The Puffer Forum

I have a 110 gallon tank that I'm looking to add a new fish to, and I've really been thinking of a fahaka. My LFS just so happens to have one in right now, so I need to know what their requirements are. Right now the fahaka is around 3". The current tank mates are a common pleco, 2 geophagus suranemensis, 4 severums, and 3 uarus. I know that eventually the fahaka will probably encourage me to remove these fish, but will they bother the puffer too much at this point? What temperature do they require? pH? Nitrates? I only have one small and one large piece of driftwood in the tank right now, and no plants. Do they need more cover than this? I'd really like to get this puffer, but I don't want to stress it out too much, or have it die within a week.

I'm new to the forum, so expect other questions in other areas about different kinds of puffers...

That fahaka will take chunks out of those fish. My friend's 4" fahaka bit an 8" pleco in half.

But will the larger fish bother the fahaka? I would be getting this fish knowing that it would eventually be the only fish in the tank (one way or another...). How sensitive are fahakas to ph, hardness, nitrates, etc?

PH and hardness should be consistent, rather than any specific value. Like most puffers they have terrible tolerance for nitrates, especially over time, and 50% or more weekly water changes should be used to keep them as low as possible, preferably under 20ppm.

Chaz wrote:But will the larger fish bother the fahaka?

Sounds like the fahaka will do the damage.

Check out their profile in the TPF library here: ug.php/v/PufferPedia/Freshwater/T_Lineatus/

Chaz wrote:But will the larger fish bother the fahaka?

Yes, in my experience. Believe it or not, my fahaka isn't really tough enough to stand up to my 9.5'' Leporinus. The other fish have definately become more aware. They don't do well with fish with long fins and they get meaner as they get older. If it is possible to avoid keeping them with tankmates, do that. They are sneaky little fellows.

my 3" fahaka takes out fish he doesn't care about size he knows how strong his teeth are and he uses them to bite holes in fish. there are two fish he leaves alone one is the eel (it just stays burried) and the red tail shark and thats cause I intervened one day before he got him and has left him alone since but he has dove into the rocks once after the eel. He missed luckly. But there are some people on here who have found a fahaka that seems nice to some fish ie.. pufferpunk; read her story on filbert in the giant species forum.

So you can always just take your chances but consider how attached you are to the fish that you have now. Good luck.

apachepufferman wrote:there are some people on here who have found a fahaka that seems nice to some fish

Yeah, my fahaka never even looks at my fire eel. Maybe he scares him or something.

It's not so much that I'm really concerned with the other fish getting eaten... I know that sounds harsh, but, while I like these fish, I see them as more "secondary" fish, and if things get too rough for them, I'll just move them to a new home. I'm more concerned with the larger fish bullying the fahaka or scaring him into not coming out. I just don't want to get him, and he dies. If he lives long enough to eat all the other fish in the tank, I'll be happy.

Chaz wrote:It's not so much that I'm really concerned with the other fish getting eaten... I know that sounds harsh, but, while I like these fish, I see them as more "secondary" fish, and if things get too rough for them, I'll just move them to a new home. I'm more concerned with the larger fish bullying the fahaka or scaring him into not coming out. I just don't want to get him, and he dies. If he lives long enough to eat all the other fish in the tank, I'll be happy.

Would you move the other fish if he eats one?

Every fish in your tank is a living being & needs to be treated as just that. One fish isn't more important than the other. Find another home for your other fish before adding the fahaka to that tank.

Pufferpunk wrote:Every fish in your tank is a living being & needs to be treated as just that. One fish isn't more important than the other. Find another home for your other fish before adding the fahaka to that tank.

Agreed. If my fahaka injured any of my fish, I would move him out immediately because that is the responsible thing to do.

I really felt terrible when my fahaka was the cause of my Stepdaughter's pattotfish's demise. Neither of us expected this, since he seems to ignore (or just slightly nip) the others.

Pufferpunk wrote:I really felt terrible when my fahaka was the cause of my Stepdaughter's pattotfish's demise. Neither of us expected this, since he seems to ignore (or just slightly nip) the others.

Yeah, keep in mind that fahakas (mainly larger ones) can wipe out a whole tank in one night.

I have no plans of letting the fahaka (who would be only 3" or so) kill everything in the tank. If any fish was injured more than just fin nipping, or even if it seemed that the fish were too stressed, I would relocate every other fish in the tank. I once tried a 3" oscar with this group of fish, and when the fish started being less agressive at feeding time and never coming out otherwise out of fear of being bullied by the oscar, I took the oscar to the LFS after three weeks. I have no desire to see any of my fish hurt in anyway, but I also don't want to see nothing but a single 3 inch fish in a 110. My only other option at this point is to start the fahaka out in a 20H, but how long could a quickly growing fahaka last in a tank like that?