Mbu puffer with amazon puffers

[PYRU]

It started with an old timer (RTR) that posted on the puffer forum, a conclusion that he made after killing the mbu that he owned, and kept in a 180 gallon. Pufferpunk spent most of her time promoting his mind think. I disagreed back then, and still do.

Getting a mbu in the near future.

I am looking in to getting a mbu puffer in the near future. I am just starting to do some research and want to know as much as possible before i make the purchase. I already know they need a huge tank! Also, I am not looking for links to other resources. I have read a ton of them and I am...

www.monsterfishkeepers.com

and more here .......

The Hypocrite thread mbu

so im starting to get really annoyed of all the negative with mbu puffers and need huge tanks . yes i do believe they need big tank, but not a 1000G. i would say for one 400G and up. with the right turn around space. NOW THIS IS THE MONSTERFISHKEEPERS FORUM I BET ALMOST 80% OF PEOPLE ON THIS...

www.monsterfishkeepers.com

Well there it is. I heard that story but i didnt think it originated there.

 

[Rocksor]

I was going to get a few from one of the people that sell out of cali. I cant remember for the life of me who it was though. If you say his name I'd know it. I think he had them at $100. I got ahold of the breeder in Arizona or someone getting some directly from him that said 75.

Wesley Wong aka Rare Fish?

 

[RD.]

Yeah, I just found the post I made years ago here on the subject when someone else asked about the origin of the 1,000 gallon notion. Not that 1,000 gallons is a bad thing, but .......

Robert T Ricketts wrote that article after a failed attempt at trying to keep a mbu long term in a 180 gallon tank. After his single experience with attempting to keep his mbu in a 180 gallon tank, he made a post about what he personally felt the fish truly required (1,000 gallons) which has then been repeated over & over & over again ad nauseum.

Stuart Morse later echoes the same sentiments in his article on Mbu, after his failed attempt at raising his Mbu in a 100 gallon tank. (400 litres to be precise)

 

[DRUKENMUNKY]

I had a mbu that I grew to 29 inches and kept fine in a 450 gallon for 4 years with only a giant gourami as a tank mate....it was doing fine with no issues.....unfortunately I had to leave the country and my tank sitter at the time experienced a ph crash and by the time he let me know......I rushed home and was able to stabilize the ph but the mbu had loss his appetite and I wasn't able to save him.....

 

[twentyleagues]

Wesley Wong aka Rare Fish?

Yes Wesley!

 

[DRUKENMUNKY]

...out of all the fish I ever kept...this was probly my favorite of all time.....so now 7 years later im raising a new one...right now he is in a 200 quarantine and im sure the new one is gonna be a beast as he has now been trained on massivore pellets now for 4 weeks. i have seen many friends try to duplicate my old puffer and none of them were able to grow as big ...i truly believe diet is a big part and mbus are will eat alot of cool things but it gets pricy. To mbu owners i personally advise to stick to frozen foods like shrimp mussels clams etc.....ive seen alot of live crayfish videos and its cool but be cautious of where u get the crayfish from. I will never forget the day that i bought a pound of live crayfish from the asian grocery store one day....got home....stuck them in a 5 gallon bucket and threw a copper tablet in there and a million little worms came out...i was like hell no this aint being fed to fish. I did still feed live to my fish every now and then but i would buy them from my lfs where i knew the crayfish were quarantined.

 

[boomerk9]

Are mbus ok with frozen Chilean mussels? They come cooked, shell on and quite cheap from our local supermarket.
I'm thinking of getting an mbu, intrigued by the behaviour and lovely patterns. Currently available too at our lfs.

 

[twentyleagues]

Are mbus ok with frozen Chilean mussels? They come cooked, shell on and quite cheap from our local supermarket.
I'm thinking of getting an mbu, intrigued by the behaviour and lovely patterns. Currently available too at our lfs.

I've never been a fan of feeding cooked food to fish......saying that I understand that pellets are "cooked". Alot of cooked seafood is salted so unneeded sodium. I guess in the grand scheme of things as long as it has nothing added it would be ok. I think raw is better though.

 

[RD.]

I agree with twentyleagues, always better to purchase live/fresh - freeze for 48 hrs at 0F (-18C) to destroy any potential parasites, and use up within 30 days or so. Frozen seafood that have been unthawed under refrigeration, should be fed within 24 hrs. (or discarded)

Most public aquariums tend to also supplement with vitamins to avoid deficiencies. (especially B1, vitamin E, and vitamin C) IMO fish kept in captivity require full vitamin & trace mineral supplementation to some degree or another. This is a non-issue if one is feeding a commercial pellet as the staple, or even stuffing "some" pellets into frozen foods, or supplementing via a commercial pre-soak such as Boyd Vitachem.

 

[Malte81]

I heard somewhere that the Temperature in our home freezers gets not cold enough to kill all parasites.
I don't know anything about this but maybe we are not on the safe side and it's just wishfull thinking?