Spotted Congo Puffer

The Beak Mandate and Diet:

The Overgrown Teeth Fatality. Like all pufferfish, their four front teeth are fused into a solid, parrot-like bony beak that grows continually forever. THE LETHAL ERROR: If you only feed them soft foods like bloodworms or flakes, their teeth will eventually grow so long that they will lock their mouth shut, causing the puffer to slowly starve to death. You MUST breed a separate colony of hard-shelled pest snails (Ramshorn, Bladder snails) to feed them. The physical act of crushing the hard shells naturally files their teeth down.

Compatibility and The 'Invertebrate Doom':

The Peaceful Predator. It is widely considered the only puffer that can safely be kept in a community tank (with fast, short-finned fish like Congo Tetras). However, do not be fooled: it is an apex invertebrate hunter. Any shrimp (Cherry shrimp, Amano shrimp) or ornamental snails (Mystery snails, Nerites) will be ruthlessly hunted down, bitten in half, and eaten. NEVER keep them with slow fish with long fins (Angelfish, Bettas), as the puffer will inevitably nip them out of pure curiosity.

Puffing and Water Quality:

The Air-Trap Death. Puffers lack scales, making them violently allergic and highly sensitive to poor water quality (Ammonia/Nitrites). NEVER net a puffer and lift it out of the water. If it panics and 'puffs up' by swallowing atmospheric air, it often cannot expel the air, becoming permanently trapped floating upside-down until it suffocates.