The Puffer Forum

As some of you may know, I have an 8 year old fahaka puffer named, Filbert.

You may also know, he is one of the very few that has allowed tank mates to live with him. Yes, he has bitten the occasional fin but his tank has several exotic, expensive, slow-moving fish & he usually is the one getting chased out of his cave by someone. Even though, everyone needs their own territory & the tank has to be large enough. My 1st attempt with tankmates was at 5" & he was moved to a 55g with 2 plecos & a softshell turtle. Within 2 days, the whole back rim of the turtle's shell was scallopped, so the turtle was moved.

He now lives in a 125g with:
12" Goldspot pleco
6" sailfin pleco
10" Yellow-finned chalcius
2 7" Clown loaches
9" Lancer catfish
5" Bosmani rainbow (killed last week)
7" Frontosa
8" & 9" Elephant noses (18 years old)
12” Black Ghost Knife

I came home from a week's vacation to find my 10 year old Bosmani rainbow missing about 1/3 of his back end & his head. The guy taking care of my tanks said it was alive the day before I came home. I chalked it up to old age & the large plecos eating his remains. About a year ago, Filbert took a bite out of his belly but it had healed & he seemed to be fine.

Today, my stepdaughter brought me her very large parrot cichlid. I've never seen one so big, it had to be about 6+" from head to tail. He seemed very friendly towards the other fish & Filbert completely ignored him, even when the fish went into his cave. I went out for the evening & checked the tank with the flashlight when I got home, to see how he was doing & where he chose to sleep. I knew something was wrong when I saw the Goldspot pleco sitting on top of this bright orange fish. He was dead--missing both his eyes & his entire tail & the pleco was eating his side.

There have been other times, where Filbert just didn't like certain fish in his tank. I had a EBJD that I grew from a 1" fish, that suddenly he started picking on & by the time I finally got the fish out of there, it was too late, it didn't make it:



My concern is whether this is just another example of him not liking one of his tank mates or is this the beginning of a killing rampage? I know you guys probably don't have answers for me & I really don't wwant to find another home for Filbert. I've had him for about 7 years now. I also don't have another tank for him or the other fish he's in with.

What I really need help with is--what do I tell my stepdaughter??? She's an adult & knew Filbert was a potential killer but she also really seemed to love this fish. She was so happy to see it liking the other fish & them liking him (they were actually rubbing on him) & was happy to see Filbert ignoring him.

Wow that stinks. I don't think he's becoming a killer, I think he just didn't like the tankmates.
As for what to tell your step daughter, maybe you should tell her what you told us?

It's possible that the other fish may have nipped at him the wrong way and he got tired of it. Or maybe he decided that he didn't like them anymore. I don't think he is a blood thirsty killer but I do think this won't be the last time something like his happens.

Well, I called & told her. I think she was sniffling a little but said it's not like it was her dog or anything. I kept telling her I was sorry. I asked her if she wanted to bury him & she said no (he's in my freezer). At least she's still talking to me.

Hoping for the best.... As always, keep a close eye out for anything wrong in the tank, especially now. If worse comes to worse, have a plan B.

The only plan B would be to bring everyone to the LFS or bring Filbert there. I guess if he starts killing the others, someone will have to go.

Puffers or any of the aggressive fish are so unpredictable. It is scary how if you have them in a tank with other fish, they seem to get along with their tank mates (like mine act lovey dovey almost all the time but...they have been capable of hurting one another) but you always know there is a chance hell can break loose but you hope for the best. It's really hard to say for sure what happened.

Sorry about yours and your step daughter's losses.

Thanks, let's hope I don't lose any more... Hopefully, Filbet is happy with the balance of fish in there.

StormySkiez wrote:Puffers or any of the aggressive fish are so unpredictable. It is scary how if you have them in a tank with other fish, they seem to get along with their tank mates (like mine act lovey dovey almost all the time but...they have been capable of hurting one another) but you always know there is a chance hell can break loose but you hope for the best. It's really hard to say for sure what happened.

^Agreed. Although puffers are unpredictable at first, they usually stay the same temperment. The bad thing about fahakas is that it only takes one bite to lose a finger, or, in this case, a fin. So, if they DO decide to change temperment, or kill somebody, it takes less time than, say, a DP.

Personally, I don't understand why this fish died, unless it was a heart attack from being attacked. All it was missing was it's tail & eyeballs. Filbert bit another fish in the gut (pretty big chunk too) & it lived another 2 years, untill he finally ate it (the Bosmani).

My experience with parrots is that they're prone to stress more and more so as they get bigger and their bodies more deformed. We had one just over 5" without tail in the aggressive tank with some of our other large fish at the pet store where I work, and a dempsey much smaller than him kept chasing him and poking at his tail, he died with his tail still on, just shredded a bit, from the stress. I'd say the eyeballs weren't picked out, they were just the first thing scavenged.

I was thinking the same thing about the eyes. That pleco is close to a foot long. I wonder if fish have heart attacks?

That's really what I think got our huge parrot. With how distorted their bodies are, large ones are probably prone to their hearts being under a lot of strain. Fish don't have 4 chambered hearts, and aren't prone to arterial buildups like humans are, but I still can't think of any reason why they couldn't be stressed into it.

Are you sure Filbert removed the eyeballs and not the Frontosa? We've seen fin and body nipping from our Fahaka, Loki, but not any Cichlid-style eyeball sucking.

We've tried a few different fish, everything from aggressive to armored to fast and timid, with our 9" Fahaka, who we were told was raised around Cichlids. After days, weeks, or even months of everything seeming ok, the other fish end up missing fins or chunks, but only at night when we aren't around. The only exception has been an electric catfish (also a native Nile resident), and they've each pretty much adopted different ends of the tank and go out of their way to ignore each other. Strangely enough, we had to return a 10" pleco because it scared the Fahaka when it swam.

My experience is that Puffers goes after the eyes with vigour in order to sustain fatal damage on the victim.
Seen it with done by both Abeis and GSPs.

I certainly hope that Filbert is merely tasting life around him, but I would not count on it.
My Fahaka did in a LARGE Pleco after 1 year of peaceful co-existence.

Btw, I had to relocate a batch of Odessa-barbs from a community tank.
They killed off some beautiful dwarf-chiclids and I had enough...

They was moved into my Fahaka tank and that proved successful.
My Fahaka is somewhat sizeable and the tank is heavily decorated.
Little buggers to fast for "Babe" to get her beak onto.
Went out and bought a batch of Tiger-barbs as well.
Works nicely so far. Good to see some additional (expendable) life in the tank.