defective fahaka

[pockets]

I think my lil fahaka is defective. I got him almost a year ago from fish and pet ranch by almeda. He was about a half inch when I got him. Now hes about 3.5". He eats dozen shrimp dailey but just doesn't seem to grow. Also hes very shy and skiddish. He stays in the back corner of the tank and only comes out when its time to eat then back to his corner. I thought id intice him to come out so added 10 giant danios.....nothing! Really frustrated

[eklikewhoa]

Size tank he's in along with the frequency of maintenance on the tank plays a huge role. Also varied diet with vitamins helps too

[nightster]

Size tank he's in along with the frequency of maintenance on the tank plays a huge role. Also varied diet with vitamins helps too

+1 mine is about 5.5" long and is in a 125g by itself...

[pockets]

Mine is in a 125 planted tank. Typically do weekly water changes 25-35%. He has been in there the entire time. He had 10 rummy nose as tank mates but made quick order of 9.

[Chris360]

I feed mine one frozen shrimp daily, a snail or crawfish about once a week. He's been in a 55 gallon every since I've had em, he was about 2" when I got him and now 7 months later he's 7 1/2 inches

[fishman1]

are fahakas very aggressive would it be safe to house a 7" one with a 20" arowana

[nightster]

I wouldn't lol

[Chris360]

Yes, very aggressive. He would kill the arowana eventually

[fishman1]

how come I have seen videos of them being housed with a community of other fish that were half the size of the puffer and it wasn't a mbu

[Chris360]

Give it a try then, I have a 7" Fahaka too and he's killed everything I've put in there with him except for a small Kenyi Cichlid

[fishman1]

Okay so he doesn't care about the small cichlid? Does he nip its fins?

[Chris360]

The only reason he's still alive is because the Fahaka can't catch him....LOL

[Tfbc8322]

I have a 12" fahaka in 46 bowfront with 2 chinese algae eaters he ate everything else. He ate a 150 dollar royal pleco

[mnemenoi]

To be fair there have indeed been rare occurences of acceptable tankmates for Fahakas. They are very rare, but enough has been see that I know they do work temporarily. On nearly every one of those self same threads it ends with 'and one day he killed it'. They are well known to be quite aggressive with even larger companions. I have read about very large tanks (2000 gallons and up) being used by researchers concerned with their breeding habits. He raised 3 from early on in a huge tank and they all matured to 10-12", after 16 months he awoke to 2 dead and only 1 living. There was no previous signs of aggression and nothing he was aware of had changed recently. I would certainly classify them as spontaniously aggressive with larger companions and you are just gambling with anything. Puffers in general seem inquisitve and their only means of exploration is a tremendously sharp and deadly beak, so it could be simple exploration and not malicious. Usually a single bite, even in curiosity, would prove very deadly to nearly all tankmates.

[Tfbc8322]

Spoken like a true puffer owner