The Puffer Forum

so i got a hold of kukah's (the fahaka) former owners over email..... i asked them about how old he was and how big he was when they got him and how long they had him.......

they said they werent shure on his age, but they had him about a year, and he only went from 4" to 7". i heard they were supposed to grow an inch per month for the first year!?! im guessing hes well over a year now since ive had him a few months and they had him a year, and whoever owned him before that raised him till he was 4".... does it sound like he will grow much more? it really wouldnt bother me if he didnt.... that means no bigger tank!!!! lol, but its just out of curiousoty, ill get a bigger tank when and if he needs it, no question about that

PS- heres a funny pic i took of him the other day.... doin what he does best... eating... looks like he has a fu man chu!!!!
hahahaha

Kind of looks like he's got a mutant frog almost eaten and just the back legs are sticking out

they are crayfish claws i thought it was so funny... had to share the pic.... but back to the topic, does anyone have experience with stunted growth in puffers? if their growth is stunted from a small tank, can they come back from it if put in a large tank and make up for the growth stunt?

Puffers grow fastest before they are sexually mature, for Fahakas, that is likely to beat at most 2 - 2 1/2 years. However, that can be delayed a bit by poor care. the pre-puberty growth period is where you can see 1"/month with good care. Once sexually mature the growth rate slows a lot, but never stops. That is not just these fish nor even just puffers - it applies to all fish - they growth throughout their life. The older they are, the slower the growth rate, but it is still there.

So your specimen may well be a bit stunted, but will continue growing. If still sexually immature, it can start growing fast again. Unfortunately, we cannot see/read sexual maturity in these fish as there is no sexual dimorphism. My definitely female Fahaka did not show egg mass build-up until she had been in my care over 4 years. She was quite small when I got her.

so all fish have indeterminate growth? i think thats what its called right? i had no idea... thats kinda cool so technically, if it were possible for my fahaka to live like 80 years or something, he could be like 8 feet long if given the space? lol i know, its a stretch, but hypothetically speaking i thought it was only like lobsters and some kinds of squid