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It looks like a Fahaka puffer to me.

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I'm not your neighbor, you Bakersfield trash.

Most definitely a nile puff.

You're likely to have better luck, Mr. Blade, if you take your query over to the "General Brackish" thread -- that's the most appropriate place for it and thus the one where you're most likely to run into Puffer fans who can identify your mystery critter.

Don't worry, I'm a pretty big puffer fan, and those markings are distinctly lineatus. Remember also, that Niles are, though indeed brackish water suitable, not very commonly found in estuarine settings, so I doubt those in the BW board will be of much help.

fahakas do best in freshwater. I'm going to move this over to the puffer forum.

Quite untrue. There are several populations of brackish water fahaka dotting the Nile delta (among other places). The only fully freshwater aftrican puffers are the Zaire riverine species: congo, spotted congo, stanley pool, and mbu. However, collecting from the mouth of the nile is both dangerous and costly, so fahaka are usually gathered from more inland regions.

Also, I should specify that when we get fahakas in, we often plunk them into our large brackish tank, as it's usually empty. They do just fine.

Last edited by Cup_of_Lifenoodles at 09-Mar-2005 00:06

Best kept in FW. Grows to 18" & requires at least 120g. Fahakas are messy eaters and high waste producers. Extra filtration is necessary for these dirty fish. Immaculate aquarium upkeep is a must. 50% weekly water changes are recommended.

One of the most difficult aspects of keeping these special fish is their diet. All puffers are predatory fish and need hard-shelled, meaty foods to keep their teeth trimmed. Like rabbits, their teeth grow constantly and can overgrow enough to cause starvation in the fish. Puffers eat crustaceans in the wild. Foods for smaller puffers are frozen/freeze-dried krill/plankton, gut-loaded ghost shrimp, glass worms, crickets, worms and small snails (the size of their eye). Snails are an essential food to a puffer’s diet, especially when small. Many serious puffer keepers breed their own snails. As your puffer gets larger, there are many more crunchy foods for them to eat. Larger puffers will eat cut-up pieces of scallops, shrimp, crab legs, whole mussels, clams, oysters, squid, lobster and crayfish. Mine love to chase live crayfish, fiddler crabs and gut-loaded ghost shrimp. I gut-load (pre-feed) my live food with algae wafers, so my puffers get their veggies. I buy most of these foods at the fish department of my grocery store, freeze and later thaw in warm vitamin water as needed. Smaller puffers (under 2" need to eat every day, skipping one feeding/week. Feed them until their bellies are slightly rounded. Medium sized puffers (2-4" should be fed every other day. Larger puffers (4-6) should be fed every 3-4 days. For giant puffers like fahakas 1good feeding/week is enough. You may find this schedule difficult, as puffers are very adept at begging for food! Feeding puffers every time they beg will cause fat, lazy fish and eventually you will be killing them with kindness.

You're gonna feel a lot more for him, when he starts acting like a begging puppydog & seems happy to se you when you walk into the room! Puffers really grow on you!

Well, I'm not pufferpunk, but I can point you in the right direction!

http://www.pufferlist.net]http://www.pufferlist.net[/link] is a good place to start. Also, [link=The Puffer Forum has a lot of good information and pictures and a few puffer experts!

HTH

Last edited by puffer_archer at 15-Mar-2005 10:41