The Puffer Forum

Well I told all of you who read my post I had placed an order for a muiris puffer. I finally got the cloudiness out of my tank the I did another water check and everything was fine. I drove to the LFS to pick him up (this is a 60 min drive) to find that upon arrival they had mislabeled my puffer and sold it to someone that thought they were buying a Fahaka. So that left a Fahaka at the shop. Now I know they need a 120 and I only have my 75 set up right now. I am now getting my 150 out of storage but it is not cycled. Of course I bought the Fahaka it is my favorite fish of all time I had one for about 5 years. I think when he passed it was due to my ignorance as I only fed him feeder fish and I over fed him and he lived his life in a 75 with a channa non of this I knew until finding your site a couple of weeks ago. So I am now going to set up my 150 and start it cycling this weekend. Until it is cycled I am going to have the Fahaka in my 75. All the research I have done is on a Congo puffer. So I have a lot of questions. First when I am setting up the 150 what is the ideal environment this is going to be the Fahakas exclusively. Second he is about 3 inches long and just about the cutest guy in the world how much do I feed him, What would be the best nutritional valued food I could feed him and what should I watch for as he adapts to his new tank. I have a big pleco in the tank with him I had a Pacu but the Fahaka went straight to him when I put him in the tank and nipped his fin so I took the Pacu out and gave him to a LFS It was a little funny looking because my 13" pacu was scared to death of this little 3" terror. So now that I have Bam Bam home I need help so I can get him to grow big and strong. Thanks for everyones patience bringing me up to speed.

I would think that the waste a 3" fahaka would produce in a 150g tank, would be so diluted, you wouldn't need to do much for cycling. Just move the filter over from the 75 & you should be fine. He also will be ok in the 75 for quite some time. I don't think your pleco is safe either.

As she said, remove the pleco as Fahakas are very aggressive and will harass him. As for an ideal environment for him, they burrow so provide a substrate of fine gravel or sand. After that, the rest is up to your taste. They are notorious for tearing up live plants so you may not have much luck with that if you try it.

I would go for a few bits of large bogwood to create points of interest and maybe a little cave. The more you can get in around the edges with a focal point just off centre the better the puffer will feel. Though fahaka are notoriuos bad boys I still beleive they feel safer and secure with plenty of places to hide or just chill out if need be. Of course leaving plenty of open space too for them to whizz about in is essebtial