Fahaka puffer care?

[CAPOREGIME]

Just bought my first Fahaka, well puffer in general. Ive never kept one but my buddy has. So i have an idea of how they work. I just wanted some opinions and suggestions. I know that they are extremely delicate and I know that good water quality is a must. Aside from frequent water changes and good filtration, is there anything else I can do that will keep this little guy healthy?
Thanks

[DeLgAdO]

offer hard crunchy food.

snails, clams, crab meat, etc.

puffers teeth grow constantly through there lives, much like a rodents.

it is important they keep there teeth in check

otherwise, they will grow too much and incapacitate them from eating, and you will have to wear them down yourselfs, or they will starve.

[davo]

theyll need a big tank when older, and unless you really like em i think its a bit of a waste to have just one single specimen. although if i had the room, id think about it

[Vince]

Just bought my first Fahaka, well puffer in general. Ive never kept one but my buddy has. So i have an idea of how they work. I just wanted some opinions and suggestions. I know that they are extremely delicate and I know that good water quality is a must. Aside from frequent water changes and good filtration, is there anything else I can do that will keep this little guy healthy?
Thanks
how big is it? i feed my 3 inchers red mealworms for now. some ocassional crayfish pinchers, or shrimp tails. when they get bigger, around the 5-6 inches...then i can start some larger crayfish, and more red mealworms.

[PufferXtreme]

Mussel meat, cockle and prawn will get fast growth rates and good colour. As for sensitivity - I've never really had much of a problem. Water changes are a must for all fish anyway. good pick up!:thumbsup:

[LA213]

as substrate, i have pool filter sand with my fahaka...as soon as i put it in it dug itself inside

[SLANTED]

A good varied diet and good water will be the biggest factors. Mine grew for 4" to 14" football in under a year. In terms of hard foods for trimming the beak, that is really only for saltwater puffers. It is good to give them some harder foods but it is not as dire as in the saltwater scenario.

[RobD23]

well i have had some problems keeping my juvi fahaka's in constant health....and my water quality is good. Also i feed a variety of foods

[starrfish71]

Me too! I just got a fahaka- mine is about 2 inches, thin, scared. He ate alot of grass shrimp last night- seemed better. I will put some coral in the tank- my water is alkaline and usually has a pH around 7.6 or 7.8- so with a piece of coral I think he'll be good.

4" to 14" in one year!!!!!! Good goodily.

[Fella]

A good varied diet and good water will be the biggest factors. Mine grew for 4" to 14" football in under a year. In terms of hard foods for trimming the beak, that is really only for saltwater puffers. It is good to give them some harder foods but it is not as dire as in the saltwater scenario.


I'd disagree with this. I've had to trim not only my Colomesus Asellus (SAP) puffer in the past, I've had to trim the teeth on my Carinotetraodon Irrubesco (red-eye red-tail) puffer as well.

I would always feed puffers shelled foods, on the basis the majority of freshwater puffers aren't piscovores, they mainly eat molluscs and other shelled creatures.

[PufferXtreme]

Those smaller puffers do need regular dentistry. Nile puffers teeth don't grow that fast so only occasionally need crunchy food. That said, I do like to feed cockle in shell to the larger puffers just to enjoy the strength of their bite!

[CAPOREGIME]

Alright, with the teeth issue. If I were to put just the shell from a dead snai in my tankl, would the puffer use this as an aid to trim down his beak on his own? Or would this beak trimming only work in the process of eating harder foods?

[PufferXtreme]

Use live snails as an incentive to break them open. Otherwise buy cockle in the shell and stamp on them to break up the shell - that way the puffer will have to pick through the bits of shell to get the meat.