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Fahaka Puffer

Globe Fish ~ Striped Puffer ~ Nile Puffer ~ Band Puffer Family: Tetraodontidae

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Tetraodon lineatus Photo © Animal-World: Courtesy Ken Childs

  With its yellow stripes and bright red/orange eye, the Fahaka Puffer can be a beautiful pet fish!

   The Fahaka Puffer is also known by quite a few other common names, including Globe Fish, Striped Puffer, Nile Puffer, and Band Puffer. It is a large freshwater puffer that can become a very beautiful and friendly pet. It has a robust comical appearance, an intelligent and curious nature, and a very hearty appetite.

   Though they are quite striking in appearance, the Fahaka Puffer or Globe Fish can be incredibly aggressive. They will most likely damage or kill any other fish that is kept with them. All puffers have a sharp beak in their mouths and the Fahaka Puffer will use it to remove pieces from just about any living thing that is in the tank with them.

   If you want a wonderful single specimen aquarium, don’t let the aggressive nature of the Fahaka Puffer dissuade you from keeping one. If kept by themselves, they really can be a wonderful pet and can be easily trained to take food from your hand.

For more Information on keeping this fish see:
Guide to a Happy, Healthy Freshwater Aquarium

Distribution:
   The Fahaka Puffers or Globe Fish are found in the Nile, Chad basin, Niger, Volta, Gambia, Geba and Senegal Rivers in Africa. They inhabit large rivers and open water, as well as weed beds and vegetated areas.

Status:
   These fish are not endangered.

Description:
   The Fahaka Puffer or Globe Fish is a stocky elongated fish covered with short prickles and has bright orange/red eyes. It's body is brownish-gray on the back, gradually becoming lighter towards the under parts, ending with a whitish belly. There are a series of light, often golden colored, horizontal stripes running from the pectoral fins back across the tail. Like many of the pufferfish, the coloring of the Fahaka Puffer or Globe Fish can vary with age, disposition, and environment. While a juvenile may have a more mottled appearance, the adult will become more intensified, with the dark areas taking on a deep red coloring.
   Pufferfish have the ability to 'puff' themselves up with water or air if threatened. When they inflate, their spines protrude outward and this apparently helps keep them from being eaten. Another defense of many puffer species, including this one, is to produce toxic substances in their flesh that is poisonous if eaten. The Pufferfish can be quite long lived in the aquarium, many living for 10 or more years.

Size - Weight:
   These fish can grow to a maximum size of about 17 inches (43 cm).

Care and feeding:
   The Fahaka Puffer or Globe Fish are carnivores. Their natural diet consists of insects, mollusks, and crustaceans; so snails, crabs, crayfish and shrimp would be good choices as food. In an aquarium they will also eat small fish and can sometimes be trained to eat freeze dried krill. This puffer should be fed every other day while small, decreasing this to just two or three times per week as an adult.
   Puffers have strong teeth that grow throughout their lives. They need to be offered hard shelled live food often to keep their teeth worn down. Acceptable foods include shellfish, crustaceans and hard shelled foods such as snails will help wear down the teeth. If the teeth get too long, they will be unable to eat, requiring the owner to clip the teeth.
   Since puffers do not have gill covers or scales, they are thought to be more susceptible to diseases, nitrite, nitrate and ammonia levels. Consequently they are not a good fish to cycle an aquarium with. Also because they usually don't eat all of their food (messy eaters!), these fish will usually put more load on the aquarium filtration requiring more frequent water changes and better maintenance in general. A generous weekly water change of 30% to 50% is the standard recommendation for a puffer aquarium.
   They are not particularly fast growing so smaller specimens can be kept for some time in a relatively small tank. Eventually you’ll need a minimum of a 30 to 40 gallon tank to house an adult, but preferably a 100+ gallon to give your pet the best. This pufferfish is predominantly a freshwater species, though it can be kept in lightly brackish conditions.

Water Region: Top, Middle, Bottom:
   The Fahaka Puffer or Globe Fish will swim in most parts of the tank.

Acceptable Water Conditions:
   Temp: 75° - 82° F (24 - 29°C)
   pH: of around 7.0
   Hardness: 10 -12 dH

Social Behaviors:
   This pufferfish can be very aggressive towards all fish including other Fahaka Puffers.

Sexual Differences:
   Sexual differences are unknown though females may be  distinguished when spawning as their bellies get rounder while males will remain more slender.

Breeding/Reproduction:
   Has not been bred commercially in captivity, but there are reports of successful breeding by hobbyists.

Availability:
   The Fahaka Puffer or Globe Fish are commonly available, but due to their aggressive nature you may have a hard time finding them in most retail stores.

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Latest Comments
I have a 55 gallon and the fahaka puffer will be the only one in the tank besides his food, and I am going to put some small plants and hides for him. He is about an inch and half long right now and the 55 gallon will be a temp tank till I get a new bigger one. He is in a 360 gallon right now and picking on everyone in the tank, that is why I am getting him. And he is so cool and I have been doing my research, and I can't find a cooler fish then the fahaka puffer. Josh 2009-09-03
After owning my fahaka I wouldn't own any other fish. He gets so excited when I come into the room. Todd 2/09/09 Todd 2009-02-09
I have had my nile puffer for almost 18 months and she was about 1" long when I got her. She is almost 4" long now. She is kept in a 36x18x18 tank alone. 2 months ago she was laying eggs on and off for about a week. Having trouble finding a male. Reuben 2009-02-03
I have had a Fahaka for 7 months now. When I got her she was only 1.5 inches, now she is 13 inches. I now have her in a 145 gallon tank. I cannot find any tank mates she won't eat or kill. She is a very picky eater, the only thing I can get her to eat is crayfish and frozen whole shrimp. Very interesting fish though. jesse 2008-09-05
Fahakas are one fish that 99% of the bunch are extremely aggressive. Occasionally there's the one that will stay unaggressive. Now, I do not want to disuade anyone from getting one of these if they truely want one, but do NOT expect that if you have a fahaka in a community tank now, that it will stay with that temperment. Fahakas get more aggressive as they get older. Also, Fahakas cannot be housed in a 30-40 gallon tank. Way ungodly too small. They get a foot long for pete's sake! They would barely be able to even turn around in a tank that size. Absolute minimum for Fahakas are 120 gallons. crystal 2008-04-09
Some of the coolest comments:
I have to say that I disagree with the "coolest comments." A Fahaka needs much more space than a 10 gallon tank can provide. Essentially, a minimum tank size of 125 gallons is required. At 9 months, a healthy Fahaka should be around 7 to 10 inches, depending on the size it was when you first purchased it. They should grow approximately 1 inch per month. At this point, it is likely that the fish is stunted which will later on lead to health problems and a shortened life. Do your fish a favor and get it a bigger tank. Keeping it in a 10 gallon tank is just cruel. katty 2009-04-27
I have a striped puffer for about two years, he/she is awsome! Very docile so far, actually I have a hard time keeping things in the tank with him/her, but not because he bothers anyone, it's the other way around! We call him "lil man" he's been so awesome. He stopped eating live food a year ago, I got worried something was wrong as he was keeping a couple guppies as buddies. But I got him eating a variety of frozen foods. He's about 7" long, plump, beautiful blue eyes. He shares his tank with two small clowns, anemone, blue damsel, and an engineer goby that's huge. oh yea, Patrick, the chocolate chip star, he gets hand fed too. They are smart, people tend to think fish don't have much brain other than instinct, but I beg to differ! Anne 2009-03-14

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Author: Ken Childs
Additional Information: Clarice Brough CFFS