The Puffer Forum

I went and got my fahaka last week , he is for the moment in a 112L tank and he can eat as many snails as he want in that tank he is around 5-7 cm.. The thing is that i he is mostly hiding, i have seen him hunt a shrimp and eat a snail but never the frosend food i give him.

Are the hiding more when they are little? And how can i get him to eat fresend food? Cant feed him whit shrimps all the time

(He will move to a bigger tank so dont worry)

Check out the feeding article in our Library. Are you sure he has lots of places to hide out in? Believe it or not--fish that have a lot of cover to retreat to, tend to hang out in the open more.

Making the tank feel "secure" is very important. If he's hiding a lot, cover up the two sides of the tank with black bristle board to make him feel more secure. The back of the tank should already be covered up, so if its not, you'll want to do that.

If you can't get that, I just use black construction paper and it works just fine.

Hi! Tnx for all the answers! The tank he will move to when he is bigger has a painted backside. I will hang a black t-shirt on the backside now and hope that will work. I dropped a apple snail right in front of his eyes, and the fahaka eat it very fast =) So thats good =)

Pufferpunk, i will read in the library, to bad i am not so good in English

No worries, Putte! If we aren't making sense to you, just let us know and we will try to say it differently.

As long as he's eating, it's usually a good sign. Have you tried deworming (treating him for internal parasites) yet? If not, you might want to look into that.

Agnate wrote:No worries, Putte! If we aren't making sense to you, just let us know and we will try to say it differently.

As long as he's eating, it's usually a good sign. Have you tried deworming (treating him for internal parasites) yet? If not, you might want to look into that.

Nice to know you will back me up

Now i haven't tried to treating him for internal parasites.. How do i do that? When i got in Sweden he lived in a tank for some time to make shore that he is healthy. but its not that?

I want to know how i can get him to eat frozen food? any idés?

He is more active now then what he was before i put a black background on the tank. But still i want him to learn to eat frozen food, what food do you think is the best?

I have tried to feed him whit larvae from mosquito ( is that what you call bloodworm?) But he is not interested even if other fish are eating it. He does not seem to be very interested in snails or shrimps, but i can tell that the number of snails is less then before he got here so he must be eating them.

It sounds like he just needs to settle in a little more. Try soaking his food in garlic before offering it to him, especially the shrimp, maybe 30 minutes. Drop it in the tank, shut the lights off, and walk away for a while. He may be being shy about eating in front of you.

Dadof4 wrote:It sounds like he just needs to settle in a little more. Try soaking his food in garlic before offering it to him, especially the shrimp, maybe 30 minutes. Drop it in the tank, shut the lights off, and walk away for a while. He may be being shy about eating in front of you.

ok.. Do i take some garlic and putt it in a glass of water whit the shrimp? i reed about that garlic will help the puffer to get interested in frozen food. so it must be a good way =)

The puffer is now very active and is swimming around the tank and looking for snails =) He eats the snails when i drop them in the tank and that must be good because he is learning that i bring him food.

Tnx for the help =)

The way i found easiest is to thaw the shrimp with tank water, rinse, gently pat dry and then just add to a small dish or glass with a crushed garlic clove.

My fahaka went a week before eating when I first got him. You can try some mussel and see if he eats it. Or even some crayfish. Sometimes the thrill of the hunt is all they need to get them motivated.

Ok, garlic is the sh*t!!:P Mixed some shrimps whit garlic today and he eat it =)

Tnx for all the help!

Good news!!

wish mine would eat!!!!!