Fahaka ?s

[MyFishEatYourFish]

so ive had my fahaka for a couple months now and hes doing very well. hes almost 6". but i do have a few questions that i haven't been able to answer with research.
hes in with 2 doviis and 3 splendidas, all abut 2.5". he never chases them or shows any aggression to them. i've read that they will never tolerate tankmates though. is it just a matter of time until he goes nuts and shreds all his tank mates?
ive got him eating massivore and he loves it! and he looks much healthier since hes gone exclusively to massivore for the last couple of weeks. is this a complete food for him? and if i offer other foods is it likely he will refuse the massivore? when he eats the pellets they crunch loudly and you can see his jaw muscles flex, will theses pellets do anything to keep his beak trimmed? and if not whats the best food for this purpose so that i can keep his staple as massivore.
probably a dumb question but can fahakas become obese? he eats like 15-20 massivore pellets a day and has put on a lot of girth recenly.
thanks!

 

[Angler]

Having him in with Dovii is a recipe for disaster. Dovii are very aggresive, and, as you already suspected, Fahakas aren't generally tolerant of any tankmates. It's your guess who shreds who first.

Massivore is not hard enough to keep their beak trimmed. You need seafood with shell on or crayfish or something similar.

What size tank are these fish in?

 

[mshill90]

I feed my Fahaka 14" mystery snails, raw market shrimp, and freshwater mussels.

I just drop in the mussels whole, and he destroys them.. you will have to break them open as he is small.

Malaysian Trumpet Snails are good to feed as well as crayfish.

 

[Fat Homer]

I feed my Fahaka 14" mystery snails, raw market shrimp, and freshwater mussels.

I just drop in the mussels whole, and he destroys them.. you will have to break them open as he is small.

Malaysian Trumpet Snails are good to feed as well as crayfish.

Most people recommend against MTS, coz there shells are too hard and have been known to crack a puffers teeth...

Mussels with shell on is a good bet to teeth trimming, and so are ramshorn snails...

 

[mshill90]

Most people recommend against MTS, coz there shells are too hard and have been known to crack a puffers teeth...

Mussels with shell on is a good bet to teeth trimming, and so are ramshorn snails...

I've read that you can feed them once they are bigger- but some people don't.

I haven't fed them in a while because I'm going to be using them for my CL's.

 

[MyFishEatYourFish]

alright ill try to find something harder that he likes. will i be ables to see his beak get bigger or should it never get to that point? is there a food that is easy to obtain or grow that alot of people use for smaller puffers?

 

[mshill90]

alright ill try to find something harder that he likes. will i be ables to see his beak get bigger or should it never get to that point? is there a food that is easy to obtain or grow that alot of people use?

No, you always want to keep it worn down.

This just came to mind, but I don't know if you could use it or not.. but I use a cuddlebone to keep my turtles beaks trimmed down- it's added calcium for the turtles as well..

But I don't know if that would be bad for a fahaka.

 

[MyFishEatYourFish]

No, you always want to keep it worn down.

This just came to mind, but I don't know if you could use it or not.. but I use a cuddlebone to keep my turtles beaks trimmed down- it's added calcium for the turtles as well..

But I don't know if that would be bad for a fahaka.

hmmm, thats a good idea. i doubt he would chew on it though since its not really a food source. i wonder if it were soaked in shrimp juice or something it would work.

 

[mshill90]

hmmm, thats a good idea. i doubt he would chew on it though since its not really a food source. i wonder if it were soaked in shrimp juice or something it would work.

I don't think it would absorb the juice???

But honestly, just throw in a snail or something like that every so often.

Marble crays will come in handy for him.

 

[MyFishEatYourFish]

I don't think it would absorb the juice???

But honestly, just throw in a snail or something like that every so often.

Marble crays will come in handy for him.

wow! thats a beautiful puffer! how big/old? how often do i actually need to feed him something crunchy?