The dragon puffer is a species of freshwater puffer fish from Thailand, Laos, Malaysia and Indonesia.  The dragon puffer lives in freshwater streams, rivers, and ponds with slow water flow.  They generally grow to an adult size of 7 to 8 inches.  Males and females are indistinguishable from each other.

The dragon puffer should be kept in an aquarium of 55 gallons or larger with a footprint of at least 48" by 12" by 12" with  excellent filtration and frequent water changes, as they are sensitive to poor water quality.  They can be maintained in such small aquariums for their size due to their low activity lifestyle.  A soft sandy substrate (CS7581) with live or artificial plants and pieces of driftwood (ZM2000) to provide cover is ideal for these unique ambush predators.

The dragon puffer prefers a temperature of 75°F - 82°F, a pH of 6.8 to 7.6 and a hardness of 8 - 20°H.

The dragon puffer is an aggressive and territorial fish that will do best in a species aquarium.  If the aquarium is very large, multiple dragon puffers may be housed as long as there is plenty of cover for each puffer and many objects to break up line of sight.  On occasion the dragon puffer may tolerate similarly sized or larger active tank mates.  It will eat any fish it can fit into it's mouth.

In the wild, dragon puffers are ambush predators and will feed on small fish, crustaceans and mollusks.  In the aquarium they may be fed frozen krill (SF7137), clams on the half shell (ON8615), and live ghost shrimp and snails, frozen silversides and live earthworms. Juveniles should be fed every other day while adults should only be fed once or twice a week.