Odd Mbu Behavior

[knobhill]

I have a 4" mbu in a 60g tank with a flagtail prochilidous. Water quality is good: 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, <20 nitrate, ph 7. I do a 40% weekly water change. Filtration is an xp3 and ac110, aeration is a 4" bubble disk. Temp is around 88 but I have dropped it to 85. I feed thawed market shrimp, clams, krill, and bloodworms (all frozen foods). I also feed about 4-8 snails a week (snails quarantined).

A behavior has surfaced that I noticed when I first got him a few months ago.
He kind of seems drunk--lack of body control, bouncing off the gravel, gets pushed by filter current, and meager appetite(at least for a puffer). He does continually search the gravel for food (frozen bw mostly) and bounces while he does this as well, preferring to eat one bw at a time instead of attacking a cube or a piece of shrimp. His belly is shrunk except for when he eats, then it gets round in a couple places. Poop is dark so no signs of ip. The flagtail is fine and healthy...

Am i overreacting or is there something wrong with my mbu?

 

[geronimo69]

He's drunk from lack of space. Like getting spun around in a "tea cup"....

But really, not sure why..... I do know he needs a MUCH BIGGER TANK though.

 

[knobhill]

he's only 4" long, tank is 10 times that in length and 4 times that it width...I'm waiting until he hits about 7" to put him in my 375g so my arowana doesnt try to eat him!

 

[geronimo69]

he's only 4" long, tank is 10 times that in length and 4 times that it width...I'm waiting until he hits about 7" to put him in my 375g so my arowana doesnt try to eat him!

I understand your thinking, but it might very well stunt his growth to a certain point. Im sure others like Pufferpunk will chime in and explain.

 

[Pufferpunk]

What test kits are you using? Do you see an expiration date on them? You seem to be an experienced fishkeeper but how was that tank cycled. I ask all this, because that is classic behavior of nitrite poisoning.

 

[knobhill]

That makes sense! I'm not sure if you recall, Pufferpunk, I got the fish and setup from another hobbyist who wasn't taking great care of the tank. After moving it, the nitrites registered at 1ppm and then disappeared after several water changes. I don't think the tank has reverted back to NTS (at least I hope not). I use the test strips...don't think they are expired but I will verify when I get home.

Upon retesting, another water change tonight....

 

[Pufferpunk]

On your way home, to the store & get yourself proper liquid test kits.

 

[DB junkie]

I understand your thinking, but it might very well stunt his growth to a certain point. Im sure others like Pufferpunk will chime in and explain.

I'd like to know more about this "stunting".

Typically monster fish are kept in "growout" tanks. The tanks would of course be too small longterm but we use them short term cause it makes it easier for the fish to find food.

Do you puffer folks have a rule of thumb as far as when to upgrade to a bigger tank so that thier growth isn't "stunted"????

 

[KNH]

DB, Mbu are no different than other fish with regards to stunting. They will grow very fast in a large tank and have issues in smaller tanks. Good luck with your group of little guys. Mbu can be amazing fish to keep.

 

[Clay]

This is almost exclusive to the puffer forum. I see the "you'll stunt that fish if you don't give it a 1000g" explanation at every turn. Unfortunately (as I've stated before), people tend to regurgitate information based on opinion without realistically looking at the reasons.

While I agree that the fish grows to a large size (26.4" TL on fishbase) and requires a large volume of water, the CONSTANT lack of evidence other than conjecture is disheartening.

And while I respect PP's opinion and specialized attention to puffers, I don't think "wait for PP to get here and explain it" is a valid response. Many times, PP references her own site articles (nothing wrong with that, I guess), but if the information was brought into the MFK environment, they may be scrutinized a bit more and a good dialogue would be healthy.