CALLING FAHAKA EXPERTS !

[Pufferpunk]

if you dont mind me asking, how much did you pay for each of your filters ?

LOL, I've been keepiogn fish for >30 years. I'm pretty sure they were in the basement. You can try bigalsonline.com or drsfostersmith.com If you to to ebates.com & give them my email as a referal, you can get 6% rebate & an extra $5 rebate for DFS.

[ACF]

I (on a personal experience) would not go with sand! I started out with white... an aquaclear 110 paired with a 2028 ehiem canister as well as a 1200gph powerhead all in a 100G set-up. Nice current but when he would take a crap and i wasnt around to like grab it out, the powerhead would move the sand around and cover everthing up along with all his left over food! MESSY eaters so bits of food would also get trapped and well, where is it -_-... Well that started a great problem! That white sand turned all colors in a matter of a month and the python was just syphoning up the sand! Soo he got sick.. i got rid of all the sand (near plugging bathtub and sink)...
Since then ive gotten him chew toys and as for subsrtate i just use course black gavel along with large, black, flat stones. Tetra bamboo as well. He really enjoys the bamboo! Uses it as the chew toy! I had plants but he destroyed them in a matter of weeks!
I managed to throw some Danios in the tank to clean up after him and now all is really good!
Every 2 weeks do a 60% water change and every month change all filters along with carbon (The course sponge filter i change every 3 months or so)
Good luck with em!

*Cheers*

[ACF]

Here's Filbert's 125g tank with "caves" of fake mangrove roots on either end & open swimming room in the middle:


Filbert in his cave:


Ya gotta problem with my colored gravel?


I got that ridiculous colored gravel because I saw so many pics of gorgeous maroon striped fahakas & Filbert always looked mottled. So I thought if he saw lots of reds & maroons, he'd try to match his stripes to that. Didn't work & now I'm stuck with this crappy gravel because it would truely be a PITA to change it at this point.

My puff never use to look mottled, only when he was irritated or sleeping.. Now he stays mottled quite a bit only when he knows he's getting food the color comes back and or if hes just in a good mood... Most of the time he just sleeps in his castle and couldnt b bothered LoL!

[apachepufferman]

Well IMO I prefer a little of both substrate for my tank. I believe in my photos I have a pic of my fahaka tank. I have a Nice deep sand bed that slopes down to gravel. I also have a Slate rock cave/shelf that he can get into as well as a fake log tower.



I have a tank that has an mts colony and I still grab a bunch out and feed them to my 10" fahaka, it lets him hunt through the sand and he blows the sand around to mix it up. I primarily feed him black shelled muscles. I also will buy the occasional 4" crayfish to feed him if the LFS has a good price on them; let me tell you there is nothing to compare watching a fahaka hunt a crayfish. I was worried about the claws the first time I put one in so I clipped the claws off. He taught me that it wasn't needed. He went right for the tail avoiding the front and just worked his way forward. The second time I didn't clip the claws and the went from the back again and just bit the head of the crayfish and killed it instantly. It was really cool to watch him do what he what he would do in the river.

once you deside on the substrate you can alway change what is on top of the substrate pretty easily, at least easier. So once you get one you can learn what his personality is and you will find the food he likes and how he wants to be. I started mine out on bloodworms and MTS and now he chomps through a full muscle like its butter but he still goes crazy for bloodworms.
Every puffer is different. My pignose is super picky but I know what he likes now and my red lines and dps and SAPs all have there little quirks to. I found with fish its just like any other pet they are there own Being and they will let you know what its is they like and don't and they will get to know you just like any dog or cat would. I have been away for a couple months but after a couple days back they were back to recognizing me and doin there same old tricks just like my dog. The person taking care of my house said that they never did that stuff with him so take that how you will.

good luck on whatever you decide I know you won't be dissapointed with a Fahaka

[LilGreenPuffer]

That's a great-looking tank.

[apachepufferman]

thanks! my mom didn't like how big it was, but i reminded her its my house and now she comes and visits her puffer grandchild

[Dadof4]

The biggest reason I would go with sand is that they naturally like to hunt for stuff buried in the sand by blowing it around and they do occasionally like to bury themselves. I've got some heavy duty current on my GSP tank that has a sand bottom and never had a problem with substrate blowing around.