Getting a mbu in the near future.

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
ha-ha-ha, you didn't expect me to let that just slide by, did you? ;)

I think that your Fahaka is a prime example of why we need more info before becoming overly rigid in our line of thinking regarding some of these puffers. There are more holes than swiss cheese as far as what we don't know about some of these fish.

Which leads us back to some of my previous questions ........

How many wild adult Mbu or Fahakas have actually been collected, and/or studied to any degree?

What were their average sizes? (not just the largest, but the average TL & weight)

Were the larger specimens male, or female?

Do adult sizes vary within geographical locations?


I don't believe for a minute that your 12" Fahaka has been stunted, a 125 gallon with 75% weekly water changes, and with a diet that I doubt it would ever receive on a weekly basis in the wild, if anything should cause the fish to exceed it's typical adult size in the wild. Yes?

This is precisely why I don't feel that one should immediately assume that a Mbu is stunted, or is going to become stunted unless it's housed in a 1,000 gallon tank. As long as the fish has adequate space, a well balanced diet, and is kept in pristine water conditions, there should be no issues with regards to growth, or overall health.




 
Don't get me wrong, I do feel bad for my fahaka. I do feel I have stunted the fellow, since he really belongs in a river, not this little 125g tank. If I could get him a bigger tank & my floor would support it, I would have gone with 180g, at least. He deserves more room to swim.

You should work for Fishbase! What do you do for a living? Scientist of some sort, would be my guess... You actually remind me a bit of the guy who wrote that article about keeping mbus--RTR.
 
Perhaps that glow in the dark gravel is the root of the problem? j/k! lol



I suppose in a perfect world every fish kept in captivity would be swimming around in a tank the size of an olympic swimming pool, but this isn't a perfect world that we live in.
Then again in a perfect world all of these fish would be left in the wild, escape predation, fisherman's nets & traps, never be exposed to pollution, and live to a ripe old age.

But that doesn't happen either.......


With regards to Mbu puffers, the harsh reality is that thousands (probably 10's of thousands)of this species are consumed as food each year, by a country that is protein poor, and increasing in population beyond what the natural resources can supply.

Ask yourself how "happy" the Mbu etc in the photo below would be swimming around eating the best of foods, in a tank that some might consider less than adequate in size.



mbu22.jpg





While that photo may sicken some people, it's simply a way of life for the people who live in countries such as Tanzania, Zambia, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Approx. 200,000 tons of fish are collected & consumed each year in Lake Tanganyika alone, and that doesn't account for the thousands of fish that get pulled out of nets, and tossed back in the water to rot. (such as by prawn fisherman)

Or the species that are quickly dwindling in numbers due to pollution from mining operations, or from sediment influx caused by soil erosion from the vast amount of deforestation activity. And if that wasn't enough you can add the pollution from untreated wastewater, and agricultural runoff. And while we're at it we might as well toss global warming into the mix as well, as it's also causing problems in these areas with regards to their fisheries industry.

A couple of reads that might enlighten some people as to the situation in some of these countries.

http://iodeweb1.vliz.be/odin/bitstream/1834/525/1/Wetlands4960.pdf

http://www.ilec.or.jp/eg/lbmi/pdf/22_Lake_Tanganyika_27February2006.pdf


So don't feel bad for your Fahaka, I'm willing to bet that he's living the life of a king, compared to tens of thousands of other Fahaka's that never made it out of Africa.
 
Loving the discourse!:popcorn:
 
Something else that I should have touched upon in my last comment, that being what happens to a massive amount of fish (including T. mbu) during the dry season.

In a country such as Africa, when the rainy season ends, and the water levels reside, eventually you end up with areas that are now broken off from the main rivers & lakes, and in many cases are essentially nothing more than large puddles. The photo below shows an exposed riverbed along the Malagarasi River, Tanzania. (the same area where the fish shown in the photo above were collected by local fisherman)

mbu23.jpg




The Malagarasi River and it's wetlands are where the vast majority of T. mbu are collected in Tanzania. (very few are actually found in lake Tanganyika) In the latter stages of the dry season, these small satellite bodies of water eventually become oxygen depleted, and any fish that hasn't already been captured by fisherman, or eaten by mammals and/or birds, dies a slow ugly death. I would be willing to bet that a large amount of the small juvenile T. mbu that we see in the hobby, are collected from these types of small bodies of water, where catching juvenile mbu in the 3-5" range would be very easy. (notice the net been carried in the photo above)

The late Pierre Brichard mentions the effects of the dry season in his "Book of Cichlids and All the Other Fishes of Lake Tanganyika", where he states; "Although being common in the river, puffers represent only a very small fraction of the fauna. This might be due to the sporadic epidemics which, every few years, kill them by the thousands during the dry season."

While I understand that with puffers (with their big puppy dog eyes) it can be easy to anthropormorphize ones pet fish, I think if one takes a closer look at the BIG picture, in many cases having a mbu live out its life in a hobbyists tank (even if in a somewhat stunted state) may not be nearly as bad a fate as had they been left to fend for themselves in the wild.
 
Interesting! And thanks for the photo. :)
 
You're welcome wilkinson, hopefully that perspective helps you realize that a 500 gallon tank such as yours, that is massively overstocked when one considers the ultimate size & aggression levels of many of your fish ........ is no place for a Mbu puffer.
 
Old post, but I feel compelled to thank you for the info RD. RD.

Obviously, I'm researching for a big puffer. Leaning towards fahaka due to my preference for more aggressive type puffers, but the monster keeper in me is screaming mbu.

I left my opinion in the tank size vote thread by fathomer.
 
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