finally got a fahaka

[we_tigers]

I do want to get him on dead food, but I'm just having zero luck so far.
The feeder guppies are going at them, but not the puff.

I think I want to feed him all the worms left once a day,
then get a skewer to tease him with.. and hopefully he will fall for it soon.

Just don't want to keep him hungry for more than it should take, plus I just got him eating for the first time so you know it's a tricky situation.
But I do think that the sooner I get him on dead food, the better it will be for both of us in the long run.

Wish my luck, haha

I find Fahakas get moody quite often (like little kids).. I was gone for 5 weeks once and when I came back he gave me the coldest* cold shoulder ever for about 8 days. He didn't eat for that entire time as well. But mine can see the fridge, follows me along the glass to the fridge then splashes water all over the place (no cover on tank). Which wasn't good for the Giant Danios I tried to keep with him, 6/9 were supper over the course of 4 days and the other 3 thought they were flying fish...
When mine was 5" I fed him scallops! His colors gleamed but now he wont touch em with a 10 foot pole! He hates them! Ive tried garlic soaking my food as well but he rathers it frozen.
Try find some baby crayfish! Big Als in Mississauga usually have a slew of them, for mine they are bite size! It's his teat though!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5S6txXREx9M <--- A little bit of action, He had already eaten a crayfish before that so it took him a bit.

I suggest picking up feeder guppies, I try to keep 30-40 in my tank at all times. I haven't taken my fata$$s house out since last October! They clean the tank spotless and the only LIVE plant that I've managed to keep with my fahaka is a Moss Ball.. He pushes it around with his nose and the *fake* bamboo I got in my tank works rather well as a chew toy!

By the way where did you get your ramshorn snails from?

*Cheers* & Hope all goes well!

Hey I enjoyed the video, you have a nice fahaka, I hope mine gets to that size soon.
I ran out of worms last friday, he has been starving until this morning when he ate a garlic soaked silverside. I was very happy to see that.
I have 5 more soaking/thawing out in my fridge at the moment as I figure he will be hungry after the little fasting.

I do have feeder guppies in there, 4 of them has disappeared so far, but the rest of them are still cleaning after the mess.

I have heard that krill is actually bad for puffers around here, and he seems to completely ignore them... why did I get the big jar? %#@&!

I get the apple snails from menagerie pet shop in toronto, it's like 5 minutes away from my place and they are nice, and extra nice if you become a regular.
My parents live in mississauga so I might go pick up some crayfish when I go visit them this summer.
I think I should look into the seafood medley package sometime soon..

Thanks a bunch and it's nice to see a GTAer around

[Nick]

Cleanest possible kill on a cray, took out the entire head/brain in one bite. Good that you don't have to see them suffer. Mine never did that, and when I had to feed crays during a snail outage, mine ate the head last, so I had to cut through it and smash the brain before feeding them to keep the horror to a minimum. Didn't like having to do that, a cray was my first pet as a child.

[ACF]

Thanks we_tigers!
I tried to feed fata$$ worms but he just kind looked at them funny and swam away...? I dump a few krill in the tank every once in a blue moon... keeps his vision sharp! Today I'm going to do some roaming around and stop by menagerie pet shop and grab some snails. Ive never actually heard of the place.
I would definitly look into the seafood medley, thats basically my fahakas diet and the crayfish treat offcourse.
I was gonna say in my last post that itsnice to see a gta'r with a fahaka as well. I was beginning to wonder if im the only one in the city with one. Ive never actually seen one in the lfs other than mine.
*cheers* perhaps we'll have to shoot by eachothers fish tanks one day LoL!

[ACF]

Cleanest possible kill on a cray, took out the entire head/brain in one bite. Good that you don't have to see them suffer. Mine never did that, and when I had to feed crays during a snail outage, mine ate the head last, so I had to cut through it and smash the brain before feeding them to keep the horror to a minimum. Didn't like having to do that, a cray was my first pet as a child.

Mine use to go for the tail first when he was younger, or mid body but now he just devours head to tail! He scared me once ages ago, crayfish almost took out his eye, long long time ago but all was good! I actually started breaking the crays claws before i gave em to him but now he's just viscous and .. ahh im not worried LOL!
My first pet was a big eyed black something or other fish..? No idea? and i use to catch crayfish in the local retention pond and creeks!

[ACF]

We_Tigers..
I went for a joyride today to menagerie pet shop and a girl there said they use to be the snail outlet center but 6 or 7 months ago they cleaned out everything and there is NO more what so ever. They told me it was bad.. Like cockroaches! So there is no more Can't seem to find any LFS that has apple or ramshorn.. Well I have come across apple but they usually arent cheap.

[we_tigers]

We_Tigers..
I went for a joyride today to menagerie pet shop and a girl there said they use to be the snail outlet center but 6 or 7 months ago they cleaned out everything and there is NO more what so ever. They told me it was bad.. Like cockroaches! So there is no more Can't seem to find any LFS that has apple or ramshorn.. Well I have come across apple but they usually arent cheap.

They have apple snails there in between the fish and reptile section where they keep turtles..
Expensive though...

[ACF]

Yeap she showed me them 1.99$ a piece... as much as I like to keep fata$$ happy, thats SO not worth it!

I think I just have to drive down to a friends place near the lake in Niagra. In the morning dew theres a million snails crawling all over his house and yard. I grabbed a bunch last year but they would NOT sink and if and when they did they just found their way out of the tank so I dunno? LoL
I had picked some up @ a chinese market as well last year in a sac and omg A: I couldnt even break em with a hammer B: If you did manage to break em they wreaked something god awe-full! :S

[Nick]

I have gotten Chinatown snails, you have to put them in a tank of salt water and give them a few days to sort the living from the dead before trying to feed them. The stink is their damaged shell points - the weaker young section of shell inevitably gets smashed the way they throw them around on the boat. Some die from it, but most are just injured, and carrying around a tiny rotting bit of flesh on their backs.

[ACF]

Thats why they wreak! Salt water?

[Nick]

Yea, they're marine snails, that's how they can get such hard, thick shells - tons of bioavailable calcium in the ocean.

[ACF]

Huh so they are probably useless for a fahaka? I mean i could barely break em with a hammer!! How do asians eat these things?!!? LOL!

[Nick]

They fry them in oil, garlic, and ginger, pull them out of the shell(apparently the rotty bit stays stuck in the back of the shell where the permanent attachment is) and dip them in sauce, is what the guy I bought mine off said he did. Then I told him I was going to feed them to my blowfish, and he couldn't stop laughing.

I fed them to my puffers using the "hammertime" technique I have previously mentioned, only I would use a small pocket knife to cut off any stinky tail poking out the broken part of the shell, first. Snails are even better for hammertime than mussels and clams becuase the shell is attached better, they have to chew trough quite a bit and keep getting chunks of shell in the way throughout the meal.

[ACF]

Huh maybe ill try this... I have NO luck with snails! And fata$$ LOVES them!

[we_tigers]

Just a little update.

My fahaka is measuring at 6.5" now, I do believe that it's a pretty good growth rate.
After he finished a pack of silversides, it took me a day and a half of starvation to start eating seafood medley.
Still will not touch krill at all.

Also put in a pair of crayfish the other week, killed and ate both in less than an hour.

[we_tigers]

Forgot to mention that he seems to prefer frozen over thawed out.