I Have My First Mbu!

[ilovemymbu]

It wont let me link to it, so go to thepufferforum .com

thank you x

Hi agian

i know i bought my MBU without researching it but i do feel as if i was sold him under false information. I am actually feeling quite upset right now about the whole thing and am thinking is it best for him to take him back but then i think if i do he could end up with another person that knows nothing about MBU's. I really do like him and would love to give the life he deserves.

I don't have a big house and the only place for me to put a large tank is in my dining room and i could only just fit a 6ft tank along it. I am planning to get an extention but that isn't anytime soon. I am just so confused as to what to do for the best, please help me.

 

[Josiah]

Here's a story from somebody who had a Mbu.

This article was written by pufferpunk of thepufferforum

A long sad and story which I really do not enjoy relating, but they are wonderful fish...
Mine stepped up from 40 -> 75 in only a few months, then to 180 at between 2 & 3 years, and it should have been sooner. Eventually that was too small. He did permanent damage to his caudal fin that never straightened out. The first damage was done in the 75, later got worse in the 180. He really could not turn comfortably even in the large tank. It should probably have required 3-4'H x 4'D x 8'W to keep from cramping him (or on the order of 1000 gallons for the display only), and larger would have been better. He was my favorite (and my wife's) by a wide margin of all the fish I've kept, but is probably not suitable for hobbyists. They are just too big. His system was the 180 with him, a 120 veggie filter, two 40-gallon veggie filters, a 20-gallon Daphnia filter, a 20-long filter-feeding shrimp filter after the daphnia tank, plus a twin-tower W/D, two large Eheim external canisters and multiple internal Eheims, and 2- or 3- 50 gallon partials per week (alternating weeks). He was stunted, only about 18-20" standard, but with the huge caudal fins these fish have, he would have been ~26" full length with his caudal flat at which it could not do with the vertical curl at the rear & he always seemed to turn the same direction. Very friendly, very excited to see us, very much a high-personality pet. I doubt that I will ever keep another, as I cannot house one properly. I don't track my tank expenses, but I don't think his feeding was that bad, considering that he required about half the tank room just to support him & his electric bill was likely pretty high though & all those lights on his veggie filters. I did breed some albino bristlenose cats in the veggie filters then, to offset part of his food supply (trade goods). Unless you have the space, the time, and the price of luxury car to put into a fish, they are just not suited to private keeping. If I could and was willing to do it over, I'd devote the entire tank room to the one fish. It would house only the single tank, Monaco style, custom built in place, with customed filters and automated changes. That was what I had originally planed for the space, but reality intervened, along with college for the kids.

 

[CFC]

Well he's not going to grow to 2 feet over night so you dont need to panic just yet, but you do have to get him into a bigger tank than the one he is currently in as soon as you can, small tanks are very unforgiving on sensative fish and a sudden rise in nitrate or worse nitrite or ammonia could leave you with a dead puffer within a matter of hours.

My advise is buy the largest tank you can currently afford and accomidate within your house now and then start to worry about what you are going to do in how ever many years time when your puffer has outgrown it, fortunately MBU's are fairly slow growers so a 4x2x2 tank should last you at least a couple of years while you make plans for what to do as your puffer grows. Just be mindfull that you have an animal that is going to get to about the size of a small dog eventually.

 

[Breeze7050]

If you can't provide him the type of home he needs, I think it's best to bring him back to the LFS - or maybe a different one in the area with more knowledge. You may also (whether you re-home him or not) point out to the LFS that sold it to you just how big they get. As previously mentioned this fish does get huge and are not a fish for most people.
Sorry about your bad luck and best of luck to you and Chad!

 

[ilovemymbu]

If you can't provide him the type of home he needs, I think it's best to bring him back to the LFS - or maybe a different one in the area with more knowledge. You may also (whether you re-home him or not) point out to the LFS that sold it to you just how big they get. As previously mentioned this fish does get huge and are not a fish for most people.
Sorry about your bad luck and best of luck to you and Chad!

Thank you all, i have just got home and Chad seems fine apart from he seems to be staying in one corner, is this normal? when i bought him home yesterday he seemed full of energy but seems to be in the corner alot??

im undecided as to keeping him, i can quite easily buy a 4ft or 6ft tank to keep him in until my extention is done but i could not live with myself if he does die.. No way am i taking him back to the supplier where i got him, he was in a much smaller tank than he is now, i do have another place in mind, i'll see.!?!

if i was to get a 4ft or 6ft tank what kind of filter would i need?

 

[pica_nuttalli]

i would go on ahead and purchase a filter big enough for your final tank. it wouldn't hurt to have the extra level of filtration running.

as for what size filter that should be, i'm not really sure since i've not had the opportunity to set up a mbu tank. i imagine that it might be worth looking into pond filters.

(btw, i'm really jealous of your puffer )

 

[ilovemymbu]

Hello everyone

I have made the hardest decision ever and taken Chad back! I am so upset i actually cried. At least he will hopefully go to a good home, i said to the supplier 'make sure he goes to someone who knows!!!'

