Fahaka and Pleco

Discuss & learn about Mbu, Fahaka, Mappa & other giant puffers.
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GSP32
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Fahaka and Pleco

Post by GSP32 »

Do any of you keep a pleco in with your Fahaka? If so what kind??? Or is it just a horrible idea.... We do have 2 3/4 inch Bristlenose plecos in with the baby Fahaka but I honestly thought he had killed them until I saw them today while cleaning the tank... they probably hang off the Driftwood
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Tripp
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Re: Fahaka and Pleco

Post by Tripp »

GSP32 wrote:Or is it just a horrible idea....
You said it yourself... :lol:

Your Fahaka will kill pretty much anything in the tank. Then you have to worry about the fins potentially puncturing the Fahaka internally.
My suggestion dont do it. Some people have found luck with Otto's. Just a simple cleaner thats super quick.

What size tank do you have?
If you can post a pic that would be cool.
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GSP32
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Re: Fahaka and Pleco

Post by GSP32 »

I have a 125g, I posted a few videos in another thread.... I just cleaned the algae and rescaped today so as soon as the hood is back up on the tank I will take more pictures now that it's all shiny and clean. The hood is over 6 foot long so I need the hubby to help to put it back on :)
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bertie 83
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Re: Fahaka and Pleco

Post by bertie 83 »

No chance, fahakas make short work of even the largest plec, even if the fahaka is tiny
It's amazing how easy maintenance is. If done regularly and thoroughly
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Re: Fahaka and Pleco

Post by Pufferpunk »

I have known of 4" fahakas biting 8" plecos in half! That being said, it depends on the individual puffer. Mine is a gentle giant & allows all sorts of tank mates. On the other hand, he killed a rather large JD that grew up with him from 1". Chewed it up pretty bad. Eventually it died from the shock.

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GSP32
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Re: Fahaka and Pleco

Post by GSP32 »

Oh dear... poor Jack Dempsey
jesper
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Re: Fahaka and Pleco

Post by jesper »

Well i still have an intact pleco Living with Wilma!
They've been together for 6 monts now.

Pleco is about 3" compared to Wilma who's atleast 10"
Pleco is out when dark, i have made like waypoints so it Can get from one end to the other in like 4steps and it seems to work fine.

When pleco gets bigger i have to rearrange or Sell it and start over with a new/small which May be a good idea as they dont seem to suck that much algae when they get bigger?

Btw it a common pleco, like the one you get thrown in for free at dealers
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Arny
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Re: Fahaka and Pleco

Post by Arny »

I had mbu with a plecy and the plecy got teritorial and sucked a big piece of skin off the mbus back. The mbu later died.
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Re: Fahaka and Pleco

Post by RTR »

I have said it before, but I am not embarrassed to repeat myself. Big puffers do not have tankmates. They may have food reserves sharing their tank, temporarily. I have had big puffer kill and eat big catfish after 3 years co-housing.

Suckernouth cats do require some protein food. If you do not provide it, they will slime-suck any fish of suitable size. Sleeping puffer are vulnerable. That is pure operator error. Do not co-house these fish. Also, offer the larger suckernouth cats high protein food on regular and routine basis.
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jesper
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Re: Fahaka and Pleco

Post by jesper »

I was totally aware of the pleco being kind of "food supply" and have laughed at it, BUT the slime sucking deal was NOT a part of my picture!!
I red tons online AND what little paper books available, before i got wilma and i have to admit that IF it was there, it was info i missed out on..

Pleco is OUT and im glad you shared that info, thank you RTR!

Apart from that wilma thrives and grows at an insane rate.
Got her when she was like 4-5" and now, 6.5 months later, she's easily 11-12" and her body is massive!
The small dots in her skin, spikes, very visible now, colors very bright yellow and white and a VERY intense maroon.

You, RTR, seem like the person who could make an educated guesstimate on her age so would you please ?

Again, thanks alot ;-)
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Re: Fahaka and Pleco

Post by RTR »

Trying to guess many fish's ages is impossible. Scaled fish with seasonal growth spurts in the wild may have their age read from their scales, but captive fish, especially scaleless captive fish are virtually hopeless.

At one point in my life I could have shown you a tank of GSPs, 4 of them, slightly plump but not fat, great color, full normal configuration, each 2-2 1/2 inches long (standard length or total length), active and good eaters of smallish common pond or Ramshorn snails. An unusually clean fresh batch from the LFS of wild-caugth fish? Well, not quite. That was a ten-year old straight FW tank loaded w/Anacharis, which served as my excess snail disposal tank from my multiple Cichlid fry grow-out tanks. I bought them from my LFS whose owner told me that they were the best snail-eaters available as long as the snails were smallish - if they were too biog, just crack their shells. I accepted that and thought no more about it until it dawned on me that those fish were as interesting and perhaps more so than my Cichids. so I started looking at then as pets rather than as organic disposals. I learned better. The downside was that I was never again able to keep 4 GSPs together again, but they did get a lot bigger and even brighter. I learned that lesson and eventually learned that fish are easily stunted and only in rare cases can you get away with it without long-term damage. But I never trust traded-in fish at the LFS because you don't know how they have been handled. My own care had been unintended fish abuse. People do put Bettas and goldfish (!!!) in tiny containers. Some - as I was once - unaware of the fish's real needs, others from bad advice, other from not caring: they are only fish, right? Not in my fish tanks, if I know better. Now, If I cannot move a fish from QT to its permanent home, I do not buy the freshly imported or locally bred fish. I am only moderately neurotic - at least to myself. I may learn slowly, but I do learn... Captive fish should equal or exceed their species' wild maximum size. If they do not, we are doing it right, as I did not handle my first GSPs properly through ignorance.

HTH
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FishFan
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Re: Fahaka and Pleco

Post by FishFan »

We had had a large Fahaka that shared a tank for a few weeks with a very much larger peco. We had to separate them. The Fahaka would bite the Pleco from time to time, mostly at night. It left bite marks on the Pleco that were not a big concern, because they didn't penetrate the Pleco's armor and disappeared quickly. Our bigger concern was that the Pleco would puncture the Fahaka with its violent response to the bite.

It didn't seem like a good combination. It is probably good that you changed your mind. :)
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