Green pufferfish - Tetraodon nigroviridis

Scientific name: Tetraodon nigroviridis

Common name: Green pufferfish

Family: Tetraodontidae

Usual size in fish tanks: 10 - 17 cm (3.94 - 6.69 inch)

014

Recommended pH range for the species: 7.5 - 8.5

Recommended water hardness (dGH): 12 - 18°N (214.29 - 321.43ppm)

0°C 32°F30°C 86°F

Recommended temperature: 23 - 28 °C (73.4 - 82.4°F)

The way how these fish reproduce: Spawning

Where the species comes from: South Asia

Temperament to its own species: aggressive/territorial

Temperament toward other fish species: peaceful

Usual place in the tank: Bottom levels

Origin

Green Pufferfish can be found along costal areas of Asia along the east coast, down to the south coast. These fish are found in areas of both fresh and brackish waters. As juveniles they are quite happy to live in freshwater conditions but as they mature the need to inhabit a brackish aquarium increases, this should be taken note off if you wish to keep these fish. Some specimens may even require pure marine parameters as they mature, with experience and observing the fish it will soon become apparent by studying their behaviour in the aquarium.

Short Description

Young Green Pufferfish can be kept in fresh to slightly brackish water but the adults can be kept in brackish water aquariums as explained above. If the water levels are to be changed they need to be conditioned to different saline levels gradually. These fish need plenty of swimming space and hide outs because of their aggressive behavior. For one of the smaller fish species they require an extraordinary amount of space in the aquarium, each specimen should be allowed at least 30 gallons (136 litres, 36 US gallons) of water volume, they will also require a filtration system that is rated well above the volume of water that is contained in your aquarium, they are extremely messy eaters and produce high levels of waste in the water column. The Green Pufferfish will need to be fed hard foods such as snails. The shells are used to keep their teeth filed down. Their teeth can eventually grow too long where they can no longer eat. The teeth do grow continuously throughout the life of the puffer fish, if you do need to grind the teeth to keep them healthy and do not feel confident to do this yourself then some veterinary practices can perform this task for you.

The main appeal of these fish is their cute looks but don't let this fool you, even with their puppy dog eyes they can be very aggressive, especially if too many are kept in the same aquarium and territorial issues kick in.

Food

The Green Pufferfish is highly carnivorous and will feed on crustaceans, worms, and krill. If other fish are present in the aquarium, they might even eat the scales and fins off those tank mates which is not a rule however. This behaviour may not always be the case, some specimens may never harm other fish while some specimens may be at fight all of the time.

As these fish are constant predators it is best to feed very small meals several times throughout the day, if you feed them two larger meals per day they will still predate around the aquarium and can suffer from digestive problems, feeding small meals throughout the day will give you more control over their food intake.

Sexing

There are no clear methods for sexing the Green Puffers.

Breeding

Captive breeding for the Green Pufferfish is likely to happen if there is both a male and female present. The problem is, the mortality rate for the fry is fairly high. The female will lay her clear eggs in a tight space on a hard surface. The male will protect the eggs by using his body to shield them from predators. After approximately one week the eggs will hatch and the fry can be fed foods such as newly hatched brine shrimp or microworms. When they get a little larger they should eat small snails.