are they hard to keep?
And on the site it mentions tankmates
Our 20 month old Fahaka is now 18 inches and shares her tank with a 24 inch ornate polypterus, a large common plec and a equally large starlight bristlenose plec. She occasionaly takes bites out of their fins but for the most part they have learnt to avoid her.
Fahakas have a reputation for being extremely aggresive and unpredictable and cannot be kept together EVER but some individuals, like ours, can be kept with other species of large, hardy fish.
Each fahaka has an individual temperament and have been known to be so violent that they can small the aquarium glass by ramming it with their teeth in an effort to attack a human near the tank. THESE ARE NOT FISH FOR BEGINNERS.
You will need a large tank at least 2 feet by 2 feet by 5 feet MINIMUM for ONE fahaka. It's best to put the young fish straight into the final tank as they grow VERY fast. ours grew from 2 inches to a foot long in seven months
It must be filtered to a very high degree for absolutely spotless water quality. We have filtration on our tank that's rated for a tank twice the size.
The bottom should be covered in a fine but heavy sand - pool filter sand is ideal - as fahakas, especially young ones, sleep and rest under the sand and may swallow gravel leading to blockages of the gut.
They produce a lot of waste so the tank will require vaccuming every day and expect to do 20% water changes twice a week at least.
Ideally, you will need access to large live aquatic snails in large numbers (ours can eat three pounds of pond snails a week when we can get them!) but otherwise any fresh or frozen human-quality shellfish such as prawns, mussels, clams, cockles and whelks are eagerly accepted along with live bloodworm and river shrimp. Fahakas should not be offered live fish and although they will kill them are unlikely to eat them unless starving. Like most puffers, Fahakas will not accept flake or processed foods.
Here's some pictures of Martha Fahaka:
This when we got her at about 2 inches:
A month later in the same flowerpot. My how she's grown!
Here she is resting:
She's not too botherered about her tankmates:
Snail time!
Grey fading to white? Nonsense! Here's Martha showing off her colours:
Martha at 5 months:
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