Mbu not growing

[knobhill]

I bought a 3.5" mbu puffer last December. He was a little beat up, missing part of his lip. He came with a flagtail procilidious in a 60g. I quarantined him in the tank setup and did have trouble at first getting the water quality correct--first was a nitrite spike due to moving the tank and then a second nitrite spike when the canister filter clogged. He currently resides in a 175g and is still only 4-5" long! The tank has a school of clown loaches and plecos. Water parameters are very stable: 20-30pp nitrate, 0 nitrite, 0 ammonnia, 6.8ph 82f. Feeding time is very difficult for the mbu since the clown loaches are aggressive with food and he is a little slow (i seriously think he has brain damage). I use a feeding stick and place market shrimp and live snails on the ends. I feed him every day until his belly is super round. What gives?

PS: I have a 375g he will be going into as soon as he is big enough!

 

[studd muffin]

Maybe stunted?

 

[Pufferpunk]

I'd put him into the bigger tank now, away from competitive eaters. Nitrate should be kept <20. You're going to need even a bigger tank eventually for him.

What foods are you offering? Any vitamins?

 

[Andrex]

Not stunted, a stunted fish would have to be in a tank were it would hardley be able to move so dont let any people tell you other wise as ive seen lots of people saying your fish is stunted when its not.
Some Mbus just take longer to grow than others.

 

[Pufferpunk]

With poor parameters or improper diet, a fish will easily stunt--even in a large tank.

 

[AU_Arowana-RG]

I'd put him into the bigger tank now, away from competitive eaters. Nitrate should be kept <20. You're going to need even a bigger tank eventually for him.

What foods are you offering? Any vitamins?

He stated Market Shrimp and Snails in his opening post, just so you know.

 

[Andrex]

Diet may help to stunt a fish but ive never heard of parameters stunting a fish.

 

[Andrex]

I bought a 3.5" mbu puffer last December. He was a little beat up, missing part of his lip. He came with a flagtail procilidious in a 60g. I quarantined him in the tank setup and did have trouble at first getting the water quality correct--first was a nitrite spike due to moving the tank and then a second nitrite spike when the canister filter clogged. He currently resides in a 175g and is still only 4-5" long! The tank has a school of clown loaches and plecos. Water parameters are very stable: 20-30pp nitrate, 0 nitrite, 0 ammonnia, 6.8ph 82f. Feeding time is very difficult for the mbu since the clown loaches are aggressive with food and he is a little slow (i seriously think he has brain damage). I use a feeding stick and place market shrimp and live snails on the ends. I feed him every day until his belly is super round. What gives?

PS: I have a 375g he will be going into as soon as he is big enough!

There is no need to put him in a bigger tank, the tank you have at the moment is plenty big enough for a good year or more.

 

[borgey]

No this person obviously does not know what they're talking about. Listen to PufferPunk as she knows more about Puffers then probably anyone on this site. It's not only about the Puffers size it's about their BIO LOAD also. Puffers give off a very big bio load especially a T. Mbu. Please do your Mbu a favor and put it in another tank. I can imagine poor water quality would stunt its growth think about it. It surely would not help it that's for sure. I hope you do realize that you will need around a 1000 gallon tank once fully grown. Anything less then that would be just cruel.

 

[AU_Arowana-RG]

No this person obviously does not know what they're talking about. Listen to PufferPunk as she knows more about Puffers then probably anyone on this site. It's not only about the Puffers size it's about their BIO LOAD also. Puffers give off a very big bio load especially a T. Mbu. Please do your Mbu a favor and put it in another tank. I can imagine poor water quality would stunt its growth think about it. It surely would not help it that's for sure. I hope you do realize that you will need around a 1000 gallon tank once fully grown. Anything less then that would be just cruel.
.

Likewise, a 175g would be good for a good while, so he probably needs to focus on pellet training and more frequent water changes more than switching to the bigger tank right here and now. (Cycling and all that.)