The Puffer Forum

Hi all,

Local LFS has 6x Puffers labeled as Fahakas... S$15/fish (about US$10) Saw them all today... all six were between 2-3 inches. Was leaving the shop after resisting much temptation to buy them but was turned around when I recalled reading that young Pustulatus are frequently mis-id as Fahakas...

HOW DO YOU TELL!!??

Btw... the 6 of them are kept in a puny tank measuring 20cm x 18cm x 18cm. Looking at the water condition... might not live for long...

PLEASE REPLY ASAP!!!

I believe its the opposite. Most pustulatus are actually fahakas. I believe pustulatus are pretty rare.

Opps... so there is no way of determining... other than the possibility that the LFS has no idea what they are selling and could not tell the difference and tells me that SAPs come from Indonesia??

Comparing the pics we have on file, they don't look all that similar to me. Fahakas have stripes, pustus have reddish dots.

http://www.thepufferforum.com/forum/ug. ... ustulatus/
http://www.thepufferforum.com/forum/ug. ... _Lineatus/

Hi Tina,

Yeah have been examining the pics too... yet the same source (see Pustulatus Page) says that they get misidentified. Perhaps its just my wishful thinking.

Any description of how juvenile Fahakas look? Do they have spots on them?

"tends to be misidentified young Fahakas (T. lineatus)" I think that means that what are claimed to be pustulatus are actually fahakas. Not "misidentified AS Fahakas." Not sure what fahakas look like as juvies, someone much more knowledgeable than me should be along shortly to answer for sure.

Juvenile fahakas are splotchy, not striped at all. Mis-ID is common.

I think I know which LFS you're talking about.

In fact, I got one of that puffer from that shop.

And those are indeed Fahakas are not Pustulatus.

Wow bro (bslenden)!!... you really bought a Fahaka ah... you have the means to support it? I have a 115Gal tank... but its for my Altums now... these babies grow to 18"!!

Which one did you choose and how many were left?

Yup... Just bought today. I've no large tanks available at the moment. One taken by my lungfish and the other taken by my wolf.

I won't expect it to grow to a full 18" in captivity. But I'll upgrade the tank as the time comes. I don't want to add a small fish to an overly huge tank. I think it looks silly.

Actually, if kept in a tank large enough, a fish in captivity should EXCEED the size of a fish in the wild. It has no predators & food is more readily available. The problem w/most captive fish is it's tank size is stunting it.

Large enough... Wow...

I can't give it what mother nature gave it.

No, but you can give it better food and protect it from predation.. which allows it to grow larger and live longer, assuming its given a tank it can be comfortable in.

Myaj wrote:No, but you can give it better food and protect it from predation.. which allows it to grow larger and live longer, assuming its given a tank it can be comfortable in.

Ya I know. But still, there is the space limitation factor.

My opinion is Mother Nature gives the best. I cannot and never will be able to give them what She can give to my pets. But I just do my best to mimic what She did, so that my pets can live more comfortably.

The only thing I can do better than Mother Nature is like you said, protect my fish from predation. But I don't have to protect her since my fahaka is the predator. hehe...

You mean these puffers have natural predators? Thought they are already top of the food chain...

Btw, I was shown a bag of 6 specimens that just arrived in a shipment at a local Tropical Fish Import/Export place.

All 2 inches and looking healthy and beautiful!! You can already see a little of the lines and the splotches of red that would later fill the gaps between the lines. All nice and chubby looking (no overfed).

Tempted once again... but I was there to claim my prize... 3x SAPs... Finally!!!