How to Get Pufferfish in Minecraft (Safely)

Swims like a fish and stings like a bee, pufferfish is one of the most iconic mobs in Minecraft. You can use it to craft potions, decorate houses, and even as security for your base. With that, let’s stop beating around the bush and learn how to find pufferfish in Minecraft!

How to Find Pufferfish in Minecraft (2023)

Our guide goes over everything you need to know about pufferfish in Minecraft. But, if you are already familiar with this mob, feel free to skip ahead.

What is a Pufferfish in Minecraft

Pufferfish is a unique aquatic mob in Minecraft that is yellow-orange in color. It is extremely small in size and has spikes all over its body. Generally, the pufferfish are passive mobs but they can inflict damage as a defensive tactic. Moreover, they even inflate their body and grow in size while dealing damage.

Where Do Pufferfish Spawn

All pufferfish in Minecraft spawn in a group of 1-3 mobs in these biomes:

Lukewarm Ocean
Warm Ocean
Deep Lukewarm Ocean

Furthermore, in the Bedrock edition, you can even find groups of 5 pufferfish at once. But, they still have a much lower spawn rate than tropical fish so the search isn't easy.

How to Get Pufferfish in Minecraft

To get a pufferfish in Minecraft, you first need to make a boat and travel to the warm oceans. You can even use the best Minecraft beach seeds to speed up the process. Next, you must dive into the ocean and search for this small orange fish. But, make sure not to get too close.

Poison from Pufferfish

Once you find a pufferfish, you must be very careful while approaching it. True to its name, the fish inflates itself whenever you get close to it. This happens whenever you get within a 5-block area of the pufferfish.

While it's puffed, any player or mob that touches the pufferfish gets 3-10 seconds of poison effects. It has two puffing stages and the fully-puffed Pufferfish deals the longest poison. Later, the fish slowly goes back to its normal size when the triggering entity gets away from it. Not to forget, the Pufferfish also deals melee damage if you touch it.

Tips to Kill a Pufferfish

Now that you know the basics, here are a few tips to easily get a Pufferfish in Minecraft:

Respiration: Since finding a pufferfish can take some time, you can use the Respiration enchantment to extend your time underwater.
Projectiles: Getting close to a pufferfish can be hard. So, it's best to use a projectile weapon like a bow, a crossbow, or even a trident in Minecraft.
Wolf: You don't have to kill a pufferfish with your weapons to collect it. Instead, you can also use a tamed wolf to get the job done. Plus, thanks to the new wolf armor, it will be safe from other dangers in the sea.
Suffocation: Similar to other fish, the pufferfish cannot survive outside water. This allows you to use sponges and dry out its surroundings to slowly suffocate the pufferfish.

Can Pufferfish Poison Kill You in Minecraft

Poison is a special negative effect in Minecraft that slowly inflicts damage over time, but it can't kill you. Instead, it pushes your health all the way down to half a heart, leaving you vulnerable to everything else.

Even if you get affected by the poison effect, there is no need to worry. You just need to drink a bucket of milk to make the poison fade immediately. But, the melee attacks of the Pufferfish, combined with the poison, can be fatal.

Other Ways to Get Pufferfish in Minecraft

Searching for the pufferfish can be a daunting task. But, you don't have to go to the source to get this versatile fish. Here are some other interesting ways to get this rare fish.

Get Pufferfish from Guardians

Follow these steps to get pufferfish from the loot of hostile mobs:

1. First, explore the oceans in your world and search for ocean monuments. They spawn in all variants of deep ocean biomes of Minecraft.

2. Once you reach a monument, you will find guardians and elder guardians roaming around it. They are dangerous hostile mobs that use ranged and melee attacks to hunt you.

3. If you can somehow kill any guardian mob, it has a 2.5% chance of dropping a random fish. Furthermore, this fish has a 13% chance of being a pufferfish.

So, as you might expect, this isn't the most reliable method to get Pufferfish. But, since these mobs also drop Tide armor trim, it might be worth a shot.

Fishing for Pufferfish

Fishing can be another great way to collect pufferfish in Minecraft. You have an 11% chance of catching this fish in any pool of water within your world. Moreover, you can use the Lure enchantment to improve your chances and decrease your wait. But, don't forget that you cannot find pufferfish in the jungle biomes of your world.

Uses of Pufferfish in Minecraft

Now that you know how to get pufferfish in Minecraft, let's figure out its uses:

Potion of Water Breathing: You can use the pufferfish to brew a Potion of Water Breathing in Minecraft and breathe underwater without drowning.
Mundane Potion: The pufferfish also lets you make a mundane potion that has no magical effects.
Food: When you eat a pufferfish in Minecraft, it restores 1 hunger point. But, it doing so also inflicts, Hunger, Poison, and Nausea to the consumer.
Trading: You can sell pufferfish to Master-level fisherman villagers for emeralds. If there are no fishermen in your village, you can make a barrel in Minecraft to unlock this job.
Wolf Food: Unlike players, wolves can eat pufferfish without facing any negative effects. Though, it doesn't help them in their growth.

Safely Pick Pufferfish Without Killing It

Unless you want to use it as a brewing ingredient or food, there is no need to kill the pufferfish. Instead, you can keep it as a guardian pet inside your home. Let's figure out how:

1. First, make a bucket in Minecraft using three iron ingots.

2. Next, use your bucket on any water source block to collect it. This prevents you from only collecting water while getting a Pufferfish in Minecraft.

3. Then, search for a pufferfish in the warmer ocean biomes of Minecraft. But, make sure not to get too close to it.

4. Finally, equip the bucket and quickly use it on the pufferfish to collect it. You have to be quick while doing so else, the pufferfish will give you poison.

5. It's safe to keep the pufferfish in a bucket within your inventory. Later, you can unload the bucket and move it to any other water body.

Find and Collect Pufferfish in Minecraft

Just like that, you are ready to find, collect, and use pufferfish in Minecraft. But, before approaching this fish, make sure you have a shield to protect yourself. Alternatively, you can also use a crossbow in Minecraft to hunt it from a safe distance. With that out of the way, what are you doing with your Pufferfish? Share your plans on our Discord server and join a community of talented explorers.