The Puffer Forum

After viewing some of the more recent photos posted of different Fahakas, I am just a bit concerned about Obie. Obie is about 4-5" long, has a very good appetite and appears to be in good condition ... however, he just doesn't look right. I've been looking at Lisa's Fahaka and hers has beautiful colouring with nice defined lines, whereas Obie reminds me of someone that's had a tattoo done and has allowed clothing to get stuck to it and when the clothing is pulled away, it's removed some of the tattoo. That's how his body looks -- very blotchy. I can't see any whitespot (ich) and I've seen brown poops -- so I'm not quite sure what to think. He's currently in a 58-gallon tank, the only inhabitant and that tank is kept immaculately clean. In fact, that tank is much cleaner now that he's in it than it was before with all my fish that were in there.

I'm just bothered by his look though. He's always a bit dark as well. His behaviour is good, he swims around, he's keen when I put food in. I am feeding him raw shrimp, mussels, snails, cockles in the shell, and occasional earthworms. He seems normal in every other way except for his colouring and his general look. When I just shone the flashlight on him (it's dark here with tank lights off) his skin was blotchy. And the lines are not distinct, they are faded.

Anyone have any suggestions?

What colour is the substrate?

how about a wee piccy?
me like seein fahakas <3

Hilly wrote:What colour is the substrate?

The substrate is natural rounded stones, nothing synthetic, all natural. But he was pretty much the same way when I had him in the other tank which has a sandy substrate.

**Lesley -- I will have to try for pictures tomorrow, all the lights are off tonight and I hate to bother him with the flash going off. But I will promise to do some pics tomorrow and upload them to his post **

oooh thats good!
i may have some news on saturday

I have some pics of Obie that may be able to help

Maybe you have just got a moody one, Mine goes through stages of being light with fairly defined lines to quite blotchy. Is there quite a lot of lighting on the tank, I have noticed mine is usually less blotchy when I just have the natural light from the room on the tank. If hes feeding well and active I wouldnt worry too much for now.

Thanks for sharing Lisa, that saves me from trying to do it (and we all know how incapable I am with computers). I appreciate you uploading those.

**Hilly -- I notice when I give Obie food his colouring is right on, absolutely beautiful with defined lines, but most of the time otherwise, he's blotchy. I'm not sure about the lighting question because I get up in the morning and turn all the tanks on at 10am, then off at 8pm. I will have to try and get a look at him before I turn the lights on in the morning and see what he's looking like. I hope you're right and that it's just one of those things. He seems normal in every other way, and I can't complain about anything other than him not looking as pretty as some of the other photos I've seen posted on the forum.

**Lesley -- can't wait to hear what your news will be, although I have my suspicions!

you can always paint some stripes on him lol...

your suspicions may be right!

I think thats just his color. Mine doesn't much care for light. I have it on from 8pm - midnightish and thats it. Got blue leds as well that are on 24/7 and he loves em, sleeps under them actually.
Normally (if hes in the mood) he's colored really nice. But lately ive changed things up with his food and i just packed the tank with 1/2-1" feeder guppies (Clean the tank amazingly) So now hes blotchy as can be and just plain out b*itchy towards me LoL
I use to have black substrate in the tank and he was about 90% of the time dark dark and blotchy. I changed over to white shells and he stays quite a bit lighter. But honestly .. i wouldn't worry, its MOODs!


Can you tell the mood swings?.... Even his eye color changes!



BTW, Try a seafood medley, Mine seems to love it and a ghost shrimp/crayfish diet. Keep his eyesight tuned to a T and crayfish are just a treat =)
Tune into:


Stripes^ =)

*Cheers*

Thanks ACF I appreciate that .... but even yours look nicer than mine, you can see the lines on yours defined plainly. I will have to try and get some good photos of Obie tomorrow, so you can see what I'm talking about. I mean, he seems okay, and if there's nothing "wrong" with him, then there's nothing I can do. But it just sucks because everyone has a beautiful Fahaka and mine just looks very "blah". Don't get me wrong, I love the little ball of puff very much and will continue to love him no matter what he looks like, but it's just got me wondering why all the other Fahakas are so nicely defined and mine is blotchy.
ACF -- doesn't your Fahaka try to eat those guppies? I wouldn't trust anything to go into the tank with Obie, I'm sure he would bite it.

O yea he chases em!!! Look at his nose, he's been running into crap the past few days LOL! Trying to get them but they move and he ends up getting a mouth full of shells!! (Keeps his beak down) LOL .. Cant you tell he's aggravated to hell and back LOL!!
I would honestly try scallops and a seafood medley pack, snails, crays.. etc.. Im trying to feed fata$$ a carrot but he's been b*itchy allll bloody day! LoL
What do you feed Obie on a regular and for a treat?
When mine was a young pup (4-5inches) he was really vibrant, now hes just moody... and blotchy.
I think i saw Li$as Nala reallly freeking dark when she moved him over tanks .. i think.. some pics somewhere..

pufferpuggirl wrote:Thanks ACF I appreciate that .... but even yours look nicer than mine, you can see the lines on yours defined plainly. I will have to try and get some good photos of Obie tomorrow, so you can see what I'm talking about. I mean, he seems okay, and if there's nothing "wrong" with him, then there's nothing I can do. But it just sucks because everyone has a beautiful Fahaka and mine just looks very "blah". Don't get me wrong, I love the little ball of puff very much and will continue to love him no matter what he looks like, but it's just got me wondering why all the other Fahakas are so nicely defined and mine is blotchy.
ACF -- doesn't your Fahaka try to eat those guppies? I wouldn't trust anything to go into the tank with Obie, I'm sure he would bite it.

No problem Suzanne, if you need to me to add some pics for you tomorrow just let me know!!

hehehe I giggled when I seen "little ball of puff" hehe, so cute.

That reminds me.. we put a catfish in with Nala.. and we had to take him out immediately because she started to nip at his fins, and we didn't want to risk anything!! Sounds like Nala & Obie would be a puffer "Bonnie & Clyde"

Okay, here's some photos I've taken this morning. I wasn't able to see what Obie looked like before the lights were turned on because he was hiding in the back behind the plants (which is one of his favourite things to do nowdays).
I'm still trying to figure out how to use this new camera and this setting is supposed to be best for close-ups but I didn't see where it did that good a job. However, I think you can see what I mean about Obie's colouring looking "blotchy".

aww hes pretty tho <3
maybe his stripes become more defined with age?
you will be giving the poor fish a complex lol