Fahaka compared to Rudolfianus

[djbvaranus]

I’m sure this has been asked a million times, this is my first time posting in the puffer section of this site, but is there a way to tell if you have the actual larger fahaka or the fahaka Rudolfianus when they are under 2” long? I picked up a very tiny(maybe an inch and a quarter) fahaka last night, not knowing about the smaller counterpart fahaka rudolfianis and now I just want to make sure I got the real full sized fahaka

 

[kno4te]

Fat Homer

 

[Fat Homer]

Honestly, i still need to look more into this subject...

but at the same time im not sure there are that many obvious differences between the two at a young age, although again i still need to look more into it...

I wonder if PYRU might have some insight on this as im pretty sure he is also into puffers as well...

 

[Rocksor]

Can the person you got it from tell you the capture location? I think T. lineatus rudolfianus is only found from Lake Turkana and very rarely imported if at all. I'm thinking that Toyin be only one person who could import that Fahaka.

 

[Fat Homer]

Thats a good point, depending if you can confirm where the specimen was collected, chances are its meant to be a T.Lineatus...

Whether its been stunted or not tends to be the main question when debating which sub-species it may be when a small fahaka that refuses to grow comes along...

 

[djbvaranus]

He’s a petco fish.... so they’re labels are not very trustworthy

 

[Rocksor]

I would say that it's the typical Fahaka sold, and not the smaller sub-species.

 

[Fat Homer]

^ agreed with above, unless you got it from a specialized dealer that deals with strictly exotic fish its very unlikely it will be the sub-species...

 

[djbvaranus]

Okay thank god, I didnt realize there was a smaller subspecies until I got him home, would have been pretty upset if he only got 3”

 

[Fat Homer]

Okay thank god, I didnt realize there was a smaller subspecies until I got him home, would have been pretty upset if he only got 3”

As mentioned, most of the time when people get these guys and they refuse to grow chances are they were being kept in conditions way to small for the fish for extended periods of time...

I find this happens mostly at stores with lower turnover (especially where i live), coz they can have upwards of 25-50, 1” puffers in approx 15-20G till they all sell out...

In some cases i’ve seen the un-wanted ones sitting in those same tanks for up to 5 months and barely reaching approx 3” in length when they should be at least 6”+...

All too often these fish can end up sitting around, thats why when possible i special order puffers to try and make sure they are as healthy as possible coz LFS’ here dont particularly take good care of their stock imo unless its worth a ton of money and even then its min spec for sure...