Narrow-lined Puffer

[edit] Overview

This is one of the more modestly size puffers in the genus Arothron and it has various names in the aquarium trade, often sold as the "Striped Dogface Puffer." (Arothron nigropunctatus is the other "Dogface Puffer or Blackspotted Puffer.)

In the wild, it is most often encountered in lagoons, brackish estuaries, and over seagrass beds in protected reef flats.

See: A Puffer Primer.

[edit] Feeding

Offer a varied diet of meaty foods, including chopped shrimp, squid, clams, enriched krill, and fish—as well as preparations designed for herbivores. Feed no fewer than 3 times a day.

[edit] Aquarium Compatibility

Rarely aggressive; more than one can be kept in the same tank. Can also be kept with other Arothron spp., except more-aggressive forms.

This and other puffers are not reef-aquarium safe. It may nip off Acropora coral tips and eat a wide variety of invertebrates, including ornamental shrimps, crabs, clams, sponges, and tunicates. It will also graze coralline algae from the surface of live rock.

[edit] Notes

This and other puffers are poisonous to eat, having the lethal tetrodotoxin in their internal organs. Dozens of poisonings and up to six human deaths a year in Japan are attributed to the consumption of pufferfishes. The skin of pufferfishes also contains the toxin, and hobbyists should only handle these fishes when wearing rubber gloves as a precaution.

Category: Species