The Puffer Forum

It´s almost one and a half year I brought a tiny fahaka home and Freddy is now about 35 cm (including his tail)

Here is an update:

Constant begging (you can see his akward look after chipping his upper left tooth)


Toothgrinding as a hobby (he loves crushing just about anything. He won´t let the thermometer stay where it is supposed to be)


Favorite snack, earthworms

My what a stunning and beautiful fish.

I just got mine about a month ago about 3 inches including tail. I have heard so many different things on how often to feed. can you help me out with what you fed him and how many times a day you fed and when you changed it up? Been trying to find it on this site but there is so much stuff to sift through.

awesome puffer too cant wait till mine is that big.

The feeding schedule depends on the puffer as they are not all the same:
- activity level and digestion
- how quickly the belly bulge evens out before the next meal (be careful not fattening its lever etc.)

It also depends on how efficient your filtration system is, how often you change the water and how often you remove waste in the substrate. You will most likely figure out what works best for your puffer.

I would keep the diet as varied as possible and you should figure it out based on the availability in your location. This is my list:

baby size
- snails
- cut pieces of mussels, shrimp, squid (using a feeder stick)
- small earthworms fattened up with green salads
- live shrimp

sub-adult to adult:
- frozen Vietnamese river crabs bought at my local Asian quarter
- Frozen Asian river prawns with shell and head on, frozen apple snails from the same ASian market
- Different types of shell based food for grinding the teeth every day: Blue mussels, clams, cockle
- large earthworms fattened up with green salads
- chunks of squid from the grocery store
- separate tank for live crabs and cray fish when available

For my puffer, I think it is ok to give him one or two cockles every day for grinding the teeth (not that much food in them, and it is easy to remove the waste). Every second day I give him a couple of river crabs (or 2-3 earthworms, or prawns, or chunks of squid). I tend to avoid prawns since they create a mess in the tank. When he was small, I fed him every day. Nowadays, I tend to alternative between periods of hunger and overfeeding due to my travel schedule. When I am away for two weeks he is fine getting a meal once a week which keeps the waste level down. Earthworms and cockles are the best option since it leaves minimum waste in the tank. It is important to change the water twice in the week before leaving and then repeat the same when returning. When I am back home, I tend to give him lots of river crabs as the main diet combined with shrimp and squid now and then. A cockle a day is fine for grinding the teeth.

My puffer is really active so I have no problems overfeeding him now and then. Just make sure you don't do it all the time.

[quote="Fahaka Fakka"]It´s almost one and a half year I brought a tiny fahaka home and Freddy is now about 35 cm (including his tail)

Here is an update:

Constant begging (you can see his akward look after chipping his upper left tooth)


What a beauty

Hey I know you think earthworms are his fav but get some giant lobworms now that's his fav food lol

Arrow2013 wrote:Hey I know you think earthworms are his fav but get some giant lobworms now that's his fav food lol

Aren´t earthworms the same? I googled lobworms and they look the same as the worms I buy at my local sports fishing store. In the summer they are abundant in the wild.