Tempted to Get a Fahaka Puffer

[jakezori]

First of all, glad to be here!!! anyway,

Yet again, I am greatly interested in raising a fahaka puffer. After searching the web for information on the fish I have only found surface info that is often conflicting.

I would LOVE a good source for some in depth fahaka info.


My current main concerns are:


1. Sand: What sand is best? I'm looking for heavy soft sand that looks nice. Heavy so that it wont get sucked up when cleaning my tank and debris wont get under it. Soft so my Fahaka will gladly bury himself in the sand. Nice looking so that my tank is awesome =).


2. Food: This is perhaps my biggest concern. I would love to know more specifics on feeding. I know I need to mix it up and make sure to give him hard food for his teeth, but I have no idea where to get it how to feed it.
Should I raise my own crayfish? Should I buy frozen food? How often should I feed this or that food etc.?

3. Enviornment: What environment do fahaka's like? Driftwood? Plants?

[xrayjeeper83]

First of all, glad to be here!!! anyway,

Yet again, I am greatly interested in raising a fahaka puffer. After searching the web for information on the fish I have only found surface info that is often conflicting.

I would LOVE a good source for some in depth fahaka info.


My current main concerns are:


1. Sand: What sand is best? I'm looking for heavy soft sand that looks nice. Heavy so that it wont get sucked up when cleaning my tank and debris wont get under it. Soft so my Fahaka will gladly bury himself in the sand. Nice looking so that my tank is awesome =).
I have playsand in my fahaka's tank. But I am going to be going with pool filter sand when I get around to setting up his big tank, the grains of sand are larger so it doesnt compact as easily

2. Food: This is perhaps my biggest concern. I would love to know more specifics on feeding. I know I need to mix it up and make sure to give him hard food for his teeth, but I have no idea where to get it how to feed it.
Should I raise my own crayfish? Should I buy frozen food? How often should I feed this or that food etc.?
For food, you can feed earthworms, clams that have already been shucked(they scrap their tooth on the shell to get the clam and this helps keep the tooth down in size). Fahaka's LOVE snails and breeding snails is really easy, you just get a small 5g(or what ever size) tank set it up toss in a few snails in a few weeks you will have babies every where. For crayfish, get marbled crays, they clone themselfs so you only need 1 to start with and from ive read you can get upwords of 300-400 babies every 6 months. I plan on getting one at some point just need to get another tank running. And I feed my fahaka ever day
3. Enviornment: What environment do fahaka's like? Driftwood? Plants?
They need "caves" to hide in to make them feel safe. Plants and driftwood is a plus, cause they give your puff places to hide and sleep.

Be sure you have the room for a atleast 120G tank. The foot print of the tank is very important for these guys since they grow to such a large size. A 120 is good because its measurements a 4x2x2. With a puffer that can grow to 17-18" long a 125 isnt very good due to the width is only 18.5" and that is to tight for them to turn around comfortably.

[jakezori]

do i just buy bait earthworms to feed it?

when it is small what should i feed it. should i just get market clams and shrimp and stuff from the grocery store?


ive had bad experience with play sand, im looking for something with large grains and soft

[Pufferpunk]

Larger-grained sand is fine too. Mine never burrows anyway. Here's some ideas for decor:
125g

He loves his fake mangrove cave

Filbert's a very happy puffer!


Feeding ideas: library/feeding/feeding-your-puffers/

[jakezori]

thanks, i know he might not burrow, but i wanna give him a chance if he wants to. i also wanna go for a more natural feel to the tank i think although ur puffer looks very pleased =)

what sand and plants are in this video?


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IAAsg75PaQc

[xrayjeeper83]

Pool filter sand is larger grain, dont know about the softness

When I first got my Fahaka, I would cut the earthworm in half and feed it to him. Or with market fresh with shell on shrimp, I just cut it into peices that he can eat easily.

[Ohyouknow]

At your local market, I'd look for any type of seafood that is uncooked (calamari, clam, shrimp, mussel - with shell if possible (the shells are great for keeping their beak trimmed). I have a lot of trouble finding these things, but I also breed snails in a small tank. As for earthworms, I'd stick to Nightcrawlers, and I buy mine from the bait store. If you do not treat your lawn with any pesticides (if you have close neighbors or live in an area that may use pesticides I'd not do this) you can dig up your own worms or pill bugs (rolly polies) as they go nuts over those as well. Be sure to freeze any seafood before you feed to your puff, to kill off any possible germs or parasites.

You can find a lot of info in the feeding section of our library (under the learn tab) and also find more specific information about Fahaka's in general in the PufferPedia.

I myself have a 120gallon (4x2x2 tank) I found for a great deal on Craigslist. The sand I bought was HTH Pool Filter Sand (a silica sand intended for use in pool filters). It has nice, uniform grains that is quite 'soft' to the touch (in my opinion) it's kind of 'light' to the touch, easy to work with and doesn't have a lot of free particles/ickies to make it gross. I found it quite easy to work with when cleaning the tank, using any siphon - can go almost directly above it and the debris lifts away quite easily. I have stirred the sand after a cleaning and did not notice any new debris stir up, I'm VERY VERY happy with it.


My full tank shot


Vicious, my Fahaka (5 inches)

Vicious now lives with an Electric Yellow Cichlid (Lemondrop) and a Rainbow Shark (Charky). No nipped fins, and everyone seems quite happy thus far....

[pufferpuggirl]

I think, from my experience, that a Fahaka seems to only bury when they are young. Seems to me that when they get bigger that desire to bury seems to go away. Not sure why, but there you go.
As to food ... raw shrimp, mussels, cockles (I open mine up and Obie still bites the shell which is good for his teeth), earthworms and snails. If the food item is too big, just cut it up, that's what I do.

[xrayjeeper83]

I wonder if they bury themselves as babies as a place to hide, but when they are grown they no longer feel they have to hid to live

[Hilly]

Mine has stopped burying now he's just over 4" at the moment. I only found mine would bury on days he was not fed which was every other day. I have changed his feeding regime to be a bit more random but on the days he isnt fed he does not bury any more. Between 2-3" he would bury every day he was not fed.

[lesleyanndunn]

same here
mine is 4"
when smaller, he would bury in the sand
he hasnt buried in ages, he goes under the filter and sleeps at night.

its a pity when they stop burying, cos its cute!!

[xrayjeeper83]

I dont think mine ever buried.

But back on topic.

My biggest question is do you have the room for a proper size tank?

[jakezori]

I have a 90 gallon which will be upgraded to a larger tank once the puffer reaches 8-10" (I know they grow fast). Also, I know it can be difficult to move puffers, but I should be fine. =)

Also, thanks all for you help, I will ask more questions once they come =).

[xrayjeeper83]

Bring em on lol

[Paripalu]

a fahaka puffer needs a tank of 125 gallons ... he will outgrow the 60 gallon within a year ... puffers like sand as the substrate ... fahakas are freshwater ... lots of plants, driftwood, no sharp objects as they have skin not scales ... hope this helps :O)