The Puffer Forum

one of my LFS has a fahaka for sale in a 20 gallon tank so I feel like I have to rescue him since he's been there a while with no one to purchase him. only problem is, my largest tank is a 30 gal which is already occupied by a saba puffer (who needs a tank upgrade anyways).

Minimum is a 120 gallon!

They grow quickly.

I would say stick with a size you know you can afford to properly maintain. If that means 65 gallons, then make it the cleanest 65 gallon around. Remember, these guys are wild caught, so no home aquarium will ever be big enough.

No full grown Fahaka could stay healthy in a 65..

120 minimum.. both for water volume as these are messy fish, and room to turn around. Note that a minimum 4 foot by 2 foot footprint is important, these fish need room to turn around and a 12 or 18" front to back tank will really cramp them when they get close to full size.

Note the word minimum on the 120 gallon tank size. These fish produce a lot of waste (from respiration and hormones, not to mention normal bodily waste) and need the dilutional capability of at least 120 gallons from little up through adulthood. Even at 120 gallons you need to do rigorous water changes and monitoring. Yes you could do daily water changes and keep your water parameters good but then you throw in the tank dimensions like Myaj said and you have a serious problem. These are huge fish and need big housing, if you can't provide it, don't attempt it.

I couldn't imagine Filbert only having 65g to swim around in.

Yea, my fiance and I are looking to get a 180 or 220 now that she has a narrow-lined puffer; Ulrike is still tiny (bit over 3") but once I showed her a full scale picture of how a foot long puffer actually looks, she wants at least a 6' by 2' footprint tank... a fahaka will get half again longer than that, at a weigh at least two (possibly three) times as much.