The Puffer Forum

Hi im new to the forum my names si and have just got my first ever puffer,
he's a Fahaka and ive reasantly been told that they are very aggresive with age.
My mate had s/him for two years in a community aquarium, he moved house downsizing his tank and was left with the puffer 6inches and a clown knife fish 6 inches.
He brought to red bellied pirahna's which the shop keeper to my absulute desguist and suprise told him that they would be fine with his puffer and knife fish, minutes later they pirahnas had taken a chunk out of the knife fishes tail, i took them home and thats basically how i got them.
To be quite honest i was a little unsure to take them or not, as we all know puffer clown knife's are not really community fish.
They seem fine at the moment but im keeping a close eye on them both, the pufer is awesum and me and my girlfriend really have became attatched, i feed it prawns and bloodworm.
What outher food can i feed it and where to get them from?
Catch you later folks.

Read the feeding article in the puffer library.
He;s a pretty puffer, looks like he might have internal parasites though.
Also your friend had him for 2 years? He should be way bigger than 6" at 2 years. What size tank was/is he in? He'll need a 120 gallon tank, I'd look into that ASAP.

Indeed! If you've been feeding him, and his belly gets really big and round, and then is sunken/thin again by the next morning, he likely has internal parasites. I'd suggest picking up some internal parasite medication or make the home-remedy version (I believe it uses organic raw pumpkin seeds). You then soak his food in the medication/remedy and feed it to him. You should do this for 7 days (I think, might be more like 10) even if it clears up in 2-3 days (which it should). The idea there is that the parasites can lay eggs, which hatch quickly, and you want to make sure they die as well.

You should do that as quickly as possible, and the poor guy is probably hungry all the time!

At 2 years old I very much doubt he is gonna grow a lot more. his main growing years are behind him. There are 2 possibilities he's stunted or it is the dwarf Fahaka species that has been talked of. He does look in proportion though, his eyes do not look too big for his body.

If you think he has parasites a flubendazole based IP treatment is the quickest way to get rid. You can get a product called Wormer plus, a lot of the discus sites stock it. A 4 week treatment with that should clear up any IP's he may have.

Yes, the puffer library has a lot of good info on feeding like how often, what varieties and how to feed picky eaters. What you are feeding is a good start. You can try shell on mussel and oysters as well (great for the teeth). I think they like most of the shell fish from the grocery store. I would make sure the shell fish has been frozen and thawed first so nothing is passed on to the fish.

Very nice looking fish. Good luck with them and most of all enjoy your new friends!

crazedpuffer wrote:Read the feeding article in the puffer library.
He;s a pretty puffer, looks like he might have internal parasites though.
Also your friend had him for 2 years? He should be way bigger than 6" at 2 years. What size tank was/is he in? He'll need a 120 gallon tank, I'd look into that ASAP.

He was in a 2ft tank which i know is way to small, hes now in a 270ltr aquarium and i know if he does get any bigger is going to be to small aswell.
Do you think that it has stunted his growth being in such a small aquarium?

Agnate wrote:Indeed! If you've been feeding him, and his belly gets really big and round, and then is sunken/thin again by the next morning, he likely has internal parasites. I'd suggest picking up some internal parasite medication or make the home-remedy version (I believe it uses organic raw pumpkin seeds). You then soak his food in the medication/remedy and feed it to him. You should do this for 7 days (I think, might be more like 10) even if it clears up in 2-3 days (which it should). The idea there is that the parasites can lay eggs, which hatch quickly, and you want to make sure they die as well.

You should do that as quickly as possible, and the poor guy is probably hungry all the time!

His bellie doesn't really change shape at all, but i think he would eat an eat blood worms but he soon gets fed up of prawn.

thanks for your help folks and i'll check out the treatment

Ohh boy he's definitely stunted. I'd upgrade him to let him get as big as he can, otherwise you will have lots of problems. Yours seems to be more accepting of tankmates then most other fahakas though, which is a good thing!

crazedpuffer wrote:Ohh boy he's definitely stunted. I'd upgrade him to let him get as big as he can, otherwise you will have lots of problems. Yours seems to be more accepting of tankmates then most other fahakas though, which is a good thing!

If there is stunting, after 2 years he's gonna grow much more, whats done is done. He's in proportion, there is the possibility it is a dwarf from lake Turkana, either way it's not gonna get much bigger if grow at all. You cant say that he's gonna have lots of problems if he doesnt upgrade its a complete unknown. Those problems could still occur if the fish was in a 120g or a 60g.

Hilly wrote:

crazedpuffer wrote:Ohh boy he's definitely stunted. I'd upgrade him to let him get as big as he can, otherwise you will have lots of problems. Yours seems to be more accepting of tankmates then most other fahakas though, which is a good thing!

If there is stunting, after 2 years he's gonna grow much more, whats done is done. He's in proportion, there is the possibility it is a dwarf from lake Turkana, either way it's not gonna get much bigger if grow at all. You cant say that he's gonna have lots of problems if he doesnt upgrade its a complete unknown. Those problems could still occur if the fish was in a 120g or a 60g.

Yeah my mate doesn't really do things by the book as you can tell.
I hope he will be alright,what sort of problems could it have?
Also ive been looking at the feeding part of library whats vitamin water?
Ive found some freeze dried river shrimp and gamma shrimp are they any good?
where can i get shelled cockle etc?
Buying shell fish from the super market off of the fish counter is mighy expensive way of feeding your fish.
i live near the sea can i collect and freeze my own food?

Stunting can cause health problems, organs growing while the body doesnt shortening the life of the fish and causing physical deformities. I wouldnt concern yourself with this there's nothing you can do about it apart from give him clean water and a good diet. If he starts to grow then you can decide what to do from there.

Gamma foods do cockle in shell, Mussels are good, frozen section in Tesco/Asda. Youngs Prawns, the occasional whitebait or silverside but if you've got tankmates with him maybe thats not a good idea, he might get ideas on his tankmates.

Hilly wrote:Stunting can cause health problems, organs growing while the body doesnt shortening the life of the fish and causing physical deformities. I wouldnt concern yourself with this there's nothing you can do about it apart from give him clean water and a good diet. If he starts to grow then you can decide what to do from there.

Gamma foods do cockle in shell, Mussels are good, frozen section in Tesco/Asda. Youngs Prawns, the occasional whitebait or silverside but if you've got tankmates with him maybe thats not a good idea, he might get ideas on his tankmates.

So what about these freeze dried river shrimp?
Vitamin water for soaking?

freeze dried river shrimo alone arent really a good diet for him, as part of the diet yes, but the more foods the better.

Vitamins arent required, some people choose to pre-soak their food in them to give them a few more vitamins. I personally dont. Its all about personal preference on that one.

Hilly wrote:freeze dried river shrimo alone arent really a good diet for him, as part of the diet yes, but the more foods the better.

Vitamins arent required, some people choose to pre-soak their food in them to give them a few more vitamins. I personally dont. Its all about personal preference on that one.

Cool i didn't mean them to be his main diet but as part as you said.
All of my fish are fed a variety of food from lobster eggs to earth worm flake.
Thanks for your help Hilly