Why mussel should not be feed to Congo spotted puffer?

kzimmerman

Piranha
MFK Member
Mar 18, 2009
876
203
76
delmar md
What do you feed? That is a fish was was fed seafood containing thiamine only. If you have a diversified menu with lots of thiamine free foods, then some thiamine is fine, but you don’t want it to be only thiamine containing food. A varied diet is the key. I believe that thiamine is found mostly in saltwater fish, I’m not so sure about muscles. There are freshwater muscles aNd clams, I had clams in my front ditch until the drought dried it up. Unfortunately In Maryland you cannot harvest freshwater mollusks, although there is a grey area concerning ditch cleaning on your own property.
 

kzimmerman

Piranha
MFK Member
Mar 18, 2009
876
203
76
delmar md
That is a really good book, and I trust the information contained. There is a species that is known as the freshwater snook, maybe that’s it. Now I have to find the “freshwater snook”.
 

Midwater

Redtail Catfish
MFK Member
Dec 30, 2021
1,092
1,677
154
Thailand
If you have a diversified menu with lots of thiamine free foods, then some thiamine is fine, but you don’t want it to be only thiamine containing food ... I believe that thiamine is found mostly in saltwater fish
Thiamine is good, vitamin B1.

Thiaminase is broadly anti-thiamine. It exists in both salt water and fresh water fish. Some sea fish like cod and freshwater fish like tilapia are low.
 

kzimmerman

Piranha
MFK Member
Mar 18, 2009
876
203
76
delmar md
I’m not surprised I mixed that up at all. Sounds like a me thing to do! Thank you for straightening me out, I need it sometimes!
So it looks like the general consensus is it’s okay, just as long as there’s non thiaminaise food items included.
The fella that wrote the chapter on foods and nutrition is or was a biologist with the forestry service. He was researching fish nutrition to try to reduce the mortality of new born fry for hatcheries. The fish pictured was the result of an experiment. I kinda trust the guy.
 

professorjimjam

Dovii
MFK Member
May 26, 2021
823
643
105
A new update on my puffer fishes. I tried starving them for two days and then I fed them only mussels , I mean without the shells. They ate them and I kept an eye on them for about an hour. As I saw they became uncomfortable and suddenly I saw two of them started returning the mussels from their stomach. I thought they are regurgitating but then I noticed all of the chewed mussels where thrown at the gravel. Their texture of skin the black spots became very visible as a sign of stress, and I didn’t feed them for a day and then I restarted feeding them earthworms and they got back to normal.
 

kzimmerman

Piranha
MFK Member
Mar 18, 2009
876
203
76
delmar md
It’s easy to do isn’t it? My suvattii, mr. Murder lips, will voraciously attack and eat until he’s at full inflation I think.
I’m not so sure the answer is the volume of food, it’s the quality and diversity a wild animal would get vs a captive fish. We typically only offer a few meal options where the wild fish could have dozens. So the concern would then be more to the fact that the nutritional value of the few food items be as healthy for the fish as possible. A food item in their wild environment could contain something like thiaminase but due to the many other options available it’s effect is minimal. In a captive environment it makes a big difference when there’s only 3-4 different foods available.
Now that we’ve talked about this a bit…..
Does anyone really know what foods we feed our fish are thiaminase free?
 

kzimmerman

Piranha
MFK Member
Mar 18, 2009
876
203
76
delmar md
Did the puffers regurgitate them because of the salt, maybe?
 

Fatpuffer

Candiru
MFK Member
Apr 6, 2020
74
103
41
46
It’s easy to do isn’t it? My suvattii, mr. Murder lips, will voraciously attack and eat until he’s at full inflation I think.
I’m not so sure the answer is the volume of food, it’s the quality and diversity a wild animal would get vs a captive fish. We typically only offer a few meal options where the wild fish could have dozens. So the concern would then be more to the fact that the nutritional value of the few food items be as healthy for the fish as possible. A food item in their wild environment could contain something like thiaminase but due to the many other options available it’s effect is minimal. In a captive environment it makes a big difference when there’s only 3-4 different foods available.
Now that we’ve talked about this a bit…..
Does anyone really know what foods we feed our fish are thiaminase free?
From https://www.practicalfishkeeping.co...d-to-know-about-predator-fish-and-thiaminase/
“There are really only three groups of foods dangerously rich in thiaminase: mussels, crustaceans, and cyprinid fishes. Mussels are popular fresh or frozen foods because they’re cheap and readily available. Crustaceans are many and varied, but we’re concerned with prawns and shrimps widely used as fresh or frozen foods.”

soak shrimp and mussel in vitachem? I do it just for extra supplementation. Im lucky my puff like northfin carnivore. I feed apple snailsand crays.
 
  • Like
Reactions: professorjimjam
zoomed.com
hikariusa.com
aqaimports.com
Store