The Puffer Forum

I just bought a fahaka puffer. He is about 2 inches long and very healthy. The place where I bought it had him in fresh water. I have him now in a 40 gallon aquarium. When should he be transfered to a brackish environment? One of my other tanks is already brackish and has gsp's in it. If i put him in there will he eat the other gsp? if he does will he die?

Fahakas are kept in freshwater in aquaria.

Hilly wrote:Fahakas are kept in freshwater in aquaria.

should i leave it then?

Keep him in fresh, that 40 gallon will do as quarantine for a couple of months. Eventually you are going to need something in the region of 120g for him.

I thought you wanted a porc? Was the 40g cycled? Looks like you'll be buying a larger tank, huh?

The fahaka will kill any other puffer you put it with & probably most other fish too.

Pufferpunk wrote:I thought you wanted a porc? Was the 40g cycled? Looks like you'll be buying a larger tank, huh?

The fahaka will kill any other puffer you put it with & probably most other fish too.

I still want a porcupine puffer. I went back to the fish place today and they told me that it died. . I wasnt ready for it anyways. they told me they will get a new shipment of porcupine and dog face puffers in the next 2 wks. the 100 gallon tank I have now is still cycling with live rock. the 40 gallon tank I have my fahaka in now is cycled. I did a water test yesterday. I thought the 40 gallon tank would be big enough for the fahaka but I guess I was wrong. Im going back to the fish store in the next couple of wks to not only get the porcupine but buy a larger tank for the fahaka. I just put a feeder golf fish in the fahaka tank just to see what happens and he got eattened so fast. I should have taped it. next time I will. Do you know how long it takes for it to grow? Its kinda small right now. almost the same size of my figure 8's

It won't grow much at all if you fill it up with parasites and pathogens from feeder fish. And it may well get fatty liver disease from the composition of feeders golds.

Please slow down & research what you are buying before you get it. How did you cycle that 40g so fast?

Pufferpunk wrote:Please slow down & research what you are buying before you get it. How did you cycle that 40g so fast?

I took 3 weeks or so to cycle that 40 gallon. I used some water from my exsisting fresh water tank and added it into the 40 gallon to help the process, I also used a filter cartage from my other tank that has alot of that good bacteria. and used this item called "multi-purpose bio support" from big als ( the place where i by my fish from) on the bottle it says that it has 300 million live bacteria per teaspoonful, use to set up and maintain a fresh water aquarium, helps eliminate toxic ammonia and nitrite, helps clean a dirty aquarium

Nick wrote:It won't grow much at all if you fill it up with parasites and pathogens from feeder fish. And it may well get fatty liver disease from the composition of feeders golds.

I just feed it once because just wanted to see what will happen. I feed my puffers normally alot of snails, cut up shrimp, blood worms once in a while, I also bought 10 feeder crayfish but i think they are too big for him now. cray fish are about 2-3 inches long. they are in a 10 gallon tank with rosy red minnows that i feed my silver gar with.

I'd keep a really close eye on the parameters of that tank then. It's probably not cycled at all.

Pufferpunk wrote:I'd keep a really close eye on the parameters of that tank then. It's probably not cycled at all.

Ill do another water test in the next 3 days and keep you updated of any changes.
the specs of the last time I did a water test is

temp 79
ammonia 0
no2 nitrite 0
no3 nitrate 20
ph 7.5
kh carbonate hardness 180
gh general hardness 0

test kits used: APi 5 in 1 aquarium test strips for fresh water and saltwater aquariums and API freshwater ammonia test kit

Pufferpunk wrote:Please slow down & research what you are buying before you get it. How did you cycle that 40g so fast?

I didnt buy that porcupine puffer. I told them to hold if for me for another 2-3 weeks until my tank is done cycling. I am really good friends with the manager so they said it was cool. I was in town and just wanted to check up on it and they told me that it died. Either that or they sold it.

Should I put plants in the aquarium? Any suggestions on what kind?

I would return the puffer until you have a properly cycled tank. Please do more research on your purchases, housing, cycling before you buy them!