Fahaka puffer tankmates

[Carter020108]

Right now I have my 2 inch fahaka puffer with 3 cichlids that im going to get rid of and i wanted to know if this would work in a 300 gallon tank

Fahaka puffer
Jardini arowana
Black tropical gar
Spider kelberi peacock bass
Spotted gar
Platinum red tail catfish

 

[Fat Homer]

Fahaka puffers are known to be one of the most aggressive freshwater species of puffers when kept with tankmates...

So for the most part, the best tank mates for a fahaka is a complex environment made up of rocks, wood and hardy plants with a substrate of some sort...

Now im not saying it never works out (with tankmates) but more often then not, the puffer becomes curious / aggressive with size and age, throw some sharp teeth and powerful bite in = bad news for any fish on the receiving end...

I also think you need something bigger than a 300G for an RTC...

 

[Tobiassorensen]

Its a no go in my ears. The rtc will outgrow most of that fish. And one little bite in the fahaka you might kill all that fish since they got Tetrodotoxin wich is a higly toxic neurotoxin with no known antidote. I agree with Fat Homer on best tankmates for an fahaka is sticks and stones. I got an small 2" fahak that i have to net everytime im gonna do something in its tank it attacks everything i put in the tanl. Even an pleco lost an eye.

 

[PYRU]

Its a no go in my ears. The rtc will outgrow most of that fish. And one little bite in the fahaka you might kill all that fish since they got Tetrodotoxin wich is a higly toxic neurotoxin with no known antidote. I agree with Fat Homer on best tankmates for an fahaka is sticks and stones. I got an small 2" fahak that i have to net everytime im gonna do something in its tank it attacks everything i put in the tanl. Even an pleco lost an eye.

You have to consume the fish to worry about the toxin.

 

[Tobiassorensen]

You have to consume the fish to worry about the toxin.

Well yeah as a human you have to. But have you heard of boxfishes and cowfishes that wipes put an entire tanke if scared or bitten. They have the same toxin. What if the rtc or lets say an gar takes a bite of the fahaka. What might happen then?

 

[PYRU]

You have less than 50/50 shot of the mix working. What I've found that make good tank mates are smaller barb type fish when the puffer gets bigger. If you're going to try Tankmates they need to be extremely hardy and capable of recovering from a test bite

 

[PYRU]

Well yeah as a human you have to. But have you heard of boxfishes and cowfishes that wipes put an entire tanke if scared or bitten. They have the same toxin. What if the rtc or lets say an gar takes a bite of the fahaka. What might happen then?

Box fish are a different animal that's their defense. The fahaka will have a bite mark that's all that will happen.

Scroll to puffer fish section

Tetrodotoxin, an Extremely Potent Marine Neurotoxin: Distribution, Toxicity, Origin and Therapeutical Uses - PMC

Tetrodotoxin (TTX) is a potent neurotoxin responsible for many human intoxications and fatalities each year. The origin of TTX is unknown, but in the pufferfish, it seems to be produced by endosymbiotic bacteria that often seem to be passed down the ...

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

 

[Tobiassorensen]

Box fish are a different animal that's their defense. The fahaka will have a bite mark that's all that will happen.

Scroll to puffer fish section

Tetrodotoxin, an Extremely Potent Marine Neurotoxin: Distribution, Toxicity, Origin and Therapeutical Uses - PMC

Tetrodotoxin (TTX) is a potent neurotoxin responsible for many human intoxications and fatalities each year. The origin of TTX is unknown, but in the pufferfish, it seems to be produced by endosymbiotic bacteria that often seem to be passed down the ...

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

This is some interesting readings. But they also state that ttx producing bacteria have been collected from the skin of pufferfishes.

I quote.
"At least 12 different species of TTX-producing bacteria have been isolated from various pufferfish tissues including the skin, intestine, ovaries, and liver"

 

[PYRU]

This is some interesting readings. But they also state that ttx producing bacteria have been collected from the skin of pufferfishes.

I quote.
"At least 12 different species of TTX-producing bacteria have been isolated from various pufferfish tissues including the skin, intestine, ovaries, and liver"

I don't want to derail the thread further but this is a non issue with a fahaka.

The real danger is a big fahaka taking your finger off and biting chunks out of the fish.

 

[Fat Homer]

I agree there isnt enough TTX on the skin to cause problems for tank mates... maybe if they swallowed the puffer whole, but just from something like biting, then other fish are pretty safe...