Pufferfish Advice

swaylight · Oct 9, 2011

Hi im interested in getting a giant/ Mbu pufferfish...

been told they are freshwater and also been told they are brackish water so not sure which is true...

Any information would be a great help?

Thanks

MBOU · Oct 9, 2011

I think your biggest worry is...are you going to be able to houseone?! A puffer than easily reaches 2ft+ and the ones i have seen all grew really fast, they have a high protein diet...

That means a huge tank, a huge huge ammount of filtration... a huge food bill and if you can keep it alive long enough... huge vet bills to get its teeth sorted most likely...

I love mbus... but i dont know many people capable of looking after them, people buy them and then have no idea what to do if they do get teeth problems and the fish ends up with awful teeth and starving to death...

They are freshwater.

Kelly-Jo · Oct 9, 2011

+1 MBOU, that was my first reaction.

AquaticAustin · Oct 9, 2011

Never heard of this fish... sounds pretty awesome tho! What is the minimum tank size for one of these bad boy? (just curious, my tanks are stocked)

ZoddyZod · Oct 10, 2011

I've seen posts on here (by Nmonks I believe) that state these should possibly have 1000 GALLONS as a recommended tank size. So unless you've got space for several tons of water in your home, it's best to look at the other, much smaller, puffer species.

Mowbz · Oct 10, 2011

Its funny this should come up, i was dicussing these with a guy at the LFS the other day. World of Water in Shinefield have 3 puffers, two fresh and one salty, but he says they just cant shift them.

He said the same (i dont know too much about them) in that they grow to around two feet, and they cant find anyone with a tank big enough to safely take them, so they have had to stay in the display tanks.

Shame really...

nigsy · Oct 10, 2011

I've got 2 dwarf puffers (freshwater). They are hard enough. Got them both in a 200 litre tank, heavily planted with nothing else for company, as they are so aggressive to any other species and themselves - hence the large tank for 2 very small fish, allows them to set up separate territories.

I can't imagine having a 2 foot long version of the little fellas!!

Shovelman · Oct 10, 2011

nigsy said:
I've got 2 dwarf puffers (freshwater). They are hard enough. Got them both in a 200 litre tank, heavily planted with nothing else for company, as they are so aggressive to any other species and themselves - hence the large tank for 2 very small fish, allows them to set up separate territories.

I can't imagine having a 2 foot long version of the little fellas!!

ps you know you can have more than two Dp's in that large of a tank right? 200 liters is around 44 us gallons yes?

nigsy · Oct 11, 2011

Shovelman said:
nigsy said:

I've got 2 dwarf puffers (freshwater). They are hard enough. Got them both in a 200 litre tank, heavily planted with nothing else for company, as they are so aggressive to any other species and themselves - hence the large tank for 2 very small fish, allows them to set up separate territories.

I can't imagine having a 2 foot long version of the little fellas!!

Click to expand...

ps you know you can have more than two Dp's in that large of a tank right? 200 liters is around 44 us gallons yes?

I got given them, after a friend tried to put them in his little 25 litre 'Spongebob' tank he has for his daughter that is full of neons and danios.

I did have some panda cories in there just to keep the sand turned over, but the puffers were stressing them out...so I'm happy with just the 2 for the moment.