Types Of Pufferfish

Freshwater Pufferfish: Tetraodon lineatus

Common names: Fahaka puffer, Lined puffer, Nile puffer

• Activity level: active/hunter
• Adult size: ~18 inches
• Min tank size: 120 gallons
• Temperature: 74-80 degrees F
• pH: 6.0-7.8

Diet: Crustaceans. While your Fahaka puffer is a baby-sub adult, you can offer them a regular diet of snails, shrimp, and a variety of frozen foods, like blood worms, and brine shrimp – you can also cut fish fillets into bite sized chunks. Once they reach adulthood, it will be necessary to purchase some of your food from the grocery store, like whole shrimp, crab legs, mollusks, and clams. As an occasional treat, you can offer your puffer red wigglers, ghost shrimp, and other types of feeder insects – however, it is important to note that ghost shrimp do not hold very much nutritional value. The key for any fish is a varied diet.

Notes: Fahaka’s are a large, active species of freshwater pufferfish. As such, they require a lot of tank room to move around. It is important to note that the standard 150 gallon fish tank set up is too narrow for an adult Fahaka to easily turn around in. Instead, look for a low, wide tank – a 120 gallon fish tank is wider than a show 150, and is more suitable for an adult specimen.

Young Fahaka’s require adequate hiding spots in their fish tank set up, and will bury themselves in the sand if it is provided. The Fahaka is considered an aggressive species of freshwater pufferfish. While some cohabitate with large, hardy tank mates most will eat other fish that they come in contact with – or at the very least, taste test them.

The Fahaka has a relatively fast growing beak, and requires a hard, crunchy diet. Like many other freshwater pufferfish, if they are not provided with enough hard foods Fahaka’s will require manual beak filing, which is very stressful for both pufferfish and owner.

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Categories: Puffer Care, Types of Puffers Tags: fahaka puffer, freshwater puffer, giant puffer, hard foods for puffer, large pufferfish, lined puffer, nile puffer, whole fresh shrimp

Freshwater Pufferfish: Carinotetraodon travancoricus

Common names: Dwarf puffer, Pea puffer, BB puffer, Malabar puffer

Activity level:active/hunter

Adult size: ~1 inch

• Life span: 5+ years
• Min tank: 10 gallons
• Temp: 74-82 degrees F
• pH: 6.5-7.2

Diet: Baby snails are an excellent source of food for dwarf puffers, and you can easily breed a snail colony at home. You can also offer your freshwater pufferfish a varied diet of appropriately sized shrimp pieces, red wigglers, and different types of frozen fish food, like blood worms, brine shrimp, beef heart and krill. Just remember to keep the pieces small, a few blood worms makes a decent sized meal. These little guys should be fed twice a day.

Notes: Dwarf puffers are one of the few types of freshwater pufferfish that can successfully be kept with their own species. They are best kept in a species only tank, however, some do well with a cleaner tank mates, like otocinclus – some keepers even report their dwarf puffers cohabitating with different shrimp species. Since adult males can become very territorial with each other, it is recommended to keep a single male in a group of females – 1 male to 3-4 females is a widely accepted ratio.

Dwarf puffer beaks do not grow at a fast rate, so you are less likely to have fish problems with an overgrown beak. However, you still need to offer dwarf puffers a varied diet that includes a large quantity of shelled foods to maintain dental health – baby pond snails and ramshorn snails are perfect for this. They do well in a planted tank, and they enjoy an interactive environment filled with driftwood caves and other hiding places.