it is curious and a little nippy. Slow swimmers with long flowing fins can get picked on, so skip mandarins, seahorses, and similar gentle fish. Good tank mates are active, sturdy fish such as the Yellow Foxface, Scopas Tang, Three Stripe Damselfish, and Coral Beauty Angelfish. Like other tobies, it carries a skin toxin that protects it from predators, so do not house it with fish large enough to try to swallow it. One Valentini per tank unless the system is large.

Recommended Foods & Supplies

• Hikari Bio-Pure Frozen Clam on a Half Shell, a favorite that also helps wear down the beak
• Hikari Bio-Pure Frozen Krill
• Piscine Energetics PE Mysis frozen food
• Hikari Bio-Pure Frozen Squid for variety
• Selcon Vitamin Booster to soak frozen foods
• Innovative Marine AccuDrip Acclimator for a slow, low-stress introduction

FAQ

Can it go in a reef tank?
No. It eats shrimp, crabs, and snails and nips corals and clams. It is a fish-only or fish with live rock fish.

Is it poisonous?
Its skin and organs contain a toxin that protects it from being eaten, which is why predators leave it alone. It is not a danger during normal tank care, but do not keep it with fish big enough to try to eat it.

Will it puff up?
It can, but a healthy, settled puffer rarely does. Never lift it out of the water in a net, since puffing up with air can harm it. Move it with a container instead.

Why does it need crunchy food?
Its teeth never stop growing. Shell-on foods like clams and krill keep the beak worn down so it can keep eating normally.

I have seen a fish that looks just like this. Is it the same?
Possibly a Mimic Filefish, which copies the Valentini Puffer's pattern to borrow its reputation for being toxic. The filefish has a longer dorsal fin and a small spine on its head.