A bucket of pufferfish is a water bucket filled with a live pufferfish. You can’t craft this item. You have to find and catch a pufferfish in the world using a water bucket.
Finding Pufferfish in Your World
Pufferfish spawn in specific ocean biomes. You’re looking for warm or lukewarm oceans. These biomes have clearer, warmer-looking water than regular oceans.
Warm Ocean Biomes
Pufferfish are most common in warm oceans. These spawn naturally in tropical areas of your world. They’re small, round fish that look distinctly different from other fish.
Lukewarm Ocean Biomes
You can also find pufferfish in lukewarm oceans, though they’re less common here. These biomes sit between warm and temperate oceans.
How to Catch a Pufferfish
Step 1: Get a Water Bucket
You need a regular water bucket. If you don’t have one, collect 3 iron ingots and craft a bucket. Fill it with water from any ocean, river, or lake.
Step 2: Find a Pufferfish
Locate a warm or lukewarm ocean biome and swim around until you see a pufferfish. They’re small and roundish, and they expand when threatened.
Step 3: Catch It
Point your crosshair at the pufferfish and use your water bucket on it. The control depends on your platform:
- Java Edition (PC/Mac): Right-click on the pufferfish
- Pocket Edition (PE): Tap on the pufferfish
- Xbox: Press LT
- PlayStation: Press L2
- Nintendo Switch: Press ZL
- Windows 10/11 Edition: Right-click on the pufferfish
It might take a few tries. When you succeed, you’ll get a message saying “Bucket of Pufferfish” and your bucket will show the fish inside. The pufferfish stays alive and can be released anytime.
Getting One in Creative Mode
If you want a bucket of pufferfish in Creative mode without hunting for one, you can grab it from the creative inventory:
- Versions 1.13 – 1.19: Look in the Miscellaneous tab
- Versions 1.19.3+: Look in the Tools & Utilities tab
Using the Command
In Java Edition, you can also use this command to give yourself a bucket of pufferfish:
/give @p pufferfish_bucket 1
This works in versions 1.13 and later. Replace @p with your player name if needed.
What You Get
A bucket of pufferfish is useful for moving pufferfish around your world. You can place one down in water and the pufferfish will swim out. The fish is still alive, so you can catch it again if you want to move it somewhere else.
The bucket of pufferfish won’t stack with other buckets. You can only hold one per stack slot, same as any other bucket.
Related Bucket Recipes
Other buckets you can make or find in Minecraft include water buckets, lava buckets, buckets of cod, buckets of salmon, buckets of tropical fish, buckets of axolotls, buckets of tadpoles, and powder snow buckets.