MBU PUFFER

[yunachin]

I don't think it is a contest on what size tanks everyone has but a place to get together to talk about tanks and puffers, share experiences and meet new friends. I have met some awesome people on here and I don't consider it a contest at all. I love this forum and the people on it.

[manutius]

Yep Chin's got it right, this forum is a place to ask questions and share opinions. It is essential to have your own veiws on these things and its as a community that we can work out the best way to deal with the obstacles that this hobby throws at us.

I agree with some of the points raised, naturally keeping fish could shorten its expected lifespan but also on the flipside it is less likey to be predated on or outcompeted for food or territory, this is surely a positive. The trade off for me comes when even with what most consider a large tank, Mbu pollute their water and ultimately suffer from poor conditions. Most of you know that Clooney died because I kept him in an inadequate overcrowdded tank, I was too late to reverse the damage and he perished. I like many are duped by poor LFS advise which is essentially what the original post was about, however simply rescuing these fish from LFS "small" tanks only proves to be a false positive becuase it fuels the demand for fish that IMO should not be as readily available as the are.

Until the time comes that we see regulation of Tankbuster fish and special licenses issued to allow a person to keep and care for them this debate will rage on.

All I can say is keep the water changes going and limit the feeding, I would consider 5-10 years to be a good age span for a Mbu. Good luck with your little one

[t1gerbee]

i'm sorry but i'm going to defend puffer punk. I am aware she could probably defend herself if she felt like it, but she's clearly too polite!

I believe it was her who set up this forum, and therefore we have her to thank for not only it's existence but also the countless hours of help and assistance she offers to puffer keepers across the globe. That not only helps us, it helps our puffers.

She gives advice, because people ask her to... and she knows more about puffers than most, having kept puffers for years (including previously a MBU as far as i remember,) and also been involved in various studies and written various articles about puffer keeping.

If she didn't get time to read your whole post, maybe it was too long, and she had others to help.

She has first hand experience of mbu's kept in conditions smaller than ideal as well as knowledge of other mbu's that have suffered, so as far as i'm concerned she is perfectly within her right to politely question your set up. Which is all she did.

She does not deverse to be put down, maligned and treated disrespectfully by anyone. Let alone someone who thinks a mbu living for only 2 years is ok.


I for one value her help, and advice, and value the fact that she gave her time/knowledge to set up and run this forum.

Thankyou pufferpunk!

[manutius]

Your sentiment is spot on there but I am pretty sure thayt PP has not owned an Mbu. It was a former member RTR who has 30+ years of experience and is widely respected in the this hopbby who had the Mbu that has been refered to in the Freshwater puffer section.

Its very true what you point out about the work that PP and the moderators do on this site, many people forget that we do this as a service to our members to help improve knowledge and prevent suffering for our puffs. We give up our spare time to do this and pride oursleves on giving well balanced answers to question based on our experience and that learned from others. I do not for one second hold myself in the same league as many of the other mods as they have either more experience or a scientific understanding that is far superior ot my own when it comes to our puffers. However after watching Clooney my much loved Mbu die because he was in a tank too small I feel I am able to offer my opinions on them. We try to be non-judgemental in our approach and try our best to deal with each case individually but sometimes we make the odd mistake and may have missed a key point in a thread. This happens because we are human and when you log on and have 400 posts to sift through we can sometimes come across as maybe a little brash in our responses because we are trying to help everyone on here.

[Pufferpunk]

Wow, thanks for that great defense but you give me way too much credit! I actually didn't start/set-up this forum, a young 14 year old boy named Joel, from Maylasia, saw a lot of suffering puffers in the markets where he lived & started TPF. He knew a lot about computers & setting up sites but not a whole lot about puffers, so he asked me to be his co-administrator of this site & he stayed in the background, running the technical part of the forum. When he got into High School (it's full time over there, no summer breaks or anything), he had no time for this forum & handed the reins over to me totally. That's how I inherited TPF.

As far as my keeping a mbu, I have never had room for anything larger than a 125g & knew that was waaaaay too small for one (my fahaka is in there). That mbu article was written by a pufferguru named, Robert T Ricketts, who has kept puffers for over 50 years. As far as I'm concerned, whatever he has written is gospel. He posted at the origional TPF (I believe he was here even before me) & there are links to his many articles in our Link forum here. You guys should check them out!

[Jase]

Thanks Mods, for everything you do. this site has helped me tons and I appreciate even the littlest input. thanks everyone else to that's helped me and the other people. this site is for learning and sharing, so lets not get all high school drama in here, but be happy this site even exists.

And that's the Word: Respect.

[CoreyK]

...keeping ANY animal is cruel, its not natural to have something that is designed to roam free wether it be on land, in the sea, or in rivers to be kept by us for our own pleasure.

I'm going to go ahead and disagree with you on this.
I think, when given appropriate conditions in which they can satisfy their natural instincts, there is no reason an animal needs to be "unhappy" (anthropomorphic) in captivity; in fact, I feel that given enough research, thought and design, captive animals can live extremely comfortable, healthy, and in many cases with a higher quality of life than is typical in their natural habitat.
Remember that "the wild" is not all running through green grass and playing with conspecifics... it is a tremendously competitive and harsh world whose cornerstone is survival (especially aquatic habitats). Now, I'm not saying that we are "saving" animals by keeping them in captivity, but rather that we shouldn't assume that their lives would automatically be "optimized" in nature as compared to what we can offer in captive conditions.

Remember that we are every bit as much animals as are our pets... we live in FAR from what could be considered natural habitats (evolutionarily speaking), and are very content to do so - many would argue happier.

This isn't to say that if you meet the (artificial) gallon requirements, your puffer is automatically "happy"; far from it. There is a whole heck of a lot more to it than that. I just mean to say that I think it is entirely possible to make almost any species happy in captivity.

[manutius]

very well put Corey

[Pufferpunk]

Here here!

[CoreyK]

very well put Corey

Thanks
I'm very interested and passionate about this kind of stuff, in fact it's what I want to do with my life... I'll have my zoology degree this fall, hoping to get into exhibit design eventually.
Wouldn't it be cool if I got to do an Mbu tank someday!

[SpockthePuffer]

very well put Corey

Thanks
I'm very interested and passionate about this kind of stuff, in fact it's what I want to do with my life... I'll have my zoology degree this fall, hoping to get into exhibit design eventually.
Wouldn't it be cool if I got to do an Mbu tank someday!

That is freaking awesome! Why did I have to pick something boring like Graphic Design!? Zoology must be amazing.

[Jase]

That is freaking awesome! Why did I have to pick something boring like Graphic Design!? Zoology must be amazing.

MY brother graduates next fall for Graphic Design. I have literally never seen anyone have to do as much work as it's taken him to get an education... I still haven't given up on the idea of Marine Bio or some distant day a LFS.

[yunachin]

You guys are all awesome!!

[mpk172]

I have a degree in animal science and currently work at a zoo. I can think of countless stories of animals at least doubling their life expectancy in captivity. Also an animal's demise in captivity is usually much more humane than what their wild counterparts face. There are very few animals in this world in which we have not yet been able to accomodate all of their needs in captivity.

[groovitudedude]

Is there such thing as a wild chicken? Just wondering, not trying to cause any debates.