Finally, a baby Mbu

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

stempy

Dovii
MFK Member
Sep 8, 2011
901
303
102
Galloway, OH
Been looking for years and finally a specialty fish store was able to get one in! He's just a baby but I'm sure he won't be for long. He's currently housed in a 60 cube till he puts on a few inches at which point I'll move him to my 500 gallon. Within minutes of being introduced to the tank (after an hour long drip acclimation) he immediately began hunting (and eating) the entire snail population!So while he puts on some size I need to find homes for my 150+ africans in the 500 gallon tank and then work on a new aquascape built just for him. I'm thinking of doing driftwood set up in such a way that it creates many nooks and crannies to keep him occupied hunting for snails. I want to cover the driftwood with live plants to make it look as natural as possible along with some river rock arranged along the bottom. I've got two kessil amazon sun 360's coming to keep the plants happy and make the tank shimmer

[video=youtube;8lDUfBiKrfw]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8lDUfBiKrfw[/video]
 
Congrats! Sounds like he'll have a lovely home.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I537 using MonsterAquariaNetwork App
 
So, is your 500 African cichlid tank going to ultimately be an mbu tank, or do you think they can co-exist?
 
I'm not going to chance it, I've got over $1, 000 in africans. I'm just going to sell them and he's going to have free run of the tank. I do plan on buying some schooling fish to make the tank a bit more lively.
 
Sounds awesome! Very rewarding fish to keep. Be careful what you keep with him! Always have a backup plan. If I were you, I'd try starting out with some inexpensive community fish. Believe it or not, many Mbu are actually giant puppy dogs that will be bossed around by a fish much smaller than themselves. Some are murderers though! Be warned :)

I got my Mbu at around 14" because it HATED an asian arowana. He nipped it up pretty badly and was consequently given away. He didn't bother a FRT, datnoid, or a flagtail at all. I currently have him with yoyo and clown loaches, rainbowfish, and he doesn't pay them any attention at all unless they try to steal some of his food. He doesn't take kindly to that and just chases them away.

Hope that helps :)
 
Yea that's exactly why I'm selling off the africans. A few are monsters that I have. I am heavily leaning towards a planted SA community tank around him. Some nice angels, maybe possibly discus, some ram cichlids, tetras, mollies, ets...One giant show fish surrounded by a smaller active cast I am thinking would make for a nice display.
 
Sounds great. I've had a few mbu and enjoyed them a lot. I kept my largest one surrounded by African cichlids. Oddly the yellow labs started picking at his tail. Peacocks seemed to work well but the mbu did kill one that got between him and his food. I think a school of mild mannered tetras would look great. Enjoy him.
 
^ MBU's are the largest freshwater puffer, but not the largest puffer species... there are some marine species that can grow much larger than an MBU... such as a Mappa Puffer which is a marine species...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
MonsterFishKeepers.com
Top Bottom