The Puffer Forum

I have been lurking on this forum for about two months and I purchased a fahaka about 1 month ago.

My primary questing is he is currently 4" and in a 30 gallon aquarium. I am able to do some trade work for a 130 gallon tank. Will these tank dimensions work? They are 72"x18"x24" I am assuming the 18" is the depth but i have not seen the tank yet. Is this good enough? I read the deeper (as in distance from front to back)the better for a better turing radius. will 18" be sufficiant.

Another queston involves ip's. The first week i had him i noticed two different times white stringy poo. but I have not seen this in the last 3 weeks. should i treat still treat him or wait for more symptoms? I am waiting for some ultra cure px to arrive in the mail. His stomach only looks lslightly lumpy if it is full. the fuller it is the lumpier it gets. but i would not consider it bad or very noticible.

Thanks

Most puffers that come in do so with IPs already. It would be a good idea to treat him I think. One of the memebers who have been on here longer could tell you exactly how to treat him. As for the tank 130gallons is sufficient but I would get him in there asap. 30 gallons is really too small.

That's good news about the tank. And thanks for the reply

I plan on getting him transferred over as soon as I get his ick taken care of. Its been almost a week with his water temp aroung 84-85 degs and I have a tablespoon of salt per 5 gallons in his tank.

He is looking a lot better. I figure another week and hell look perfect and one more after that to be safe.

Ill also start with the ultra cure as soon as I get it. That will make it extra easy since I'm already doing 50% water changes every other day.

beano_baby wrote:That's good news about the tank. And thanks for the reply

I plan on getting him transferred over as soon as I get his ick taken care of. Its been almost a week with his water temp aroung 84-85 degs and I have a tablespoon of salt per 5 gallons in his tank.

He is looking a lot better. I figure another week and hell look perfect and one more after that to be safe.

Ill also start with the ultra cure as soon as I get it. That will make it extra easy since I'm already doing 50% water changes every other day.

I definitely would treat the IP's weather you see signs or not at this time. You saw them once and IP's don't go away by themselves. Also, when you are treating ICH, make sure you treat for the full 30 days and do daily water changes and gravel vacuuming.

Ok, ill treat the ich for 30 full days and do my best to change the water every day. I only ever change the water with a python and always vacuum the gravel at the same time. I dont think there is a point in doing one without the other. Ill do my best to do it daily, that was my original goal but so far it has not been possible.

I now need to now get the tank asap so i can start building a stand for it

Thanks everyone for your help.

I do not and have not ever owned a Fahaka .... and someone correct me if I'm wrong .... but 18" doesn't seem enough to me. This is a fish that will grow to be 18" long, so I would think he'd need more than 18" to turn fully and without hitting the sides of the tank. Just something I was thinking about as I was reading this post.
But as I said, I do not own a Fahaka, and really don't know alot about them, so maybe someone who's got one can comment on the size of the tank you're thinking about getting for him.

That's a standard 130 gallon tank. It should be fine for a year or two. Recommended tank size is 120 gallons. They grow about an inch a month for the first year and then slow down a bit after that.

Does that mean a negative on this tank as a perminant home? whats the chance of him even getting close to 18" I thought in captivity most only get to around 14ish. I was concerned about the dimensions if he were to hit 18" that why i ask. I just dont want / need to change tanks again and this one is so tempting since i would be trading for it. I also discovered they would add the stand, so i wouldnt need to build one.

They can get over 14 inches in captivity. You will be fine with the 130 gallon for at least 1-2 years, keep an eye after that because it may get a little tight for him when he turns. The water volume is definitely adequate but you may need to move him once he gets to full size. Larger tanks are pretty easy to find off craigs list and ebay and you can find them pretty inexpensive because they become harder to sell as they get bigger.

beano_baby wrote: I now need to now get the tank asap so i can start building a stand for it

http://reefkeeping.com/joomla/index.php ... rium-stand