MBU PUFFER

[yunachin]

We have a supplier who dives in Key West and brings us fish from there. I have a basslet that he brought back last summer and some cool shaving brush.

[groovitudedude]

Awesome!

Also, what size should I get rid of my Tinfoil Barbs at? I'm thinking like 10 inches... They're about 8 now.

[yunachin]

You gonna take them back to the LFS for credit or eat em like Jase does?

[groovitudedude]

Well, my Dad absolutely LOVES sushi, but I can't bear to eat something I've loved and cared for. I'd rather have them die of ich or fin rot (okay, maybe not). I think I'll return them to the LFS. I asked for an estimate and they said that they'd give me 8 bucks for both of them together. Total rip-off... Maybe I could find a public fw aquarium and donate 'em? Or find somebody on Monster Fish Keepers to give 'em to... Any ideas? I live in California

[yunachin]

I don't know about the aquarium thing where you are at. I know here in order to give fish to an aquarium or zoo you need some type of inside connection. You can try Craigslist to see if someone in your area wants to buy them, and you may make some more $$ that way.
I don't go on monster fish keepers because the largest fish we own is that lion.

[Jase]

just remember... fish raised with love taste better

[Pufferpunk]

Chin, Folks there post about their bettas!

[yunachin]

Chin, Folks there post about their bettas!

I never knew that. Unless they are mbu sized bettas. (trying to keep topic)

[groovitudedude]

Nah, not everything on MFK is for actual Monster Fish Keepers. There are plenty of threads about 10 and 20 Gallon tanks. The biggest "monster" I have is my Tinfoil Barb (I actually have 2). The 9 inch Fire Eel is the longest, but they have like 30 inchers! But yeah. Consider yourself a "Monster Tank Owner". You take care of the water, and the water takes care of the fish!

[yunachin]

Yeah I am good at Monster House Flooding. If I had a mbu sized tank I would be spilling more water than ever.

[manutius]

also a point i'd like to make is that my mbu puffer is in a tank on his own, he always has been. I surely have a better chance of keeping nitrates down if there is just one fish,and he also does not have anything bothering him at all.
Also the reason i asked about r.o. water with added mineral is that if like marine, my r.o. water has a tds of 0 ( have a 6 stage ) then i am not adding any nitrates, phosphates etc so my water quality theoretically should be so much better than even a good quality tap water?? and like i say if my tap water has tds of 370 approx its really not that great is it!!

I totally agree with what you say and was not knocking the use of RO water but for me it was too expensive. My tap water is like liquid cement though so maybe it was a contributing factor.

Hilly raised some good points about eventual size too, in principal I totally agree. Its just my personal opinion that I think to see an Mbu behaving naturally I would want something that rivals a public aquarium display. Almost a complete biotope with other fish and plenty of places to explore. I would love to create a "slice of Nature" for them because then you would see them at their best. I wish I could plug you all in to my brain to show you the vision I have of this, its stunning but alas that technology isn't with us yet

[Hilly]

Hilly raised some good points about eventual size too, in principal I totally agree. Its just my personal opinion that I think to see an Mbu behaving naturally I would want something that rivals a public aquarium display. Almost a complete biotope with other fish and plenty of places to explore. I would love to create a "slice of Nature" for them because then you would see them at their best. I wish I could plug you all in to my brain to show you the vision I have of this, its stunning but alas that technology isn't with us yet

Well you're entitled to your personal opinion as I am mine. I'm sure we would all like to keep our puffers with other fish but thats not always possible due to their temprament and individual personality. But your comment about seeing an Mbu behave naturally, what about the others... Fahaka, Ceylon, GSP. Do they behave naturally in the tanks we provide for them. What puffer is going to beg in the wild for food and recognise a person as the food giver. No fish in captivity is going to behave like it does in the wild, there may be varying degrees with the closest to wild behaviour being in big public aquaria. We have routines and they learn them and that endears them to us even more.

[crazedpuffer]

Yeah I am good at Monster House Flooding. If I had a mbu sized tank I would be spilling more water than ever.

Me too! I can barely fill my 10 gallon without spilling water.
I guess that's why they make pythons isn't it?

[groovitudedude]

Yeah, I almost flooded my 100G a while back. I was doing a wc, and I went to check something on TPF, and my Dad started yelling. I had to shut off the water, reverse the python flow, and do a bunch of other stuff. I kinda wanted to leave it filled to the top, but then it'd touch my fluorescent lighting fixture. It looks much better at the top though. The fish look like they're floating in the air!

[yunachin]

I wanted to have a drain installed in my kitchen floor.