(Mods, please move the thread if it is the wrong sub-forum to post in...it's been so long...
)We never gave an actual name...it was just FA-HAAA-KAA everytime either of us walks by her tank, waving at her. She was the first puffer fish we had and was thin, black and looked closer to an anchovy when we bought her home four years ago. From a 2ft tank, she was also the reason we had to find place to accommodate another 4-ft tank to our small apartment. She had severe internal parasitic problems but was nearly 11" when she passed on.
Puffers are indeed the puppies of the fish hobby. She was always responsive and never failed to make my day. I saw her breathing her last that day and went berserk. I broke down and cried very hard. Hubby sounded terribly worried over the phone because I am already 5 months pregnant with our daughter. I have had a premonition a couple of weeks before and told him that "our daughter will not get to see Fahaka, the other girl of ours".
We didn't how she died...or why. Her appetite hadn't been as good but she didn't starve. There were glass shrimps in the tank but they picked on her skin as she laid lifeless. Struggling with a big belly, I managed to net her out into a small quarantine tank with an air pump and left her there until my husband came home from work. Normally, I would be brave enough to do a "dissection" on any fish that died at home but when he was wrapping her up, I felt very sick in the stomach. I walked away and went to the room to lie down instead. I just couldn't say goodbye.
Last January, I took a photo of her when she developed a "cyst" on the side of her mouth. This is the one of the last few photos of her.
