Thinking of a doing a Fahaka setup.

[Fat Homer]

I would be interested to see how this goes, as most people in the past i've seen add tank mates with young fahakas, but rarely ever heard of people getting an 8" one new and then adding tankmates after...

Also as something to think about, im not sure i would wait too long before adding the chiclids to the tank, coz you dont want your fahaka claiming too many areas as his own before more fish go in...

 

[Achilles1763]

Might be worth getting anything you want in there/established first before the fahaka arrives. It's your best chance for the fahaka to think of them as tank mates and not food. At 8 inches it will only take him a few days to realise that anything coming into the take is food and worthy of investigation as such.

 

[Hoplo]

Sounds fun. Just make sure that the rocks are stack so that they don't accidentally fall down.
Other then that if other fish will work will largely depend on the personality of your puffer.

 

[mrrobxc]

Tank is all setup. I stuck with roots and round boulders. No lace rock.

I cannot find jewels locally for the life of me and the puffer comes tomorrow. I guess I have no choice for tank mates.

 

[Achilles1763]

Cool any chance of pictures? Okay are there any other fish you like the look of? With 150g you have a decent bit of space for a large fish tank mate. A large catfish could be an idea as clean up crew... Fahaka can be rather messy eaters. Or a single larger cichlid? I have 2 large syno Decorus and an Oscar with my fahaka (amongst others). Or a school of larger of larger dithers like redhook silver dollars would look cool. Just ideas and dependant on what you can get before tomorrow... But give it a go... The bigger the tank mate the better. Less chance of being dinner.

 

[Achilles1763]

Just a few more ideas... Frontosa would be good (better than Oscar as less chance of lip locking) or bichirs (if you can find a large specimen). Nothing to aggressive as it will pick a fight with the fahaka and that ends badly in my experience.

 

[mrrobxc]

I just got the puffer. Mailed in from Monster Aquarium. Fish is a little smaller than I thought.

Do you think a syno catfish will be ok and not get killed? I want a decorous or an Angelicus. Also, thinking of adding some three jewels from Rapps. The Bangui type.

 

[Achilles1763]

To be honest, if the fahaka goes in first all bets are off. How big is he? Even at 6 inches some can be psychotic but you never know. If the tank mate is as big as him or bigger he may accept it. Go for anything large and non aggressive..I have been successful with a number of species but I got my fahaka at less than an inch...so he grew up with fish as friends not food (to quote finding Nemo lol) ... See what you can get asap the longer you wait the more likely problems will be. And you must always adhere to the basic underlying rule of putting a fahaka in a community tank... 'If you can't face seeing it get chewed to death, don't put it in'. Have fun and keep us updated.

 

[mrrobxc]

Pics

 

[Fat Homer]

That tank setup looks sweet!!! Love what you did with it...