Fahaka Puffer

The fahaka is a large puffer living in fresh waters stretching from the Nile to West Africa. With its yellow and dark brown stripes running along its flanks, its big eyes and a personality that recognizes its owner "like a dog," it has a devoted following. It changes color depending on its mood; it darkens when stressed or restless.

However, it exceeds 40 cm, its beak is strong enough to injure a finger and it kills every living thing in the aquarium. The 5 cm juvenile in the store will need a large aquarium within a few years; it should not be bought without accepting this responsibility.

It lives in the rivers, lakes and vegetated banks of the Nile, Niger, Volta and Chad basins. In the wild it feeds by crushing snails, mussels and crustaceans with its powerful beak; this is why its teeth grow throughout its life, so that they are constantly worn down by hard foods.

• Volume: at least 450 liters for an adult; 150–180 cm length and 60 cm width.
• Filter: very strong filtration (6–8 times the volume per hour) and a 40–50% water change weekly; large shelled foods pollute the water quickly.
• Water: moderately hard to hard, slightly alkaline water. No salt is needed.
• Decor: sparse and sturdy: large stones, roots. Protect the heater; it can break it by biting.
• Mind your hands: do not put your hand in front of the fish during maintenance; its bite can cause a deep wound.

Carnivorous. Hard-shelled foods such as snails, shell-on mussels and oysters, shell-on shrimp, crayfish and crabs are essential for wearing down the teeth. Vary with fish fillet and squid. Adults are fed every two to three days; it is prone to being overfed.

Intelligent and interactive, but its aggression is extreme even among puffers.

Good companions: none; it must be kept alone.

Avoid: all fish (even large ones have their fins and eyes bitten), shrimp, snails, a second fahaka.

Strictly a single fish. Even juveniles injure each other; a large aquarium does not change this.

Breeding in a home aquarium is so rare that it is practically unknown. Most fish sold are wild-caught.

• Overgrown teeth: the most common problem; without shelled food the beak grows long and prevents eating, and trimming may be necessary.
• Water quality: when nitrate rises, appetite stops and blotches appear on the skin.
• Medication sensitivity: its scaleless skin is sensitive to copper.

There is no reliable external way to tell the sexes apart.