The Striped Dogface is a saltwater species, which is very aggressive and is not suitable to be kept in a reef aquarium with small species since such species will be eaten. The Striped Dogface is also considered reef safe and usually don?t cause any damage to corals. It should be kept in a tank not less than 90 gallon, and since it is aggressive, the Striped Dogface is usually not recommended to keep two fish together in the same aquarium. It is highly territorial in nature, so be sure to provide them their own niche to prevent any aggression. Be sure to decorate the aquarium cleverly and carefully. It should only be kept with timid non aggressive species since it becomes very shy and stop eating. The Striped Dogface thrives well in a temperature range of 74-80 degree Fahrenheit, and pH of 8.1-8.4. It is sometimes very hard to feed, and if it is present in bad quality water it may feel stressed and insecure. Be sure to ask the seller to show the dogfish eating before you buy it. The Striped Dogface is very easy to feed and once it is started eating, it can be kept on a diet of shrimp, squid, marine fish, clams, crabs and other meaty marine food. Like other puffer fishes, this fish also inflates its body to twice its normal size to protect itself from ingestion from predators. We don?t recommend you to keep several variants in the same aquarium.
This puffer has circling slender lines that are its major characteristic. A well fed specimen may display a red tone. This puffer will grow to over a foot in length.This puffer, in its natural habitat, frequents sand flats and sand slopes and requires caves and crevices to hide and rest in.This personable fish will be shy when first introduced to the aquarium but will become quite bold.Feed this fish 2x per day a diet of chooped clams, shrimp, frozen carnivore and herbivore preparations.The family of Puffers is a distinct family marked by their ability to ingest water into the ventral portion of their body causing them to blow up for protection. These fish also have incredibly strong plated mouth structures that are used to bite and crush even the toughest shells.Almost all puffers are slow swimming fishes with powerful jaws made up of fused teeth feeding on a variety of slow moving and often hard animals. Also have a poison in their skin, tissues and organs. The poison is an alkaloid nerve poison.They will do well in a fish-only aquarium. Keep only one per tank.Puffers have bodies that are very rounded and often tapered at the mouth and caudal (tail) fin regions. Color varies, but many species have light spots and or spines.Feeds mainly on mollusks (hard, powerful teeth enable them to break through mollusk shells); also fed on other invertebrates including sponges and coral.Photograph by saltwaterfish.com member Hefner413
