Finally Got a Fahaka!

[Fat Homer]

It doesn't eat the nerite snails. Hopefully it will eat other snails; still need to get some. It loves bloodworms. Should be crayfish season soon and our office pond gets tons of tiny ones; can't wait to throw some in the tank.

View attachment 1058067

Could be that the shells are too hard for your puffers at this size? I know ramshorn are a common snail people like to feed their puffers due to the fact they are such prolific breeders, and there shells aren't too hard (like MTS, which i've heard stories of peoples puffers chipping their teeth on)...

 

[L98Z28]

This guys from liveaquaria as well. Got him late September early October




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[pwmin]

Personally i probably wouldn't bother with the brine shrimp culture... at 1" they grow pretty darn quick and will quite possibly outgrow wanting to eat brine shrimp, not to mention, there are "easier" solutions...

I for one feed my fahaka the following (although i know there are other foods that also work):

As a smaller puffer 5" and under: Blood worms / smaller pieces of defrosted scallops from market / Cherry red shrimp i was breeding at the time / pellets / defrosted shrimp from market / Small snails

After about 6" or so i used the above along with: Mussels (on half shell) / Live Marble Crayfish i was breeding / Clams in Full Shell (although at the beginning had to help crack it open to make life easier till she could tackle them alone)
The fact they are so aggressive i guess also helps in the aspect a little since they are willing to almost bite anything at least once...

thanks for the tips! I gave up on brine shrimp a while ago, lol. I do feed small chunks of shrimp sometimes. I mostly feed bloodworms right now. It doesn't seem to like frozen brine shrimp that much and didn't eat the beefheart I tried.

I had great luck with guppy fry when mine was little grew like heck

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I don't really have anywhere to grow out guppies, but I guess i might need to set up a 10 gallon to grow something out.

Could be that the shells are too hard for your puffers at this size? I know ramshorn are a common snail people like to feed their puffers due to the fact they are such prolific breeders, and there shells aren't too hard (like MTS, which i've heard stories of peoples puffers chipping their teeth on)...

that's what I was wondering. they seem to have thicker shells than a lot of other snails. I was planning on finding some ramshorns and hoping they would grow out in the puffer tank since they're so prolific. i was going to get some from a friend, because he used to have a lot of snails, but he has assassin snails, so they're not getting out of hand.

This guys from liveaquaria as well. Got him late September early October

View attachment 1058238very nice.


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[Etan]

Please keep us up to date on your puffers growth.

 

[pwmin]

Hasn't grown much at all, but it's finally baby crayfish season in the office pond and I've been keeping 1-2" crays in its tank and it's always full and fat and finally growing.

 

[andyroo]

What about amphipods / scuds? I'd think that'd be a simple live-starter, and should be catchable in any trout pond in CO.
Disease / parasite issues?

 

[pwmin]

The crayfish are still going strong in the pond and it's still perpetually eating them, but there is a possible disease issue. With all these crayfish and how easy they are to get, scuds and amphipods aren't really needed. It has gotten the occasional dragonfly larvae.

About 4 inches now and in a 158 gallon. Kind of gets lost in there, but is not having any issues finding food. Has slowed down with its eating, though.