The Puffer Forum

He's not with the SAP now, is he? I'm afraid the bioload of this puffer will wind up poisoning him in the tank he's in now. I surely wouldn't return him but if you can get him healthy, give him to a more caring, reputable shop.

Just curious--if you couldn't house the fahaka, what made you think you could house a mbu?

No i didn't want to risk putting him in with SAP till i knew what he was. It was a rush by i'd been planning to get one when i had upgraded my tank at the end of the year, but seeing how ill the puffer was i got it because i hate to see a fish as intelligent as that suffering it wasn't fair (not would it be fair to any fish!). The plan was to get it home and healthy then decide to move ahead of schedule and get a bigger tank ASAP or find him a more suitable home. I would never knowingly keep a fish in a damaging environment any longer than it needed to be. I take my fish keeping very seriously and while i may lack experience (i've only been doing this a year) keep my water well maintained and my fish have a healthy and varied diet.

Newbiepufferowner wrote:No i didn't want to risk putting him in with SAP till i knew what he was. It was a rush by i'd been planning to get one when i had upgraded my tank at the end of the year, but seeing how ill the puffer was i got it because i hate to see a fish as intelligent as that suffering it wasn't fair (not would it be fair to any fish!). The plan was to get it home and healthy then decide to move ahead of schedule and get a bigger tank ASAP or find him a more suitable home. I would never knowingly keep a fish in a damaging environment any longer than it needed to be. I take my fish keeping very seriously and while i may lack experience (i've only been doing this a year) keep my water well maintained and my fish have a healthy and varied diet.

To be honest with you your not putting your other fish in a very good environment. Fahakas are EXTREMELY aggressive and you're going to end up with no fish besides him. I can almost bet on it that it'll happen. The only reason he probably has not yet is because he's still getting settled in. Give him a couple weeks and he'll be a little terror. Bottom line is you either need to have a species only tank or find someone who can provide that. Unless of course you want to get rid of the rest of your stock that is

Effectively you have no time. Fish are easily stunted, and it is exactly t for that reason that so many hobby fishes are stunted. The common plan to move a fish up as it "needs" it is extremely common, and is basically wrong. Fish ned full adult volume immediately or they will not grow to full size and health.

My own Fahakas went from QT tanks directly into their adult tanks immediately and all grew well and normally.

I believe this badboy has been rehomed

Yes he has, we donated him to our local fish shop who we trust, after another fiasco with the original fish shop who admitted that they had known he was not a Mbu and that if we returned him he would be placed back on sale as a Mbu.
We have reported them to traiding standards, and reported them for the poor qualoity of care the fish had recieved. what was most appauling was that the employees of the fish shop admitted they he had been in very poor condition and appeared much better and then tried to refuse to let us leave the shop with him as we had given the manager "greif"!