Mbu puffer nipping fins

[Achilles1763]

Fine looking tank! However to echo what fat homer said.. To many fish. Especially bottom dwellers/sand sifters. I had success mixing my fahaka as I chose large open water/upper water predators so there was little on the bottom of the tank where the puffer liked to rest.

Feeding time is always a flash point as everyone is hungry. What I did was feed at both ends of the tank at the same time to minimise crowding and use sinking food (cockles or shell on stuff) for the puffer as nothin else can get into it. It means the puffer, who remembers this stuff trust me, where food is and that he will get enough.
Just a few ideas that worked for me. Good luck.

In a side note.. I know very little about turtles but could he be the fin nipper? I heard they are even more unpleasant than puffers lol

 

[Fat Homer]

^ Ohhhh, i missed the Musk Turtle part, that could be a likely culprit in this case...

Also, while the tank has decor, doesnt look like there are many spaces / caves the fish could call their own which might also be contibuting to the problem...

 

[SawickiB]

Honestly i didnt even think about the turtle, as of right now he has a stronger jaw than my puffer fish. Id have to agree that i need to downsize as the largest problem, but i definitely am trying to, its hard to find owners for fish like this around here haha. However hes not exactly a balarena when it comes to swimming so it may be difficult for him to nip a tiny portion off the top of the dorsal fins.

I will note that i have seen my puffer fish attack the caudal fin of one of my teugelsi a while ago for no apparent reason.

I usually drop the hikari pellets and then feed whatever is on the menu that day for the puffer to minimize fish coming for his food.

The decor is a problem too haha i think i have enough to cover the tank but im not very creative so... it doesnt look very good

 

[Reiner]

when I had my Mbu he was totally fine from 4" - 12" and then I started noticing notches taken out of the fins on my clown loaches and after that he moved on to take out the fin rays of my bichirs. After that he lived alone in a tank in the gararge until he got spooked so bad 1 day when the gararge door opened and he hit the lid so hard that he killed himself.

if it's a round bite I would suspect the turtle but if it looks very square it's the puffer

 

[knobhill]

I would also think that it is the Rb musk turtle. They get nippier as they get older. I had 2 in a community tank but they started biting my plecos and barbs. When I put them in a monster community, they were very mellow and never bothered the larger fish.

I'm happy that your eel and plecos haven't been bitten. I'm pretty surprised they haven't been mistaken for a snack by the Pleco or turtle.