What are the growth rate of MBU puffers?

[wahoosotto]

Hi i just aquired an 3inch MBU puffer about a month ago, place him in his grow out tank of 2ftx2ftx2ft and has been on a diet of small shrimps(until his belly is full and just rests on the sand) and the occacional merite snail he finds in the tank. Question is Ive read somewhere that they grow an inch per month, but why isn't mine growing? Is it the wrong diet? And another are baby MBUs really timid as he usually shys away from the front of the tank and just usually swims on the side?
Thanks!

By the way I have an extra 8x2x2 tank just incase

Tank
http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p15/ ... 629d43.jpg
Filter
http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p15/ ... 962f77.jpg
Side shot

And this is him in his fave position

[Master of Puffers]

nice puffer..I got Sigma Ood when he was around 9 inches er..Sept/Oct last year..

He's now a good 12/14 inches and a stocky muscular fishy..I feed mussels*, clams*, snow crab legs, lobster legs, langustine, shrimps..shell on or off depending on whats in stock.

* in shells..

I hvae a couple of small fahakas Atm..they like krill( bad for'em) snails..small shell on shrimps...

You may need to find a restaurant supplier for your shell fish rather than a pet store or supermarket..they tend to have better quality and more reasonable prices for a fish keeper..I get discarded lobster/crab legs free..

[scpion]

I got mine at ard 5in. It was very active. Growth rate at about 1in / month. When mine got to ard 14in-ish, his growth rate stated to slow down. Had him for a little more than 2 yrs now.. Currently at 19in-ish.. Temperament fella..

[scpion]

Btw, if I were u, I would set up the 8x2 and get it in as soon as possible. U will be amaze. The larger the lank, the faster they grow.

[Master of Puffers]

tell me about it...Sigma will get p!sssed at any small deviation from his routine..


and woe betide any-one who wants to try and feed him without a white plate in their hands..

[scpion]

Lol.. Yes from small nitty gritty things. He had gone on more hunger strikes than I can remember..

[RTR]

Huge +1 to scpion's comment. Exercise matters in appetite and body growth rate and configuration. T. mbu are hunter-predators, not lurkers. Swimming space and current do matter.

[wahoosotto]

Thank you! Actually i do put crystal red shrimps for him to hunt and do water changes every 2 days to assure water quality

Ill br blacing him in the larger tank once he growns a bit. I think he's eve too small for my present tank

[wahoosotto]

Btw will the live shrimps be okay for his teeth to grind on?

[scpion]

If u have the means, go for at least 8x3.. Shrimps not really helpful to wear down the teeth.. Breed your own snails. Feeding cockles, mussels on shell helps as well. Never had to do dentistry on mine for the past 2 years.

[RTR]

Are you feeding/conditioning the shrimp to improve their food value?

IMHO, there is no such thing as a too large tank for a T. mbu unless it room-sized, and maybe not even then..

[wahoosotto]

If u have the means, go for at least 8x3.. Shrimps not really helpful to wear down the teeth.. Breed your own snails. Feeding cockles, mussels on shell helps as well. Never had to do dentistry on mine for the past 2 years.

I notice only the shells of my nerites remain so Im guessing that he somehow gets to just slurp of the slug
But ill try to put some ramshores in.

[wahoosotto]

Are you feeding/conditioning the shrimp to improve their food value?

IMHO, there is no such thing as a too large tank for a T. mbu unless it room-sized, and maybe not even then..

How do you improve there value? I bought shrimps in the market and just drop them off with the shell and head intact minus the horn and thorn on the tail.

[RTR]

In my very limited experience (one T. mbu) they can grow quite fast (co,parable to Fahakas) IF the tank is kept over-sized for them, AND has clean water, plus a nutritious diet.

Sorry, I misunderstood - I thought that you were using live ghost shrimp from the LFS, which should be QT'd and well conditioned before feeding to puffers. Fish market frozen shrimp alone are not enough to ensure a good diet IME. During the thawing process, such shrimp and other seafood should have vitamin soaks at least. Monotanous diets are not best for puffers other than the few that require very high percentage snails as their primary diet and those should be well-fed and nourished from clean tanks.

[Master of Puffers]

I've found a marine power head makes for an ideal exercise system for my Sigma...he loves testing the limits of the forward flow...when he thinks we aren't looking he's prepared to go caudal over dorsal fins ..

puffer ghoti is trying to make the upgrade tank as interastting as possible cos we are thinking of muliple powerheads/ wavemakers to provide swimming practices/votexs.

eta.

we ahve established Sigma likes swimming againdt the current and if we can pre programme some sort of sequencing and randomness we think he should have a more entertsining life.