When i am set up properly in my house i may consider having another MBU at a much later date when my extension is built and i'll get one built in the wall!

thank you all for your advice

'Long live Chad' xxxxxxx

 

[pica_nuttalli]

awww, bless.

its always a tough decision to make about what to do with a fish you love but just can't house. but if you can't give him what he needs then you just can't.

if you want any help finding another type of puffer that you do have room for, then you know where to go.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

well done, that was a very hard descision to make but i think you've made the right choice, and also hopefully learnt a valuable lesson about researching before you buy fish.

 

[Breeze7050]

So sorry, but I think the right decision was made. You should research some of the other puffers and get one you can keep for life! Fresh or brackish even! They have several lovely puffers that don't get anywhere near as big as Chad. Best of luck and keep us updated! 8)

 

[cane76]

hopefully chad will find a nice big tank
but the sad truth is most mbu puffers will end up in 5x2x2s or 6x2x2s and thats if they are lucky

 

[Rocker]

Here's a story from somebody who had a Mbu.

A long sad and story which I really do not enjoy relating, but they are wonderful fish...
Mine stepped up from 40 -> 75 in only a few months, then to 180 at between 2 & 3 years, and it should have been sooner. Eventually that was too small. He did permanent damage to his caudal fin that never straightened out. The first damage was done in the 75, later got worse in the 180. He really could not turn comfortably even in the large tank. It should probably have required 3-4'H x 4'D x 8'W to keep from cramping him (or on the order of 1000 gallons for the display only), and larger would have been better. He was my favorite (and my wife's) by a wide margin of all the fish I've kept, but is probably not suitable for hobbyists. They are just too big. His system was the 180 with him, a 120 veggie filter, two 40-gallon veggie filters, a 20-gallon Daphnia filter, a 20-long filter-feeding shrimp filter after the daphnia tank, plus a twin-tower W/D, two large Eheim external canisters and multiple internal Eheims, and 2- or 3- 50 gallon partials per week (alternating weeks). He was stunted, only about 18-20" standard, but with the huge caudal fins these fish have, he would have been ~26" full length with his caudal flat at which it could not do with the vertical curl at the rear & he always seemed to turn the same direction. Very friendly, very excited to see us, very much a high-personality pet. I doubt that I will ever keep another, as I cannot house one properly. I don't track my tank expenses, but I don't think his feeding was that bad, considering that he required about half the tank room just to support him & his electric bill was likely pretty high though & all those lights on his veggie filters. I did breed some albino bristlenose cats in the veggie filters then, to offset part of his food supply (trade goods). Unless you have the space, the time, and the price of luxury car to put into a fish, they are just not suited to private keeping. If I could and was willing to do it over, I'd devote the entire tank room to the one fish. It would house only the single tank, Monaco style, custom built in place, with customed filters and automated changes. That was what I had originally planed for the space, but reality intervened, along with college for the kids.

May I respectfully asked that you do not pinch articles from other sites and use them without the authors permission.

 

[demonmagus]

aaww that's sad, but it wasn't a bad decision, if you're into big puffers maybe a fahaka?

 

[DarkEntity]

Correct decision me thinks, especially since you dont have room for a 500-1000gall tank

 

[Josiah]

Here's a story from somebody who had a Mbu.

A long sad and story which I really do not enjoy relating, but they are wonderful fish...
Mine stepped up from 40 -> 75 in only a few months, then to 180 at between 2 & 3 years, and it should have been sooner. Eventually that was too small. He did permanent damage to his caudal fin that never straightened out. The first damage was done in the 75, later got worse in the 180. He really could not turn comfortably even in the large tank. It should probably have required 3-4'H x 4'D x 8'W to keep from cramping him (or on the order of 1000 gallons for the display only), and larger would have been better. He was my favorite (and my wife's) by a wide margin of all the fish I've kept, but is probably not suitable for hobbyists. They are just too big. His system was the 180 with him, a 120 veggie filter, two 40-gallon veggie filters, a 20-gallon Daphnia filter, a 20-long filter-feeding shrimp filter after the daphnia tank, plus a twin-tower W/D, two large Eheim external canisters and multiple internal Eheims, and 2- or 3- 50 gallon partials per week (alternating weeks). He was stunted, only about 18-20" standard, but with the huge caudal fins these fish have, he would have been ~26" full length with his caudal flat at which it could not do with the vertical curl at the rear & he always seemed to turn the same direction. Very friendly, very excited to see us, very much a high-personality pet. I doubt that I will ever keep another, as I cannot house one properly. I don't track my tank expenses, but I don't think his feeding was that bad, considering that he required about half the tank room just to support him & his electric bill was likely pretty high though & all those lights on his veggie filters. I did breed some albino bristlenose cats in the veggie filters then, to offset part of his food supply (trade goods). Unless you have the space, the time, and the price of luxury car to put into a fish, they are just not suited to private keeping. If I could and was willing to do it over, I'd devote the entire tank room to the one fish. It would house only the single tank, Monaco style, custom built in place, with customed filters and automated changes. That was what I had originally planed for the space, but reality intervened, along with college for the kids.

May I respectfully asked that you do not pinch articles from other sites and use them without the authors permission.

The person who wrote it told me to put it here for him to read it.