False Eye Toby Puffer
Electric blue spots, a false eyespot, and more personality than fish twice its size.
A small sharpnose puffer covered in glowing blue spots and lines, with a dark false eyespot at the base of the dorsal fin. Endlessly curious, quick to recognize its keeper, and a genuine centerpiece in a FOWLR or mixed system. Not reef safe — it will sample corals, clams, and ornamental invertebrates.
Photo: Foto: 探索墾丁, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
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What it needs to thrive
- Lighting
- Any standard reef lighting — no special requirements.
- Flow
- Moderate reef flow with calm resting zones.
- Feeding
- Meaty foods with hard-shelled items — krill, clam on the half shell, and snails to keep the beak worn down.
- Temperament
- Semi-aggressive and not reef safe. Keep with robust tankmates only.
- Difficulty
- Intermediate
- Ideal Tank Size
- 30 gallons and up.
- Water Parameters
- 76–80°F · salinity 1.024–1.026 SG · pH 8.1–8.4 · 0 ammonia / 0 nitrite · nitrate under 10 ppm
Open swimming room with rockwork to explore. Best in a FOWLR or coral-free display.
Semi-aggressive. Will nip slow-moving fish with long fins, and will eat shrimp, snails, and coral polyps.
Quarantine, dip, and acclimation
Quarantine
Hold all new fish in a bare-bottom 10–20 gallon QT for a minimum of 4 weeks. Observe for flashing, clamped fins, white spots, or breathing changes. Treat preventatively with copper (1.75–2.5 ppm chelated) or tank-transfer method for ich, plus a praziquantel course for flukes. Invertebrates and corals skip QT but go through dip and observation instead.
Recommended coral dip
For every new coral: a 5–10 minute bath in your reef-safe dip of choice (Bayer Complete, CoralRx, or Reef Primer) following label dosage, followed by two clean saltwater rinses. Inspect plugs and bases for flatworms, pyramid snails, and eggs — remove or refrag onto clean plugs before placing in display.
Acclimation
Float sealed bags in your QT or display for 15 minutes to match temperature. Then drip acclimate at 2–4 drops per second for 45–60 minutes until volume has tripled. Net livestock into the tank — never pour shipping water in. Dim the lights for the first 24 hours to reduce stress.
