The Puffer Forum

fahaka puffer life span does any one know

Somewhere in the teens.

does anyone know from exp

and wondering what the growth size for each year as they get older

I believe RTR's probably had them the longest.

i dont know who he is so maybe he will comment on my post and i can learn from him

I'll send him a PM.

I would be interested to know also, I wonder what age their size usually maxes out at when kept in proper sized tanks.

I don't know either - I have never kept one through an entire life cycle.

I have kept three, two males and one female. They were reared in 120s and a 180, are were all gotten when they still showed the very immature mottling before the stripes start developing. The female was ID'd by her routinely increasing girth rather far back in the body, followed by overnight loss of much on the girth. Eventually, I did get to see some eggs, but she apparently consumed most of them. Both the males were consistently slimmer, one (almost 8 years in my care) was a bit larger, over 40cm TL.The other male and the female (same batch at the wholesaler) were over 6., and both were about 38 cm TL. The Big Nasty male jumped from his tank into the divided 180 (where the smaller male and the female were separated by an egg-crate divider- getting to know one another) and he killed the smaller male, then beat up the female very badly, and he jumped back out and died on the floor. The female lived almost a year afterward, but never really recovered - her caudal was entirely gone (never re-grew), her pectorals and dorsal were seriously damaged but much of the dorsal regrew, only part of the pectorals. Psychologically she never recovered - she would only rarely come out of her cave and had great difficulty swimming, but she did regain her appetite within a few weeks. She was just shy of 7 when she died.

I would expect solitary specimens to make it to the mid-teens at least if well fed and maintained in similar or larger tanks - with very strong covers. commercial covers will not hold such fish if they are moving fast - these were under home-made covers of 3/8" glass, and if I had to do it again I would use 1/2 inch cover glasses.

FWIW, I lost my T.mbu with a similar cover, but it was not fully covered - the center was open.

BTW, my Filbert's got to be at least 10 now.

WOW thats good to know about the cover. I hope to be picking up Bloats new tank this weekend and it doesnt have a top. I was planing on buyin just the regular glass top, but I guess I should look into something a bit bigger, maybe something with a latch of some kind

thanks any more info would be great

A latch does not help unless cats or kids (or nursing home residents) could be an issue. Thicker glass is helpful as it is stronger itself.

IME, 4' tanks are not too bad. When you are working at 6' or more, the big puffs can really move! Near-adult large FW puffs can and do create a bow wave like a nuclear sub. A waterproof floor would be a must-have for me anyway.

Aways respect a puffer jaws. Hand-feeding may be cute, but in this house it is done with instruments. I do not want any association between my fingers and food.

So, PP has an older fahaka than any I have kept. She should get the first local reading on expected age.

And he's still just a kid at heart. Speaking of splashing...

Ya my guy is about 11" now in a 6' tank and when he wants to move man it can be a commotion with water splashing everywhere and I know what you are talking about with the bow wave they can make. Very very strong fish indeed. For now I cover the tank with eggcrate and pieces of slate to hold it down.