My Stellatus Puffer AKA PacMan

[jabari]

I am surprised at what this fish will attempt to eat, I honestly believe he will eat absolutely ANYTHING new i add to the tank whether its edible or not. He has completely chewed up the sponge attached to the pump of my hang on protein skimmer. I recently got a medium sized Fox face that is at least half his size and he went after it like it was a gold fish. The Stellatus is a thick 6inches long, he's in a 125g along with a 2-3 inch humma humma and a 3inch Sailfin tang which he gets along with fabulously. Now i figured since the fox face is poisonous he wouldnt bother him but he is determined to make him a meal. The fox face has size his self, he's about 4-5inches ...i dont understand. Im serioulsy thiniking about taking him back to the LFS tomorrow. Ive had him almost a year but he attacks and eats almost anything i add to the tank, unless its aggressive enough to fight back like a trigger,angel or wrassw would.

 

[aquaknight]

Second only to 3 species of Sunfish (the largest bony fish in the ocean), the Stellatus Puffer is the largest Tetraodontiformes in the ocean. Bigger then any trigger, filefish, box/cow/burrfish, or other puffer. They aren't particular aggressive, they usually don't harass or pester tankmates like say a Sohal tang does, but merely thinks, 'hey that looks tasty' and decides to make a meal out of whatever it wants. Instead of something like a Lionfish that is forced to shallow their prey whole, the Stellatus is graced with probably the strongest jaws out of any aquarium fish we keep, and a massive beak for teeth, so 'sampling' is an option.
My answer, is that he's only to get worse with age. His growth is going to run circles around his current tankmates, and they will eventually be next. One owner stated theirs growing from the size of a nickel, to 16" in 2 years. Once the Stellatus reaches maturity, you'll find that the only thing capable of withstanding a large Stellatus, are fish that could kill the Stellatus, Titan or Queen trigger, Tesselata eel, etc, and then it just becomes a battle of the fittest.
A large Stellatus, 30"+

 

[rcreations]

Unfortunately a lot of puffers get way too big for our tanks, like the Stellatus and Mappa for example. Even a porcupine would get too big for a 125. If you really want a puffer, I recommend a nice dogface. They don't get as big and are not agressive at all.
Nice pic, Aqua.

 

[jabari]

Yeah i have recently taken him back....no more stellatus puffers for me..lol...i ended up getting a pretty green bird wrasse instead