Rays and Puffers - Actual experiences?

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Still going strong. My mbu is now around the 20" mark and is in with my scobinas for the last while. The scobinas have even given birth and the babies were in there for a good 12 hrs before moving out and there was no damage to them. My mbu will actually suck the shrimp off the rays back instead of bite at it. It's a great relationship they have and never a problem occuring. I did move my frt out not due to problems but to cut down on my waste in my 280 gallon in which my mbu and scobinas are housed. I will move my mbu into my 2200 gallon soon but I don't want the mbu to get stressed by all the big rays and fish in there so I would like it to put on another 4" before trying to rehome it in there.
I have had alot of different rays in this tank with the mbu as it is one of my growout tanks.
 
Mount_Prion said:
You've been doing this with multiple puffers and rays in one tank? How big of a tank is this and what species of puffer? Usually you can't keep two giant puffers in a tank together unless it's HUMONGOUS.

And as for your confusion, a "curious nibble" from the Mbu I had completely decapitated a ropefish in one stroke. They don't nibble, they surgically snip a triangle out of the fish, like a pair of hedge shears.
Click to expand...

My "confusion"? LOL

The reason I made this thread was because of what I saw last night. "IT" finally happened. While feeding my MBU and Marble pup they were both going to town as usual and a piece of shrimp landed on the rays disk right between the eyes. The ray popped up at the same time the puffer went down and.........

(ques the psycho shower scene music)

The puffer got her. She went darting across the tank. BUT guess what? Didn't even leave a mark. So much for the "surgical snip." IF I wasn't just a dumb redneck I could almost swear to god it wasn't even a curious nibble but rather a warning pinch. I thought this was beyond intresting.

I picked up a group of MBU from ECZS at the beginning of 2011. They arrived litterally smaller then popcorn. I have been raising them with my Marble pups since a month after they got here. They aren't growing near as fast as everyone claims but then again my rays don't either. I'm down to 3 MBU as 1 was DOA and lost another after the first few months. I did seperate the biggest one which is only 6-7" now and that's the same one I have with the little Marble. The other 2 are in a tank with 2 Marble pups, some bala sharks, a lil pumpkinseed sunny, and a few little catfish. I actually had a Fire Eel in there too but after becoming a pig it was removed. The tanks are a 90 and a 150. Biggest ray might be 6" and biggest puffer about the same.
 
Thats such a cool combination glad its working so well for you skynoch. Please post a couple pics when you can.

I've also worried about broken mussel shells injuring the rays. Any issues with that?
 
Alan I'm amazed your largest puffer is only 7" after 1.5 years. The last mbu I had I got when it was 12" and it quickly grew to 19" in a few months. Very cool he didn't leave a mark on your marble pup but they have extremely powerful bites along the lines on pacu so you may have just gotten lucky. I still miss my mbu and often think of getting another but always hold back...... at least so far.
 
First off I do not own a mbu puffer and so I am not speaking from direct experience. Tank mates for puffers is a interesting phenomenon with no exact science to it but there seem to be general guidelines to what may help the puffer to allow other fish to survive in their tanks. One of the reasons why rays and puffers arent suggested is because rays when buried up to their eyes, the eyes seem to appear similar to snails which can cause the puffer to attack the ray, another is that rays resting on the bottom can seem like an easy snack for the puffer. Puffers can often go many years without attacking their tank mates and then suddenly especially after they hit sexual maturity they become much more territorial and aggressive. I have seen many cases where a puffer will be living in a community tank for years and then suddenly snap and kill tank mates.

You may however just have a calmer puffer with a mellow personality that will allow tank mates to live. Just a few years ago people with Fahaka puffers wouldn't have ever kept theirs with tank mates but now days its still not common but not as impossible as people previously thought. There seems to be general rules you that you can follow to increase the success of keeping a puffer with tank mates. For example having the minimum tank size or larger seems to help keep aggression down, having separate feeding spots for the different fish, tank decor complexity, average time between switching decor around, water change schedule, and of course the individual puffer personality.


I also have to agree that your mbu seems to be growing pretty slowly. A Fahaka which doesn't even grown close to the size of a mbu should as a average growth rate grow 1 inch a month for the first year minimum
 
The puffers were very small when I got them. I didn't notice them growing much at all when smaller. Damaged goods maybe? I dunno. They seem to be taking off now, but were very slow starters. I don't think there's probobly a whole lot of experience out there with them as small as I got them. Once they hit about 3" or so they started taking off. I'm sure they've easily doubled in size just this year. Hopefully they continue to improve.

The tanks themselves are a standard 90 gallon, a 4x3 150 and a 55 gallon sump all tied together. Waterchanges are cutting the 90 out of the system, draining about 80% of the 90 gallon and refilling, along with a drip. Nitrates seem to be in check but there's definetly not much of a bio load in there yet considering the volume.
 
Al I hope it works for you. Like I stated, I have always wanted my Fahaka with my rays. Got mine when he was maybe 1.5" I know Fahakas are known for more aggression I just think he would be ideal swimming with the rays and VATF. Maybe someday I will get the nads to do it just wish I had some cheap motoros to try it with. Maybe when I got time to sit for several days to observe the interactions
 
I've had decent luck mixing different kinds of fish that aren't typically kept together. But I've also tried to aquire the fish as small as possible and grow them up with together.....

I had a Fahaka that was kept with ATs for a long time but eventually he bit one of the Dats as they would swipe all the food off the top of the water then swim around with it sticking out of thier mouth. Figered it was just a matter of time before "Thickness" got tired of it. He lived out the rest of his years with a Pleco. He (it) was raised with another Fahaka till about 6".

I'm not 100% that this is going to work longterm, but I thought it was worth sharing my experiences. I know it could go south anytime, but after over a year I can't help but think maybe it will work. After seeing what appeared to be a warning pinch, the fact that the puffer and the ray are usually found hangin out together I can't help but think there's a potential for success.

Kinda funny to be more worried about Puffers with rays then "the most aggressive fresh water fish in the world" the Aimara with rays. After what has to be close to a year with absolutely zero issues with the rays he (it) was kept with, the Aimara now shares a tank with all 3 of my blackies.

Will try to get some pics or video up here in the next day or 2, been really busy with several projects around the fish basement.
 
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