I had an idea to construct a Tanganyika tank around my Mbu puffer. Sounds like a bad idea but I've never seen any agression from him towards the community fish in his tank. I've heard conflicting reports about their agression so I thought I might experiment with some Tanganyika cichlids. I've heard they aren't as agressive and I like the Africans. Anyone have ideas as to which might fit the bill? Should I just abort the idea?
Tanganyika tank
- Thread starter Aribenlaw
- Start date
considering most Tangy fish are seriously small compared to a mbu, Unless you have a layer between them I'd say no.
But as usual you never know. another thing is that unless it's brichardies or comps/calvus, most tangs arent cheap. I dont know anyone that likes expensive feeders...
If the tank is big enough, try a school of Tropheus. Like about 20+
But as usual you never know. another thing is that unless it's brichardies or comps/calvus, most tangs arent cheap. I dont know anyone that likes expensive feeders...
If the tank is big enough, try a school of Tropheus. Like about 20+
tangs are plenty aggressive, but the problem lies in the fact that your mbu, under ideal conditions, will reach a couple of feet, and is obviously very predatory....most of the tangs available get between 4 and 6 inches. I have to agree with taz that most of these fish will probably just become expensive feeders, potentially very expensive....if you have a huge tank maybe you could through in an emperor cichlid??? saw babies on sale at aquabid, they are the biggest cichlid in the world, and that might work out ok...otherwise i would say just leave well enough alone and enjoy the mighty mbu!!!
I was not going to chime in since everyone else has hit the nail on the head, but the cave idea seems like a good one, but tangs will venture away from their caves often for food, and my calvus and comps pay not attention to their caves most of the time they prefer to swim in the open. I would venture to say that go for tangs and leave the puffer in the community tank. This way you get both. Why screw with a good thing....
If it ain't broke don't fix it....
If it ain't broke don't fix it....
I definately wouldn't do it. But at my LFS they had an 8 foot show tank with about 10, 6-12" zaire blue frontosa with a 8inch MBU.
The Tangs would probally be OK but why chance it. Leave the Puffer in his own tank and start a new Tang tank. What size tank is the puffer in?
The puffer is in a 75 growout. He's only about 5" and growing quite slow. Ideally I'll be getting a 400 or an indoor pond sizable to keep him in. I know the mixing idea is frowned on with Mbu's but the more I research the fewer straight answers I get. I like the cave idea. Enough rockwork would give sufficient hiding space. I think I'll wait till my next tank upgrade to try it though.