The Puffer Forum

I looked in the pufferpedia and it says I need a 1000 gallon tank for the mbu puffer?

What size do you guys have yours in?

I was hoping it can live happily in a 120 by itself, is this still too small when it reaches full size? Would it outgrow the 120 in a year? Im trying to price out a setup right now.

Start by reading the story stickied in this forum & the article in our Library about them.

Definately too small. You really need a very large tank for this puffer. The large it grows the more bio-load it will produce which will require more and more water changes. Also in a 120 it would be stunted. You really need a wide tank so that the Mbu can turn eaisly and have plenty of swimming room. There's a great article by mantus in the library, read it if you get a chance. It's about his experience with keeping a Mbu in a too small tank.

thanks guys

my baby mbu is in a 6x2x2 shes only 3.5"

my larger one is in a 10x4 and thats adequate!

i wouldnt suggest getting one unless you can really care for it but they are fantasic rewarding pets!

ill care for it.. im just doing my research and trying to find room for such a huge tank.

They'll need a 1000 gallon tank, period. There's no getting around it. If you want to keep a tank of that size on a first or second floor, you would have to reinforce the floor boards. Most of the people I know who have tanks that large keep them in their basement.

It's not that they couldn't live in a 500g tank--if you want to do lost of large WC often on it & that would be a reall pITA.

That or spend a ton of money on filtration

If you read RTR's article, he still includes 3 veggie filters with the 1000g he'd house his next one in.

what is a veggie filter?

Its basically an attached tank with high nutrient using plants that will pull nitrates out of the water. Still not perfect, as we use nitrates as a guideline to other harmful levels that aren't easily measured, but live plants do a LOT towards increasing water quality.

Can you keep one in a smaller tank (500 gallons minimum), yes, but in order to keep the water quality good enough to keep it healthy, you're looking at changing hundreds of gallons of water each week, if not daily. Plus as was mentioned, the physical dimentions have to allow the fish to swim actively and turn without putting too much stress on their spine, etc.

Pufferpunk wrote:If you read RTR's article, he still includes 3 veggie filters with the 1000g he'd house his next one in.

Wow that's pretty insane!

RTR's article on veggie filters:
http://badmanstropicalfish.com/articles/article69.html