How big does the porcupine puffer get?

[akdylpcikles]

So last september I was setting up a fowler and I really wanted to get a porcupine puffer. Unfortunately the tank broke and I wasn't able to set it up but My friend was telling me I couldn't get a porcupine puffer because it would out grow my 150? is this really true? so How big does a porcupine truly get? and what is the recommended tank size?

 

[SushiGirl]

About a foot long. I've seen some pretty big ones in the wild. Recommended tank size is 180 gallons.

 

[BEEKER1]

They can get big but it doesn't happen overnight.

 

[agreeive?fish]

They can get big but it doesn't happen overnight.

they (at least mine) grew to about 8" realy fast then seems to slow down in growth rate

 

[LisaD]

some species get considerably bigger than one foot. check wetwebmedia or fishbase for size.

 

[TitanTV]

They are massive fish!! eventhough they get 1 foot long..the monsters are almost 1 foot wide and 1 foot high!! (Ok.. I know they get longer than they do wide and high..I was just making a point) But, on that note if you were to take them by the square inch those beasts are huge compared to most of the fish we keep. I would say a 12" Porc Puffer might put more strain on your system than just about anything else you can house in a tank

 

[agreeive?fish]

titan, i would disagree with you some what, my stars/stripes puffer is wider/taller than my porc of the same length and eats 2 x what my porc does so i would say the s/s puffer is slightly higher on bio load than my porc..but my porc would be a very close second

 

[TitanTV]

Yeah..I was kinda meaning for all the puffers. I saw a porc one time that looks like a shoebox. he was a beast

 

[agreeive?fish]

Yeah..I was kinda meaning for all the puffers. I saw a porc one time that looks like a shoebox. he was a beast

they have one at the jenks oklahoma aquarium thats a good 3ft if its an inch (or at least they did the last time i was there about 4-5years ago dont know what they have currently)

 

[Stuart60611]

some species get considerably bigger than one foot. check wetwebmedia or fishbase for size.

Lisa is correct. There are two different species which are refered to under the common name of porcupine puffers. One I believe reaches 12 inches as an adult and other other 18 inches as an adult. Also, with these fish, length does not really adequately describe their size because of their substantial gerth. They often get bigger than the size of a swimming American football.

 

[anbosu]

I had one that was about 7" in a 5' 120 and it was too big for that tank. I can't imagine having one even bigger. As they get bigger they are pretty poor community fish too because they will eat anything that even sort of fits in their mouth.

 

[Pufferpunk]

2 different species:
Diodon holocanthus 12"
Diodon hystrix 36"