The Puffer Forum

I have a Megladorus Irwinii that will very soon reach 2ft. My Fahaka is now around 5-6 inches and is in a 120 gallon tank by himself.He is thick Armour plated and has caught my wife when she touched her trapping her finger between his tail and head slicing through her finger so he can stand his ground.

Can i put the Cat in there?
Will the Fahaka really not tolerate any Fish in with it?

Fahakas will rarely tolerate any fish in with it, doesn't matter how armored.

I wouldn't do it even if the the Megladorus Irwinii has armour strong enough which I doubt it will have. Have you seen a fahaka take on a crab? So evne if the armour is up to the job the aggressicve territorial nature of the Fahaka will mean that nither fish will have a peaceful life. Thats just my opinion, but see what the others say first.

If you haven't seen what a large puffers jaws can do then check ou the Clooney feeing videos in the Flix section

I don't think there is such a think as fahaka proof armor, and even if this fish does have such, it will soon be eyeless and finless anyway.

there is a video on youtube where a guy has a red tail shark with his fahaka, but that is probably different because they are pretty fast.

There is also no telling how long it has been so. Often it will take a couple months for the other fish to trigger the fahakas' need to destroy all that lives. They have even sometimes killed all the plants if placed in a planted tank, just to kill something living.

I think a lot of it has to do with the individual puffer. Fella has his in with a Panda Garra but it's too quick for the Fahaka to catch and it gave up.

Spitfire wrote:has caught my wife when she touched her trapping her finger between his tail and head slicing through her finger

I bet he would make a really good blackened catfish sandwich.

Hilly wrote:I think a lot of it has to do with the individual puffer. Fella has his in with a Panda Garra but it's too quick for the Fahaka to catch and it gave up.

Yeah, sometimes the garra sits on he fahakas head.

Fast cyprinids would be more successful than slower catfish. i intended to try an ornate bichir with him too, but I don't think that's going to work out at all after the preliminary attempt. I've seen it work with other peoples fahaka's though.

Depends on your puffer. Do you know how aggressive it is with other fish? I know of a friend's 4" fahaka that bit an 8" pleco right in half. On the other hand, my fahaka's tank is fully stocked with fish & my 12" pleco pushes my wimpy puffer out of his cave, when he want's it. Please beware--my story is an exterme rarity & if you value your catfish at all, don't try it!

My 5-6 Fahaka will nib at my 12" Pleco as well but never bit him.. he never bothers my 4" Chinese Algae eater.. Puffer and the algae eater have been in the same tank for over a year and he has never once tried to attack him.. yet any other fish i put in there he has killed.. including a F8 and 4 Chiclets. I think this may be due to that the algae eater was int he tank first and the same size when i got my Fahaka. and since they have grown together, so that the Puffer has grown an acceptance with the algae eater.

My pet has a pet. There was a livebearer fry in a bag of shrimp I picked up and I didnt spot it till I swished it out of my net with shrimp. It was ridiculously small and once I looked away for a second it was like he disappeared. I tried to track it down but a fish that small in a big tank really is a needle in a haystack. This little fish has grown a bit now and is very flashy, and gutsy. He picks up food thats barely fallen out of the puffers mouth. So far he seems to like the company, they even sleep close. I have tried to net him again but once he dodges in the plants I'm outmatched. Its just odd because my puffer is ruthless to every other creature he has met, of course the others were all snails and shrimps...