The Puffer Forum

Hey Guys,

So I stumbled across this site a few weeks ago when a friend showed me there puffers. Well that settled it, I needed a Fahaka! I've been keeping FW tanks for years from 5g to 100g tanks. Most bought but some were built by me. I've use a collection of filters from HOBs to canisters to sumps, varied from purchased and DIY'd. For this guy I decided to build the whole thing from scratch so it covers exactly what I want.

I've literally read all 71 pages of posts in the general topic and flipped through every page of the giant species as well. I spent time in the library looking at diets, requirements, and breeding the food supply. I feel I am well researched and ready for this! So now comes the prep work of building the stand and tank and getting it ready for the little guy

So I plan on having a 6'x2'x2' display tank running with a sump. It will run a beananimal overflow system to keep it silent. Now I've read other posts on this forum and some on others about having the snail and marbled cray farms adjacent to the display. I liked that idea however that turns my 6' tank into really a 10' wall of tanks! Which although I am fine with, isn't going to fly with my partner aha.

This is where the build gets customized to my exact needs. I decided that I would build two 20g tanks into the stand below the main display tank on either side of the sump. I still want the 20's to be visible as snails and crays will be interesting to watch. I also would like them sitting flush with the stand to keep it looking very neat. I thought cleaning/accessing these would be a problem as there would be next to no space above them. To remedy this I found drawer slides that support 400lbs (meant for holding generators on RVs) which would allow me to mount these basically flush to the underside of the main display and just slide them out for maintenance/access. Surprisingly enough a pair is only $25

I started a thread on a DIY forum but then realized I'm building this whole thing specifically for a Fahaka so I should get some input from the community that specifically knows them! I'm on the third rework of this build now, so I am open to suggestions. It's more important I get it right and it meets mine and the fish's needs rather then rush out a subpar product, so I'm not in a huge rush to build yet

This shows the front. Can see the 20's on each end, their shown slid out here obviously.


This is the left side. This is the largest struggle I'm having is supporting this corner. The frame is 2x6 and its only 12" until the nearest support so there shouldn't be a problem but theres a lot of weight resting on a "shouldn't" so may need to develop this more.


This is the back. The pipe on the left is the main return. The 3 running on the right are the drains for the beananimal system. Can see I've interlocked on both ends to help support the side pieces as well


This is a top view. It shows quite a bit, can see here my first draft at hard plumbing the 20's into the sump system. behind the red frame is a pink 1x1 which helps support the cross beams and attached to the pink 1x1 is a tube which is the returns for the 20's plumbed into the primary return as well.


I'm getting closer to the stand design but the plumbing for the 20's is leaving a lot to be desired. I would prefer them hard plumbed into the sump so I don't need to run additional heaters/pumps but hard plumbing something designed to move is a bit of a chore. This is an idea but again, I'm open to suggestions.


Anyways guys! This is my first post. Sorry for making it such a monstrosity, just feel like this community would have some interesting feedback on my idea. Thanks for taking the time, all input it appreciated

Wonderful 1st post! Love your plans for this fish, he should be quite happy in there.
I kept my fahaka in a 125g tank for 17 years & only recently moved to a home where I could upgrade him to a tank your size. He's so happy with the extra room!

Thanks! I'm really trying to optimize the space I have while still providing the fish with everything it will need. After reading about stunting here and the growth rates, thought I'd take the often offered advice of just start with the tank it will end up needing anyways.

I know sumps seem to be one of the least popular filtration methods for FW puffers, seems everyone prefers multiple canisters and HOBs on their systems. I like the extra water and simplicity of a sump. 1 pump 1 heater, sure if one goes out then i lose all flow and not just some but it will be interacted with numerous times a day so any problems will be caught quite quickly.

Regarding plumbing the 20g's into the main and the sump, can you think of any arguments not to? I know immediately disease comes to mind from the crays and snails affecting the Fahaka but if i get them going first and get them healthy then I think that there shouldn't be many problems down the road here. Another thought was both snails and crays are quite dirty but this setup will have roughly 300g in it so I'm hoping that with weekly water changes and food monitoring this should prevent levels from spiking.

Very interesting design Avoscotto. Looking forward to seeing it once it is all built. I am also setting up a 6x2x2 tank or a fahaka. I just finished building the sump, which you helped me out with (I am angryfish on DIYFK ).

I don't see disease being a problem, especially if you get a generation or two of offspring before you get the fahaka. From what I understand the fahaka will quickly outgrow snails though...

I don't know about them outgrowing snails, my 12" Fahaka still loves ramshorn snails. Granted it takes a ton of them to make a meal but he will hunt down every one I throw in his tank. Fortunately with 35 tanks in the house I can always find some snails when u want to go that route but his main diet is mussels with occasional shrimp, and snails when we collect a couple handfuls.

It's certainly feasible. Personally I would have no problem linking the cray tank to the main display but would keep the snails seperate, not only do they really dirty water but they can move through pipe work with ease and set up home everywhere. Then you have snails in sump etc. you can culture a good snail population in a bucket. This will simplify things slightly for you too

Oh hey Kass, think you mean the DIY thing because im not on MFK. Thought about it but this forum is my go to spot for puffers lol. Tons of info and I really trust the people on it despite only recently joining aha. Anyways glad to hear I managed to help with the sump hope its working for you.

I know that it's hard to keep a population of snails going when they get large just because they would eat a fair amount, I was hoping that a 20g farm would produce enough to keep up with the demand.

Thanks for the suggestion Bertie, I never considered clogging the pipes so that is very good advice. I like the idea of keeping the snails separate to prevent them from ending up in the sump or clogging plumbing. I'm a sucker for symmetry though so rather then use a bucket I may just use an internal filter in the snail tank. This way I can still have the triple display stand, also a potential QT tank in a pinch. Don't want to offset it by only having the 1 tank on the side.

I'm tweaking the current design in an attempt to allow the sump to be removable in case of emergency. I'll update the pics as they come. Any other thoughts from the community let me know

Hello again! So I've done another redesign based off thoughts from this forum and another. It was said that it is hard to keep up with the demand of snails and farming them could be a struggle. Well with that in mind I thought farming cray would be even harder to meet demand, especially in a 20g. Thus, changed the design. Taking the advice of farming snails in a bucket, ill do that in a utility room or something away from the display. But now I have a bit more space to play with so I've changed the 20's into a single sliding 40g which I'm hoping will be better for a cray farm!

So I I changed the stand and design. Now the display tank is still the same just over the 6x2x2 give or take making it near 200g. but it would house a 40g directly under it. still on drawer slides. The sump is now an 80g setup! It needs to be "U" shaped to work around the 40g display when it isn't slid out. So it would be a 20g long on each end. One would be for the drains and mechanical filtration while the other would be for the equipment and the returns. I would drill into each tank and have another 40g tank connecting them via 5" pvc. This 40g would be purely for bio media, probably lava rock.

The return pump would run about 2000gph after headless for just over 6x turn over per hour


Shows the front with the back of the main tank. Can see I'd run beananimal on both tanks to keep them silent. Theres also a drain built into the main display which allows for 95g to drain by just opening the valve. 95g is about 33% of the entire system.


Simple side view. Can see the return spray bars, and the lines from them illustrating current. I thought I'd run the spray bars deep into the water to create some lower flow without a power head. I'd put a check valve on the return to prevent any siphon.


Back view. Shows the 5" PVC connecting the "sump system" together. I've spent enough time on this I'm not sure what needs to be explained versus whats to obvious


If you've made it this far thanks for sticking with me aha. As always I'm open for advice. Man at this point could almost start a poll on which build do you like best