The Puffer Forum

I just purchased a 3" Fahaka from my lfs and I asked If they were fine since they were laying on the bottom of the tank. He said that they had the Fahaka's for a month so I trusted him. THey had about 5 Fahakas in a tank with topaz puffers and congo puffers and the topaz and miurus puffers were swimming around. My dad convinced me to get these guys and I did since it's father's day and all. I brought him home and acclimated him to my 60g which has a convict in it. I let hm go and as soon as he was in te tank he went straight to the bottom and hasn't moved his dorsal fin yet. He moves all his other fins though.

I checked my water paramaters and my nitrates are around 20-40ppm and the water is slightly hard with a PH of 7.2-7.4.

I'm guessing that they were keeping him in BW since the Topaz puffers were doing so well. I added a medium cray for him to eat but I hope the cray dosen't eat him since he dosen't seem to move his body. The lights are out and the room is dark. I'm going to take the crays arms off so he won't hurt the Fahaka.

Any help and Ideas would be very much appreciated.

Puffers are very sensitive to nitrates, so 20-40 is getting a bit high. I'd do a water change if I were you.

You are familiar with how big they get, how mean they are and how large of a tank it will need, correct?

Yes I know that they're mean and get big. That's a big reason why I got him. He was just swimming around but dosen't use his tail. I took the arms off the crayfish and the crayfish just walked up to the Fahaka and the Fahaka just swam away. What's up with that? I'll do a 40% water change right now and add Amquel+ so that will hopefully bring the nitrates down to 10-20. I have the Fahaka in the tank just to keep it going for my mbu coming in on Tuesday. I hope the Fahaka is going to be all right. What is a good food to feed him right now? Also any other tips?

Thanks

Fahakas do take a while to adjust to new surroundings. I'd remove the cray for now & feed a less invasive food like worms or krill. You could even hold off on the food for a couple of days. Where's he going after the mbu gets there? What are the other water parameters?

Please read this before getting a mbu: http://www.thepufferforum.org/viewtopic.php?t=150

The Fahaka is going into a 75g because the 60g is in my room and I can give the most attention to it. Ex. In case I need to do a quick water change I have a python a couple foot away.

Also I plan on keeping the mbu in the 60g until he reaches around 10" then he's going into a 240g with Temensis and maybe silver arowanas. I have three of these guys and I want to sell them but my dad insists that I keep them and raise them in my 2600g pond. Will the fish listed get along?

Also the Fahaka's condition has improved. He has been swimming around the bottom of the tank a few times and has not attacked the cray or convict. In fact the convict flares his gills at the Fahaka when he gets close to the con's cave. I have the tempature at around 75*F. I've added 6 teaspoons of aquarium salt, did a 40% water change and added Amquel+ to the tank. All te fish seem to be doing okay. Any other suggestions?

Thanks a lot.

I'd raise the temp to 80. That might perk him up & raise his metabolisim for eating.

Is this temp acceptable by Mbu's? I hear that tese African Puffers don't do well in temps above 82*F, Is this true?

I added a heater to the tank which will move the temp up to about 78* or 80*F.

Thanks

Both fahakas and mbus are African, not Asian. Water at 80F is not an issue for them at all. Above that you need to monitor respiration rate. Breathing too rapidly indicates low oxygen in the water and should be corrected.

Ali wrote: He was just swimming around but dosen't use his tail

This is totally normal. Puffers rely on their pectoral fins most heavily for swimming. They use their tail as a rudder, for steering. They only use their tail for propulsion when have a good reason, such as attacking food or retreating from a threat.

I know that Fahaka's and Mbu's are African and that they can't handle high temps. The temp is now 80* and I tested the water this morning and it read 0 - 12.5 with the Red Sea chem set. I'm going to do another water change to get all the bloodworms, since he didn't eat any . THe store fed him danios. Should I feed him guppy fry?

Ohh also the Fahaka has been moving around a lot and even swims vertically now. The only thing I worry about now is the fact that he isn't eating.

Thanks for all the help.

Does his belly appear to be shrunken or concave?

Feeding feeder fish, especially unquarantined fish, is something to avoid. If you've raised the guppy fry yourself and are confident in their good health, then I'd say try it just to get him eating. It's not a suitable long-term diet though, as puffers need crunchy, low-fat foods such as snails, shrimp, crayfish, crab, and so forth.

Garlic juice may be used as an appetite enhancer, try soaking some krill or shrimp in a water/garlic solution for an hour before feeding.

Ali wrote: The only thing I worry about now is the fact that he isn't eating.

I wouldn't worry too much at this stage about eating. Mine took about 10 days to eat on first arrival and the same amont of time when I move him to another tank.They 'sulk'!

The Fahaka is really fat and already took two dumps. The Fahaka is now swimming all around the tank and spreading his tail fin. I noticed that he has a red spot near the end of his tail. I figured that this mark was a bight from the convict so I took the con out.

It sure is hard to catch guppies. Especially when they're about .5".

Has he eaten anything yet? Sounds like he's settling in, though.
Pami.

He hasn't eaten anything yet but I added a guppy fry which I guess he hasn't noticed. He's swimming up and down really fast on one side of the aquarium. I'm going to see what else I have for him to eat. If I have shrimp I'll use the garlic treatment. If I don't I'm going to stock up today for my mbu coming in tomorrow. I already have about 50+ crayfish but they're all around 5"s so they're to big for the puffers. My ramshorn snail colony is only at four so I'm going o have to give them some time as well. What else should I feed them?

Thanks