The Puffer Forum

hi,
i've just got a mbu puffer three days ago,
i've got 4 arrowhead(pignose puffers) about 3" in size, these eat fine.
Tank has been set up months. My mbu just seems to swim around settle and come up and down the glass all day. under belly is normal although i noticed he isn't round he is more lone and quite thin.
The mian thing is h hasn't eaten any food, tried snails, worms prawns and shrimp doesn't even look at them????
do i need to let him settle, don't want him to starve!!!
any help would be grateful

IME it is not like an Mbu to refuse food. However new puffers do rewuire a settling in period. if you think the puffer is losing weight too much then consider treating for internal parasites. There are some good articles on here telling how best to treat them.

I found with Clooney that he loved a bit of plant cover and plenty of bogwood makes the feell more at ease, the pacing up and down is a standard ealry settling in phase but given more places to hide the Mbu are generally a pretty laid back puffer species. Not eating for a while is fine, try river shrimp if you can get them or saking a mussel in some garilc normally gets them feeding.

Tell me more about the tank, is it planted, bogwood, gravel, background etc oh and the size

Also are al the puffers in the same tank?

the puffer is 6" long, my tank is 6ft by 2ft by 3ft wide. its has bog wood, plants and a caved background with mini holes to swims through. I tried the other fish together and they seem to get on fine. the other puffers hide when he comes and haven't bothered him.
There is plenty of room to swim and for the others to keep there hiding spots, i have read the arrowhead are aggressive but i also have a 2 clown loach's and they all get on fine for 2 months now.
his teeth do show when swimming is this normal or do i need to push him on shelled food to round them off. I might try string on a muscle or something to get his attention.

IMO you shouldn't mix puffer species & you are going to have problems with this. I'll bet the pignose are picking on him at night. What are the water parameters?

are you sure because they haven't make a mark on him. just want to know before i get rid of them cause i like the mbu better

How long have the others been living together in there?

Tetraodon suvatti have been known to live together without issue but PufferPunk is right, Tetraodon suvatti and Tetraodon mbu are no compatible. You need separate tanks.

That tank rounds off to about 250g.

moved them into another tank, just the mbu in now,
still not eating any ideas??? please

Have you offered him anything live? He's a wild-caught fish & that's what he's used to. I don't know about mbus but my fahaka went on a 2-week food strike after I moved him into a new tank. Earthworms eventually got him out of that.

i have just tested my water today its 50mg/l NO3 thats quite bad isn't it, should i jy=ust water change or add anything to help??

ph is 7.6

Yep, try water changes rather than adding chemicals in there!
The additional puffer was probably adding too much waste and the bacterias were overloaded.

Yeah PP has a good point about the live food thing. That's why I suggested live shrimp, Its really not uncommon for Mbu to go without food for quite some, though the skinny-ness is a bit of a concern.

Your Nitrate levels are a bit high yes but that would be due to large messy fish in that tank. Its not too high that it would be enough to put an Mbu of his food. I honestly think that its just settleing in and if you offer a range of food he will go for it. Also thoguh they are big fish they can be a little shy with other fish and you might find that now the other puffers are gone your Mbu will be a happier chap.

They often show their teeth when swimming, but if you could post a picture we could tell whether dentistry is needed!!

i have attached a pic of my puffer and will do another as well