The Puffer Forum

Picked up my first Fahaka yesterday . He is about 3 inches.
Felt at home as soon as he entered his domain and fed on Bloodworm.
I do not think i have ever had a fish that does not like Prawn but he Don't!.

Anyway that's not important, I am waiting for a 6 ft tank to arrive in hopefully 6 weeks which will be his home.
So, How fast will he grow as at present he is in a 3ft tank.
I have read the puffer information on here which is great but can anyone tell me hands on experience what i can expect from him?

Kind regards

Inches a month of growth early on, but slower later, and most people here to keep them seem to find them very responsive interactive pets.

Probably an inch a month for the first year then he'll slow down, got any pics yet?

You can train him on the prawns. It took awhile for mine to start eating them. First, I trained him to eat small snails, and once he got used to me dropping things into the tank for him to eat, I started cutting up the prawns into small pieces. If the pieces were too big, he was afraid of them. Once he started eating them, I started chopping them into slightly larger pieces. But its important to train him to eat all sorts of food aside from little worms. You'll soon find that it takes an awful lot of worms to fill that growing belly up.

Early shot of my Boy
As you can see still a bit bashful

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Cute little guy!

Nice pickup.

'Now if i hide in here then that pink thing might not attack me'






'But as soon as the lights go out its mine'....................And it was [/img]

Awwwwwwww....

I'm sorry to get all 'girlie' on you but that is such a cute picture!

Mine grew quite quickly till about 10" & the last 2" took 2 years. He might be even longer than a foot by now.

I wonder if mine would bury himself if I had a sand bottom.

Thanks.
With the bigger Tank on its way i am unsure whether to stick to sand or fine gravel?
Sand looks better but gravel is easier and less abrasive i think

decisions

Big tank w/deep entough sand for a larger fahaka to burrow in, is a real PITA to thoroughly stir weekly, to prevent anerobic bacteria (toxic air pockets) from forming.

great looking puffer, nice find

If I could redo mine, I'd go with very fine, smooth gravel. I have Tahitian Moon sand in my 55g aggressive tank and its a real PITA.