Chelonodon patoca

Chelonodon patoca, commonly known as the Milkspotted puffer, is a medium/large pufferfish. Their base colour is crème to yellowish with a greenish-grey to dark brown reticulated pattern on top, making it look like it has white spots (hence their common name) and depending on their mood dark bands over their back will form.

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. Combined with the unusual shape, they make up a showpiece in every tank! This is a brackish species which sometimes can be found even in pure freshwater. But to keep this animal healthy it can best be kept in high brackish to full marine water.

Remember they aren’t reef safe though! They feed on crustaceans, molluscs, sponges, tunicates, algae and corals. It can be aggressive towards other fish, so make sure you pick the other fishes with care! Because their teeth will grow their entire life, they need to eat hard/shelled food constantly to keep them from growing too large. Be sure to offer foods like crab, whole shrimp and snails on a regular basis.