Meet Porky

This is Porky our porcupine pufferfish. He has a lot of personality. Porky will follow you around the tank, hoping for dinner or at least a snack. He is extremely curious, and loves to explore. Porky's eyes move independently until he sees something to eat. Once he does, his eyes both are glued on it. He loves guppies that we get for about 7 per dollar. As soon as he sees me go to the guppy bowl, Porky is all excited and anxiously awaits his meal. I drop a live guppy into his tank, and Porky locks his eyes on it and chases it until he catches it. Occasionally one temporarily gets away from him, and his eyes start searching the tank for the guppy. It is fun to watch them move independently like search lights. Before long, he spies the guppy and makes quick work of it. I have never met a fish with as much personality as Porky.

Porcupine pufferfish can be gluttons. Overfeeding is not good for their health or the water chemistry of the aquarium. Maybe a more fitting name for these fish would be “piggers” rather than puffers (Hence the name Porky). You can feed them once a day or more, but do not feed them heavily more than a couple of times a week. When frightened they will inflate themselves with water to 2-3 times their normal size (But please don't intentially do this to Porky! It is really stressful, and he only does it if he thinks he is about to die).