The Puffer Forum

I know fahaka is a freshwater puffer but I read on some website that they can take salinity of fresh to brackish. Is it true? If some how much brackish can it take?

Any fish species can tolerate different salinities if only for a while but it doesnt mean they should be forced to .

I do believe that is an inaccurate statement though as most uneducated people believe most puffers to inhabit saltwater.

They come from the Nile River (hence thr name" Nile puffer") & there is no salt in that river at all.

Apparently they sometimes occur in the river mouths, where brackish water is found. Most T. lineatus however will probably never exerience salt. I'd keep them in freshwater.

I have found when I've gone to buy puffers that most of the people working at the shop say they need to be in brackish water. I tried telling one guy that there's more freshwater puffers than brackish water ones and he just looked at me as if I had said something silly. I think it's a common misconception about puffers. People don't bother to find out they just hear something and on goes the rumour. I believe puffers are a very misunderstood fish.

schismy007 wrote:I have found when I've gone to buy puffers that most of the people working at the shop say they need to be in brackish water. I tried telling one guy that there's more freshwater puffers than brackish water ones and he just looked at me as if I had said something silly. I think it's a common misconception about puffers. People don't bother to find out they just hear something and on goes the rumour. I believe puffers are a very misunderstood fish.

not many people misunderstand them here i would not like to imagine how many accumilate puffer keeping years the members on this site have. I would be safe to say absolutly anything you want to know about puffers will be known by a regular on this site

I wasn't talking about this site, I meant the general public, and some of the chain stores that sell fish. Obviously people on here know what they are talking about because they take the time to educate themselves, but I don't think that can be said for the general public as a whole.

I think people over all are just too lazy to do research themselves and would trust the LFS they buy their stuff from which is what causes the problems, i mean think about it this way; when your a complete noob to fish keeping your most likely going to take what the LFS says as they are meant to be the pro's in the industry and technically speaking have no reason to steer you wrong... just my 0.2 cents...