New 535 Gal Freshwater Puffer Fish Tank / Need Advice

[Flutter]

Your best success would be in the large tank with any tankmates that you have hopes to keep.

[Perchmonger]

What else could I feed a 2" fahaka besides; bloodworms, an earthworm, snails or shrimp.

[bertie 83]

mussells cockle prawns blacworms the occasional cricket etc

[bertie 83]

and i would put him straight in

[Pufferpunk]

Let him grow into the larger tank, why not? It'll be pretty cool watching him discover all the nooks & crannies. I wanna see a FTS!

[sevenyearnight]

Moving fish is a PITA, and some fish go on hunger strikes. Best put him in the big one right away.

[Perchmonger]

I know he will kill his tankmates, but I have an 9" African Rock Catfish who only comes out at night and about 13- 11" Yellow perch that are fast as baracudas and they stay low in the tank when the light is on; what are the odds they will live long. here is video

http://www.youtube.c...h?v=pULK2sUBdLs

http://www.youtube.c...h?v=_CIxvlESHzw

[bertie 83]

it is unlikely tbh, he will most likely bite but if they fast they might live for a while

[PolishPuff]

Tank mates with Fahaka?

Well I personally know only one member here that got lucky with Fahaka that could tolerate metes. I keep on adding some tank mates in to my Fahaka and all I got next day is a dead body if that.

[bertie 83]

there are actually 2 fahakas that will tolerate some tankmates 1 is filbert, the other is mine lol

[RTR]

Fahakas do not have takmates, they may have swimming food reserves.

+1 to PP's divider comment.

It may seen grossly oversized for a 2" fish, but I would QT in a smaller tank for 4-6 weeks to give myself time to landscape the big tank and let the plants establish some weeks before the fish goes in, then move it directly from QT to its permanent home. Then you can be confident that you will have a full-sized well-built (if you do not over-feed) adult fish much sooner that you expect it.

I would use either Crinum thainum or Jungle Val as the primary plant, and make sure either is very well established before even a small fish goes into the tank (at least 4 weeks, longer if possible). Forget small plants in the substrate, the fish will uproot them. Even the Crinums and/or Jungle Val will need some thinning over time. The fish may do that for you. Both fahakas and T. mbu are or may be perfectly willing to landscape to their own desires - if the fish does so, accept it. The critter is in the tank24/7 and has stronger teeth than you do. In a fight, you lose. Both of those plants have massive root systems and their equally long floating leaves provide nice shading for the fish - that is a lot safer than a rock cave for a fist that large and strong. IME, the Crinum is slower growing so needs less thinning, but it is also a biot slower to establish firmly. But the choice is not really critical. One hint: I thinned the fahaka tanks under a photographic safelight while the fish was asleep.

Forget about any eggcrate construction in the tank. The fish can break it, and can injure itself on the broken edges.

Massive driftwood would take many months to saturate and risking it without that is hazardous - don't. The plants can and will provide all the overhead security the fish desires if they are well rooted before the fish in introduced. That is easier when the fish is small, extremely difficult when the fish is larger.

HTH

[hadla]

Fahakas do not have takmates, they may have swimming food reserves.

rotfl! that's a good one! you should make it a quote! "Puffers don't have tankmates; they have swimming food reserves!"

[Perchmonger]

My tank has alot of establish plant life in there already (Alternanthera Reineckii Var. Roseafolia, Bacopa Australis, Ludwigia Natans (Ludwigia Repens), Cryptocoryne Wendtii, Echinodorus Bleheri (Amazon Sword), Echinodorus Rubin, Sagittaria Subulata, Indian Red Sword, Kleiner Bar Sword , Echinodorus amazonicus, and just introduced jungle vals and Crinums. [beginning of this post has video]; but you think a Fahaka will rip most of this out to give himself more open areas in the substrate, also If I put him in at 2" will he be more forgiving if he has more time to explore the plant life and adapt to it. I have also put in floating plants; water lettuce,Frog Bit and Water Hyacinth and they are prolific and gives him shade from the 10 hours of light. I would love to have a heavily planted tank with a fat fahaka swimming amongst the Foliage, but you are saying it is not to be.

[Pufferpunk]

The final decision on his decor will be the fahaka himself.

[sevenyearnight]

I think you should decide if the shredded uprooted plants and dead tank mates is something you will be ok with because he will do this. It would be very unlikely (unpufferly) that he won't destroy many of the plants and kill the tank mates. Like some cichlids, they will sometimes build hills with the substrate as well.
I was super excited to see 150 dwarf puffers