The Puffer Forum

can anyone tell me how active fahaka puffers are?

Mines really active, always swimming around whenever I'm in the room.

ah ok. the reason i ask is im tempted to set up a tank for one as i feel freshwater is perhaps easier than marine.

there is a fahaka puffer at my lfs, hes been there a while, altho hes only about 5" long. He just seems to sit on the bottom of the tank and the staff dont seem to like him as hes not active. could it be because of the travel over from wherever he was caught and being confined in a 10 gallon tank?
he looks pretty healthy to me other than not really moving.

im not keen on getting a puffer if hes just going to lie around all day given how big the tank needs to be, which is why i wanted to know whether they were generally active or not.

altho i was swaying on the idea of going full marine and perhaps tryin to her hold of a porcupine puffer as they are really nice fish, but not sure how practical this is or if its going to be loads of work. money isnt an issue, and ive found the space for either sized tank.

How sad he is sitting in a ten gallon. I hate walking passed stuff like this at the fish shop. Even the better ones here are guilty of it, those sad eyes haunt me for days after.

yeh i thought he was gorgeous, but the guy at the shop said he didnt like him cos he wasnt active enough.
they had him in saltwater in the shop tho, arent they a freshwater fish? altho i guess the salt helps anyway.

he had really nice bright pink stripes on him
if i had the tank setup already i would have bought him. this lfs is one of the good ones as well, but i guess they can only put them in what they have. they have a dogfaced puffer in a 20 gallon tank as well.

indie wrote:yeh i thought he was gorgeous, but the guy at the shop said he didnt like him cos he wasnt active enough.
they had him in saltwater in the shop tho, arent they a freshwater fish? altho i guess the salt helps anyway.

He's probably not doing so well because hes in SW. Fahakas are stricktly FW puffers. I'm sure they can tolerate some salt, but full SW is probably not too good for them.

Personaly i would not buy that Fahaka in a 10 gal. Its deffinately been stunted. And salt in a freshwater fish tank= warning signs. If the store dosnt have the room to store the fish properly they shouldent have them in the first place. By doing bisuness with a place like that you are condoning their obviously incorect actions.

Find a fahaka from a reliable source and you wont be disapointed.

Some fahakas are more active than others but how active could one be in a ten gal? Dosnt supprise me it was sitting in a corner. if given enough space and proper water conditions these guys love to swim.

I would say its just bored, look into how long they have had in and if its not too long it make be worth making an offer

hi there, all the fish they have there are pretty much juveniles, cept for the odd return when it got too big, so i imagine hes still a baby.
hes in light brackish water, they moved all their puffers over to the brackish side rather than keepin them in fresh. they also have their live bearers in brackish.

im gonna find out how long theyve had it, i think theyve had it a couple of months, normally they sell their puffers within a couple of weeks, so perhaps thats what they mean for a while? but if its been in their much longer then i may steer clear incase its a case of stunting.