Above: a nice premium quality Freshwater Fahaka Puffer, swimming in one of our aquariums, when one of our crew members took this picture.

Comments: These are Puffers that you rarely see in live fish stores or in online fish stores.

Premium quality Puffers like these are hardier and more colorful than Puffers from other sources.

Origin: This Puffer's ancestors lived in a wide area across Central Africa.

Maximum Size: This Puffer can grow to be about 17" long, but they rarely grow that big in aquariums.

They can also live many years and continue to grow slowly for their entire lives.

Behaviors: They can be aggressive toward other fish.

Compatibility: Some recommended tank mates include equally aggressive fish, but they should usually be kept in an aquarium of their own without other fish species.

Temperature: This Puffer can live pretty well from about 75 to 80 degrees F., but they're probably most comfortable at about 78 degrees F.

Click here to learn about aquarium temperature, aquarium thermometers, and aquarium heaters.

Feeding: this species does best when fed a diet of shellfish, snails, and crabs.

Fahakas have teeth that constantly grow and need to be worn down, chewing on shells.

Some Fahakas will eat Premium Fish Food Pellets.

Click here to learn more about and shop online for premium fish foods.

Water Conditions: This Puffer can tolerate a wide range of water conditions.

Probably a pH of about 7 with moderate hardness is best.

Most water in the US is different but seems to be OK, so it's probably best NOT to adjust the pH or the hardness of the water.

Here in our facilities the water is hard and the pH is usually about 7.8. We ship them in this water.

Click here for a lot more information about aquarium water conditions.

Aquarium Size: These guys can do well living in a 30-gallon aquarium, when they are small and under 3" long, but they will eventually need a much bigger aquarium.

Decor: These Puffers do not need gravel, and a layer of gravel more than 1/4" thick will usually fill with bits of uneaten food that will contaminate the water.

Click here for more about aquarium gravel.

Live Plants are beautiful, improve the water quality, but puffers may nibble on live plants or bite on plants searching for bits of food.

Click here for more about aquarium plants.

Aquarium Filter: Bio-Wheel Filters are highly recommended.

A Penguin 350B Filter in an aquarium with 30-gallons is OK to start with a smallish Fahaka.

Eventually one Fahaka will need a very large aquarium with as many Penguin 350B Filters as will fit across the back of the aquarium or a large filtering system.

Click here to learn more about aquarium filters.

The addition of Lava Rocks will keep nitrates in the ideal range.

Click here to learn more about using Lava Rocks in aquariums.

Life Span: This Puffer can live for several years, maybe many years with excellent care, including a large aquarium with excellent water and shellfish as food.

Gender: It is very hard to distinguish males from females.

Breeding: This Puffer has on rare occasion been spawned in very large aquariums, but it's rare.

Popularity: This freshwater Pufferfish is rather popular in spite of their eventual size.

Names: This species name is Tetraodon lineatus.

Variations: We do not know of any variations, but this Puffer occurs across a very wide region, and so we suspect their may be variations.

Click here for more information about Freshwater Puffers.

We hope you've enjoyed reading these comments.