Checkered All the Boxes
Long time readers of this space will already know we're huge fans of Pufferfish. If you've just started reading this column and don't know this, we're huge fans of Pufferfish. You aren't quite caught up yet, here's why:
Puffers of most sorts are endlessly interesting fish that are intelligent and hardy. Checkered Puffers (Sphoeroides testudineus) are no exception. They quickly learn to associate their people as feeders (and sometimes sources of affection!) For lack of a better term, they have “fishality.” Like personality, but for fish. They'll greet you with excited wiggles when you approach the tank, expecting munchies. We've even seen some of them spit water out the top of uncovered tanks as a greeting for aquarists. The internet abounds with videos of Pufferfish swimming around their owner's hands to get scratched and rubbed. While this is fun to watch, we do NOT recommend it. Puffers have seriously strong jaws and sharp teeth and can do serious damage to you if they decide to have a nibble.
In the wild, Checkered Puffers are usually found in the shallow waters around mangroves and seagrass beds above soft or silty substrates. While they are also found near reefs, it is almost always on the fringes of these coral and rock outcrops and almost universally in less than 30 feet of water. They spend the majority of their day hanging out in cover and it's estimated that they spend over 60% of their time resting.
They are native to the Gulf of Mexico, where they are one of the most common fish in the water. They're known by fishermen as notorious bait thieves, with a penchant for being able to eat shrimp right off a hook and swimming away uncaught. Even with this frustrating skill, many are caught, and you'll see hundreds if not thousands of pictures of them getting caught and released as they are also not edible. They're highly poisonous to eat with toxins in their skin and internal organs.
One of the very nice things about Checkered Puffers is that they don't get as big as many of the commonly seen aquarium Puffers from the Pacific. Checks will usually stay less than seven inches (or so) long. We've seen reports of these fish up to 18 inches but have never actually verified anything like this ourselves. They reach sexual maturity around five inches. There is no IGFA record for this species. Between their small size and their penchant for naps, a 75-gallon aquarium would be enough for one of them. They don't really need rocks but will like some places to rest as well as some soft sand to push around and hide in occasionally. They don't require a tank lid. We'll get into feeding them shortly, but for the purposes of filtration, they like big messy meals. They also don't do well in heavy current, and so you'll have to balance the filtration by how much you need to keep the water clean, vs how much flow they can handle for swimming. As long as flow is very diffused (not blasting in one direction) you should be able to use a filter system that can overturn the volume of the tank five to ten times an hour. Regular water changes will help you keep the water fresh.
Checkered Puffers are part of the family of fish known as Tetraodontidae, which means “four teeth.” Like all the fish in this family, they have four tooth plates, two up, two down, which makes for their distinctive “beak” which they use for breaking into the crabs, snails and bivalves that make up the bulk of their wild meals as adults. They can even break barnacles off boats and piers and eat them! When feeding Checkered Puffers in captivity, it is vitally important to continue to give them shelled meals, as these tooth plates will continue to grow and need to be worn down by use. In house we feed them a meaty mix of thawed foods from GAMMA, this mix changes over time, including things like Krill Superba and Pacifica, Chopped Mussel and Prawn, Mysis etc. We also feed them GAMMA Cockle in Shell regularly which offers them a shell to break into and some enrichment as they work to extract their dinner from its protection. Puffers will also learn to take a large sinking pellet like Nutramar Complete in the 12mm size. Just don't forget to get them some shelled food too. You won't have to feed them more than once a day, and fully adult specimens can go a couple days between feedings as long as the meals are big.
On the topic of tankmates, we suggest keeping these fish as a species-specific display; luckily, a Puffer tank doesn't need any other fish to make an amazing aquarium; there just aren't too many fish in the sea that are this interesting and engaging. Checkered Puffers are not usually that friendly with other fish and will take exploratory nips of just about anything. (This includes heater cables, leave those in the sump). If you choose fish to live with them, make sure those fish have places to escape and are very fast. Some small Wrasses or Damsels come to mind, or in very large aquariums, you might be able to get away with big Triggerfish and Thalassoma Wrasses. Pretty much all Puffers will also take nips of corals, and so if you want to keep some in this display, make sure they can grow quickly and tolerate some abuse. Things like Xenia might work, but again, they might not. These puffers will love a cleanup crew as there is nothing like live food to hunt for keeping your Puff happy. They'll pretty quickly go through snails, crabs, shrimp, even urchins and starfish. We suggest adding some snails but choose cheaper ones and consider them food.
Checkered Puffers are gorgeous fish, with a camouflage pattern that is super unique. They're the kings of “Fishality” with the benefit of being easy to feed and keep. Never remove your puffers from the water, they're best transferred in a cup or a small bowl. Keep them well fed with plenty of shelled food to chew on, don't skimp on the water changes, and you'll keep this aquatic puppy for years to come. If this is all intriguing to you, then maybe you're a Puffer Person too! Head to your favorite fishy retailer and ask them about getting you a sustainably sources Checkered Puffer today!