The Puffer Forum

I'm a big fan of saps and i found a dealer that is selling for on aquibid. I would really like them but my 55g comm tanks is full.

So my options are to:

1. 4 saps plus the one in my community tank and put them in with the fahaka
2. take out fish from my community tank and put them in with the fahaka to make room for the saps

I was planning on taking out my 3 danios and my 5 silver tip tetras and putting those in with the fahaka. The reason for this is that they tend to stay toward the top of the water and I have 2- 1/2" feeder fish in with the fahaka now and they have been there for three weeks now with no problems. I was thinking that maybe the smaller the better??? I have one platy and one molly that i could take out to. The molly would go in with my gsps and the platy in with the fahaka. I think the platy would go though because of the color. With the previous tankmate trial he attacked the colorful fish first and then he waited for the plain darker fish later. With those 10 fish out of the comunity tank i think that would make room for the saps. Then I would have an almost completely puffer community tank!!!

What are some of your ideas to my crazy idea. I don't know if fahakas are more agressive towards other puffers than they are to other fish in general.

Absolutely no puffers with the fahaka! I read they hate other puffers. You also also taking a risk with any of your other fish, that they could wind up as dinner at any time but it's your risk. I have lots of fish with my fahaka but within 6 hours of adding my stepdaughter's large, precious parrot cichlid, it was dead & missing it's tail.

apachepufferman wrote:What are some of your ideas to my crazy idea. I don't know if fahakas are more agressive towards other puffers than they are to other fish in general.

They are, it won't work. A fahaka will rip apart an SAP in no time.

How big is your fahaka? If you are gonna keep him with anything, try to keep it with really fast and/or smart fish. Bigger dither fish work best (although fahakas really work best alone). Don't do anything that would endanger any of your fish without a backup plan.

the fahaka is 3-4" after i wrote this i was really liking the idea of a school of saps in my community. I would have 5 dp and 5 saps and i think that would be really cool.

My reasoning for the little fish was that i already have 2 little feeders that he has left alone and the danios are fast and usually always at the top level of the tank and the tetras are quick to. How big are your barbs groovitudude? I have tiger barbs and marble barbs in my community that I could possible move over instead. I think I remember you saying your fahaka is a little guy to right now. So I was just wondering what your plans were for them.

apachepufferman wrote:How big are your barbs groovitudude? I have tiger barbs and marble barbs in my community that I could possible move over instead. I think I remember you saying your fahaka is a little guy to right now. So I was just wondering what your plans were for them.

My plans are to keep the fahaka in my 100G until I get a bigger tank. He's only about 4'' right now. My tinfoils are easily 2 times the length and three times the size of the fahaka. The barbs themselves are very hardy and eat like pigs. My main goal right now is to get the other fish out of my 100G and into a bigger tank before the fahaka gets too mean. I'm still job searching and planning.

well i purchased the saps today and a guy i work with said he would love to have the danios and the tetras. To bad really cause I do think that the Silver tip tetras are really neat. But the Saps are even neater(is that a word???) I will have a scholl of dps and a school of saps!!! I don't look forward to the teeth trimming but thats what saps will do.

back to the fahaka now. I think that when i upgrade to my 120g i will stock with some bigger fish first and then add the fahaka later. My reasoning is that maybe he won't consider the whole tank his territory and be ok with some mates. He was first into to his 55g and so i think that he made the whole tank his domain.

apachepufferman wrote:back to the fahaka now. I think that when i upgrade to my 120g i will stock with some bigger fish first and then add the fahaka later. My reasoning is that maybe he won't consider the whole tank his territory and be ok with some mates. He was first into to his 55g and so i think that he made the whole tank his domain.

What bigger fish do you have in mind? I do not reccommend keeping a fahaka with tankmates.

i wouldn't recomend it either but that big of a tank makes me wanna try *pout* ....I mean thats a BIG tank... he just needs to learn how to share! haha Puff are smart maybe i just need to have a talk with him. lol I got jokes tonight.

Puffers are about as good at sharing as scrooge.

haha....i know everyones points in this string is valid i'm just being a little stuborn. If it was someone elses string i would be saying the same thing as you guys are. So i most likely won't do it. In the wild they have to live around other fish somewhat so I just figured that you could do it in a tank to. Maybe in a 240g tank i could probably get away with tankmates at somepoint it would have to work.

apachepufferman wrote:Maybe in a 240g tank i could probably get away with tankmates at somepoint it would have to work.

If it's a smaller puffer, you might be able to get away with it. Nothing can escape a fahaka in a 240G.

well this guy dmuratov wrote about keeping 8 mature fahakas in one 240 for breeding in this string: viewtopic.php?f=40&t=2640 .

thats were i got the real idea that the bigger the tank the less territorial they would be about the whole tank. I mean if this guy could keep 8 in one tank then i should be able to keep one with other fish i would imagine.

I suppose if you want to go out and get 8 fahakas, it might work.... In a tank with just one fahaka, there will only be one dominant fahaka.

no no no no

I have successfully bred fahakas and the ydont like there own species! let alone others!

IF you MUST mix fahaka with any other fish defenatly not danios!

I had joy with exodins and serpae tetras with Fahakas previosuly as they were just too fast for him. But the fahaka soon learnt to fan his tail and trap them in the corner!

Don not mix puffers with any other species unless you have to. There are few exceptions to this rule main being a Mbu. The small east asian and s american puffers tend to be nippers this is a issue. The cross river puffer has a good temprement but they are very very costly

Wouldn't the exos bite at the puffer when he's at rest? I hear they're quite toothy.