Mbu Puffer Question

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
C

Cyclop3000

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
May 22, 2005
448
1
0
Quebec, Canada
Hey all. I got a little question for the Mbu puffer experts...

My Mbu is still a baby, no more than 4" long. I've had him for a while no problem, then about a month ago I temporarily moved a 6" clown loach in with him (he's in a 50 gallons growout). Today he stopped eating, is very skinny and won't move at all, all day. Looks like he doesn't have the strenght to move anymore.

So I thought the loach could have been responsible...so I took it out yesterday. Now it seems like he's trying to eat, already today he seems more interested in me and in food, and moves more around the tank. Ate a bit yesterday, and a bit today...eating also looks tedious to him.

He's so skinny, I was wondering if there was anything I could feed him that would help him get better and grow up a bit after. I currently feed him shrimps and pond snails. He loves the snails, but now breaking the shell seems like hard work for him. I try to feed him at least once a day, in the weekends I feed him 2-3 times a day. There is a silver dollar (4") in this tank, and 2 irridescent sharks (3") as well. The sharks sometimes spook him cause they move so fast, but he holds his ground with them.

Anything else I can do to make him feel better? Anything to feed him I didn't think about? He won't eat staple at all, nor earth worms. So far all he's been willing to eat is snails, krill and shrimps.

Any help welcome!!
 
mbu's can be so moody, especially when young. any changes in the tank can produce a mood swing. usually this will go away after a few days.

Is he swimming ok? well what i mean is ok for a mbu as they're not the greatest swimmers at the best of times! i've found the only things that put them off their food is either sulking because of tank changes or if they get air in their belly which can stop them eating, make swimming very difficult and ultimately can cause death.

as for food, at his size you don't need to worry massively about his teeth and the odd snail is fine. try cockles in their shells already open and shrimp in their shells too. very good growth food.

what you'll find is some mbu can become very fussy eaters. I have one that at 5" would only eat cockles in shell, then would only eat prawns and not cockles when he got to about 8", then when he got to about 10" his fussiness disappeared and now he'll eat anything!! also he only started eating out of my hand at about 12".
 
HI, have you checked the quality of the water? What foods are you feeding him?

Puffers are sensitive to water quality since they have no scales

they also require Feeding with mollusk's,i.e. cockles in and out of shell(needs to grind teeth down)loves snails,live ghost shrimp etc. These type of foods are a must as the puffers crush the hard shells it wears down its teeth (beak) because if it didn't and the beak grows to big the puffer will be unable to eat and without a trip to the vet to get the teeth filed down will certainly die. That is probably the most common form of death apart from water quality problems.

Tetraodon mbu get huge and since they are messy eaters requires a very large aquarium with good circulation and regular water changes (up to 50% a week).Best kept alone as they tend to nip other fish but i have kept them with other tough fish in the past.


pH 7.0-8.0, temperature 24 - 26°C / 75 - 79° F

An old link but shows you how big they get when he went he was bigger than this.

http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=12852

i hope this helps let me know how its going
 
Thanks for the replys. I know what the requirements are, I know how big they get...I know a lot about those fish, a good friend of mine Clare (she used to come on this board) has one and told me everything about it. Only thing is I don't know anybody who had a baby like mine, her's she got at 25" or so.

I do feed him shelled mollusk, he's not too fond of it. He rips the meat a little but is not very impressed by it. Water is good, I try to be careful as I know he doesn't like bad water. After a week he gets moody and when I do the water change he's usually back up swimming at me.

Well I'll try to go buy some ghost shrimps and see if he likes that. I'm not too sure he will, he's kindof a slow eater...dunno if he can catch the little buggers. The goal with the other fish in the tank is to get him used to tankmates, as he will end up in my large tank with my silver aro when big enough. So far his growth rate has been vvveeerrryyy slow...dunno if normal, nobody can answer me this one.

Anybody ever raised a 3" Mbu to adulthood? Can you tell me what "normal" growth rate looks like?
 
Like all puffers, they are sensitive to nitrites and ammonia but you do seem to know what you have got your self into;) . Another good food I found but useless for grinding down the teeth but my one used to gorge its self on them is mussels my one would eat and eat them so perhaps try them. I got my one from about 6-12 inches in a year but it was in a tank on its own and would eat anything I was putting whole cockles in there shrimps mussels and snails the thing was ravenous.
 
sounds like something's up with the water or the fish.

when in doubt, do water changes. whenever I sense anything wrong, the first thing I do is add salt; but not everyone agrees on its purpose.

all the small mbu puffers I've had loved live blackworms. try it.
 
Sounds like you might want to think about parasites. I have a 4" Mbu myself but I had to wait about a month to get him from my lfs because of parasite problems. The symptoms you describe sound like something internal but I'm no expert. Is it possible you introduced something when you added the loach?
 
I almost forgot, I've had good luck with earthworms. Have to mix it up with the odd crab for his teeth but he sucks down nightcrawlers in seconds.
 
Thanks all for your replies, I really appreciate.

So I tried the ghost shrimps...like I thought he tried eating some but they are way too fast, no way he can catch one. Oh well, little cleaning crew in my tank LOL. So he still doesn't eat, seems excited when I get close to the tank (like he did before for food) but when I drop the food in he tries a bite, spits it out and sinks back in the bottom. I'm getting nervous now...I fear he might not make it he's so skinny... :confused:

Parasites: Nope I am 99% sure there are no parasites there. The loach is from my large tank which has been running forever with no new fish and no feeders. So I would doubt that.

Water changes/salt: I agree with you, I also try to do water changes as soon as I see something wrong. Salt is not a bad idea too, I do treat the tank sometimes with salt and the puffer seems to like it. Thanks for the reminder I will do that.

Mussels/earthworms: I also tried those a few times, but he doesn't really like that either.

Live blackworms: Mmmm...never seen that around here before, but I will try and find some for sure. How do they sell that? The worms are swimming in a container or something? Are those the small worms (like the bloodworms only black)?

Thanks again!!
 
Blackworms are usually sold by the scoopful for about a $1.50 or so. They sink to the bottom and start to squirm into the substrate. I added some kuhli loaches to make sure they didn't start breeding under the gravel. My Mbu goes crazy for them.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
MonsterFishKeepers.com
Top Bottom