Canthigaster leoparda

Canthigaster leoparda, commonly known as the Leopard sharpnose puffer, is one of the smallest marine pufferfish. Their base colour is cream-white to pinkish and on this base colour they’ve many large dark brown irregular shaped spots. The shape and amount of spots is very variable. On their belly they’ve faint blue spots which become more pronounced the older they get and sometimes cover the entire body. They have a long nose which is yellow with blue stripes on the upper side. This continues all the way over the back, towards the caudal fin.

Pufferfishes are very intelligent fish and will quickly learn to recognize you and your behaviour. Their intelligence and behaviour make you soon treat these animals more like a dog than a fish. Canthigaster leoparda are one of the friendliest pufferfishes, usually living solitary or as a couple, but they remain pufferfishes so each individual can have a different temper. In a tank they can best be kept alone or as a mated couple/harem to prevent territorial fights.

Although these are one of the most reefsafe pufferfishes, they can always nip certain corals till the point that they die. In nature they feed mainly on sponges, bristleworms and algae but they also eat worms, shrimps, mollusks, coralline red algae and corals from time to time! So make sure to offer them a varied diet of meaty foods and algae to minimize the damage to corals.