7/24/2019 Fahaka pufferfish: care, size, lifespan, tankmates, breeding

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Fahaka pufferfish (Tetraodon lineatus)

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he fahaka puffer (from Arabic: ‫ )ﻓﮭﻘﺔ‬is also known as the Nile

puffer, lineatus puffer (Tetraodon lineatus). Tetraodon fakaha
(Tetraodon lineatus) is a large puffer that can’t be seen in
aquarist tanks quite often.

This is a freshwater fish which in the wild inhabits in the Nile river and also it’s
known as Nile puffer fish.

Fahaka puffer has a very curious and intelligent nature and it becomes
domesticated quite easily, however at that the fish is rather aggressive
towards other fishes. Its very likely that fahaka puffer will kill or hurt other
fishes that will inhabit in the same tank with it.

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All tetraodon fishes have strong teeth and fakaha puffer uses them to tear the
pieces from its tank mate bodies. This tetraodon is a predator, in the wild it
feeds on all types of snails, spineless and insects.

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Contents [hide]

1 Habitat in the wild

2 Description
3 Difficulties in keeping
4 Care and keeping in a tank
5 Feeding
6 Compatibility
7 Sex differences
8 Breeding

Habitat in the wild

Fahaka puffer is a tropical demersal (bottom-living) fish which inhabits in large
rivers and other surface waters in the West, East and North-East of Africa.

The fish can be encountered in the river Nile basin including White Nile,
Turkana lake, Lake Nasser reservoir (Sudan), Baro River (Ethiopia), Lake
Chad basin, rivers Niger, Volta, Gambia, Geba and Senegal.
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Fahaka puffer water temperature in the wild is about +24…+26 °C and its
habitat is among thickly planted areas where it feeds on shellfish.

Description
Just like all tetraodon species аahaka puffer color may vary depending on the
fish age, environment and mood. Fakaha puffer juveniles are more bright
colored and the adult species have more contrastive coloring.

Tetraodons are famous for their ability to ‘puff up’ themselves with air or water
if they see some signs of danger.

When they do this their spikes are directed outwards and it’s rather difficult to
swallow such a prickly ball. Besides, all puffers are more or less poisonous
and Fahaka puffer isn’t an exception.

This is a very large tetraodon – fahaka puffer size can be up to 43 cm (17 in)
and its lifespan may be up to 10 years.

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Difficulties in keeping

Scientific Name Tetraodon lineatus

Common Name Fahaka pufferfish, Nile puffer, globe fish, lineatus puffer

Tank size 100 gallons (400L) and more

Temperament Aggressive

Diet Omnivorous/Predator/Snails

Temperature 75–81 °F (24–29 °C)

pH рН 7.0-8.0

Size 43 cm (17-18″)
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Fahaka puffer care isn’t difficult at the condition that you provide the fish with
proper tank environment and conditions.

Fahaka puffer fish is extremely aggressive and it should be kept alone in a

tank. Fahaka puffer tank size should be about 400 liters (105 gal) and more for
an adult fish.

Fahaka puffer tank requirements also include a very powerful filter and weekly
water renew. Feeding the fish may become quite costly, since the fish requires
only qualitative feed.

Care and keeping in a tank

Adult fakaha requires a lot of space, therefore Fakaha puffer aquarium should
be of at least 90 gallons capacity. The fish should have the ability to turn
around and swim in the tank, so keep in mind that fakaha puffer growth rate is
very high and the fish max size is up to 45 cm.

The best tank substrate for the fish is sand. There’s no need to add any salt
into the water, since fakaha puffer is a freshwater tetraodon.

For fakaha puffer tank setup you may also use smooth rocks, snags and
sandstones. The fish is very likely to damage any tank plants, so don’t waste
your time on planting them.

The fish is rather sensitive to nitrates and ammonia content in the water, that’s
why it’s necessary to put the fish into the completely set and stable tank.

Besides, the fish is rather messy and there are quite a lot of leftovers after its
meals, so a strong external filter is required (to pump up to 6-10 tank volumes
per hour).

Required water temperature is 75–81°F (24 – 29°C), pH about 7.0 and water
hardness is about 10 -12 dH. It’s important not to keep the fish in very soft
water, it is harmful for the fish. Don’t forget that tetraodons are poisonous –
don’t touch them with bare hands.

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Feeding
In the wild fakaha puffers feed on insects, shellfish, spineless species,
therefore snails, crabs and crawfish are just the right thing for this puffer fish.

In the tank it may feed on small fishes and frozen krill meat. You should feed
fakaha puffer juveniles every other day, as they are getting older the number
of meals should be decreased up to 2-3 times a week.

As we’ve mentioned above tetraodons have rather strong teeth, that grow
throughout their lives. It’s necessary to give them snails and crustaceous
species, so the fish could wear its teeth down continuously.

If the teeth become too long, tetraodon won’t be able to feed and you’ll have
to cut its teeth yourself.

The fish diet changes with the age of fakaha fish – the juveniles feed on
snails, prawns, frozen feed, however, you should feed the adult fish (over 16
cm long) with large prawns, crab legs, fish fillet. Fakaha puffer may be also fed
with live fish, however the possibility is very high that the fish may be infected
this way and get ill.

As for me, I use several different types of snails, and change them from time
to time. Order them on Amazon, here are the best: One Stop Aquatics
Malaysian Trumpet Snails, 10+ Feeder/Cleaner Ramshorn Snails, MTS.

Compatibility
Fakaha puffer or lineatus is a very aggressive fish, so it should be kept alone
in a tank. There were some cases when the fish was successfully kept
together with other fishes, but it was only in very big tanks and fakaha puffer
tank mates were so fast, that the fish couldn’t catch them.

The fish can be kept in one tank with related species only if they have enough
space for each of them to avoid any contact, otherwise there will be a fight
each time they see each other.

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The fish is very intelligent and it seems as if it communicates with its owner
due to its unique mimics.

Sex differences
Sadly, it’s impossible to see between fakaha puffer male and female, however
during their spawning period the female fish becomes more rounded than the
male one.

Breeding
Still there’s no commercial breeding of this fish, however some aquarists
succeeded to get juveniles. The difficulty of Fakaha puffer breeding is that this
tetraodon is very aggressive and in the wild the fish breeds very deep in the
waters.

Taking into account the adult fish size it’s almost impossible to simulate the
conditions required for its spawning in a tank.

Last update on 2019-07-23 at 09:42 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API

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