The Puffer Forum

A beautiful Fahaka you have there! I envy you!

That catfish has the face of a young common pleco, and not an Ancistrus (don't trust LFSs on identification). Ancistruses has a more soft nose, which is also more flat than the common pleco's nose. You can also see the difference on the fish's sides, where the common pleco has those three stripes in its armour along its sides, where the ancistrus lack that.

I can't, but PufferPunk can. Yah, sure he is, ha ha. His tail fin looks pretty rough. You know that's a common, which can get over a foot, right?

People have a misunderstanding of cycling with fish & the biooad they create. If you take 3 fish to cycle a tank, when you add the 4th, the tank has to cycle more (4th fish create ammonia which is not broken down by bacteria because it isn't there yet). If fish are used for cycling (or just used to hold the bacteria in check), there is only enough bacteria to support those fish. They must be removed when you add the puffer & then there is enough bacteria in there to support the puffer. This is why fishless cycling/cycling with ammonia is the best method you can use, because there is enough bacteria to support a fully stocked tank if done correctly.

But I ofcourse didn't start my cycle without cheating a bit and adding a bacteria colony on the first day. Rest a sure I have checked all water values before getting Master Yoda. No ammonia or NO3/NO2 was present when Yoda arrived and also the pH and temperature was (and still is) perfect.

@ Troender: He looks a lot like that one in the back in that common pleco picture you posted. Not sure what the LFS told me it was. But if you say it's a catfish I will have to take your word for it as I am new to the fishscene.


Edit: Remembered the dutch name he gave. And translated it to english... guess what! It's a catfish! lol! Thanks for clearing that up Toenders

I like your new photos, they are very good. He certainly is a cute little Fahaka!

Catfishes is a very large group of fishes, that includes suckermouth catfishes (ancistruses, plecos e.a. So an ancistrus is also a catfish), corydoras, synodontis and so on. It includes extremely many kinds of fishes. All though your fish is pale (probably because of the stress. Plecos, and ancistruses too, change color according to their mood and their surroundings), I think I see the pattern that common plecos have in his face. They have a brainlike pattern. How big is he? I would guess you have a very young one. They don't have as solid color as the grown ups have.

Troender wrote:How big is he?

He is currently about 6-7cm More or less the same size as Master Yoda. Altho Yoda is growing a lot faster, lol.

Yes, he is small enough to not have adult colors yet then. He will get more solid colors when he grows. BTW, those common plecos grow pretty fast too, but not as fast as a Fahaka.

Hard to catch aswell... been trying to sneak up to him with a net but he always shoots away. Think he does not want to be saved lol

I know. I couldn't even get one out of the bag when mine came. I just ended up dumping all the water in.

My fahaka never really got those nice, bright adult stripes.

Is that about a 100 gallon tank? Maybe 120?

150g actually.....it is 63" wide and 23" high en deep (570liter 160x60x60cm)

Your puffer and tank are gorgeous! I'm inspired.

KorrepZ wrote:150g actually.....it is 63" wide and 23" high en deep (570liter 160x60x60cm)

Nice. I'd love that for a single stars n stripes. Yours is nice- decorated, long, and I'm sure Master Yoda loves it.