The Puffer Forum

I just recently became aware of this site so forgive me if the answer is buried somewhere. I'm sure it is and I am digging for it.

I have space for a 55ish gallon tank. Is there a larger FW puff that would make a good display fish? I LOVE fahakas but I just don't have the room and I won't do that to a fish. I guess my ideal fish is a fahaka that only gets to be about 7-8 inches. I have community tanks and this is my first venture into puffs. I feel like you have the dwarf (or similar size) or massive unless you go brackish, which I would rather not do at this time. Thoughts?

Thanks for any help.

I have a breeding pair of turgidus in my 55... There are a few others that stay about the same size, look in the freshwater section of the pufferpedia

Hey upstater glad you made it over from MFK. Welcome to the forum! This is definitely the place to come for puffer answers. There are a lot of puffers that could work in a 40B or 55g, the problem..... most are inactive lurkers.

I think you would love a hairy puffer like mine but might not be as active as you want. If you were willing to go brackish a GSP would be an active puff for you.

Hey upstater. You say you don't have room for a fahaka tank. Is your 55g tank 48inches long. If you get a 48inch x 24inch x 24inch tank you could have a fahaka as it holds 120g of water which is the minimum sized tank for a fahaka.

Arny wrote:Hey upstater. You say you don't have room for a fahaka tank. Is your 55g tank 48inches long. If you get a 48inch x 24inch x 24inch tank you could have a fahaka as it holds 120g of water which is the minimum sized tank for a fahaka.

Arny wrote:Hey upstater. You say you don't have room for a fahaka tank. Is your 55g tank 48inches long. If you get a 48inch x 24inch x 24inch tank you could have a fahaka as it holds 120g of water which is the minimum sized tank for a fahaka.

Huh? A 55 that holds 120g?

No, it is a 120 not a 55. The face size of the two tanks is close to the same, but the front-to-back sizes are quite different (~13 inches versus ~24 inches). The 120 is also a bit taller, but that is less noticeable.

There are also 75 gallon tanks which give a larger footprint with a similar face size but ~18" front-to-back. That is too small for a Fahaka to me, but does give more visual thickness front to back, and betteraquascaping possibilities.

HTH

I have found I really like abei and palembang as mid size puffers, both of which would do well in a 55. My abei is more active than the palembang, he reminds me of a mini fahaka on speed. No way either would replace my fahaka ever but they are more active than my true lurkers (arrowhead and congo). I had a few turgidus for a little while but they never really came out during the day for me (maybe too much light for them, was a planted tank).
FWIW my fahaka is around 12" and i couldn't imagine him living in a 4' tank

My female Fahaka lived in a 2x2x4' tank if I remember correctly. The 2x2x6 is obviously better, but they really eat space.