Green spotted puffer

The green spotted puffer is a charismatic but demanding brackish-water tetraodont from the estuaries, mangroves and tidal rivers of South and Southeast Asia. Adults display a vivid green back covered in black spots over a white belly. Although juveniles are often sold and briefly kept in fresh water, they require increasing salinity as they mature, ideally a stable low-brackish environment; long-term freshwater keeping shortens their lives. Highly intelligent and curious, they are also notoriously aggressive and territorial, prone to fin-nipping and killing tankmates, so they are best kept alone or in a species tank with careful monitoring. Their ever-growing beak must be worn down by hard-shelled foods such as snails, mussels, clams and crustaceans. Provide robust filtration, pristine water, and a mature aquarium, as they are sensitive to poor conditions and are strictly carnivorous.