The Puffer Forum

I got my Mbu on June 6th/09 and it has grown maybe 1 inch in that time. That's 1 inch in about 4 1/2 months. I got a Fahaka at the same time and it has grown at least 5 inches in the same time period! What's up with this? Why would the Mbu be such a slow grower? It eats only frozen food and the Fahaka will eat frozen,live and dry. Could it be the Fahaka is getting better nutrients from the more varied diet? I have been fish keeping for 20yrs so please don't ask about water parameters! I just want to see if anybody else has had the same problem. Thanks for any help!

What size is the tank? What is the mbu's current size?

How was it kept before you got it, and for how long?

LilGreenPuffer wrote:What size is the tank? What is the mbu's current size?

How was it kept before you got it, and for how long?

It's in a 180 gallon split with the Fahaka for now! It's around 3 inches to the end of it's tail. It was bought directly from a vendor. They brought it in and sat on it for a week and supposedly treated it for parasites and shipped it out to me.

How big is the fahaka?

Puffers stunt quickly. If there are too many hormones in the water, growth will slow or stop.

LilGreenPuffer wrote:How big is the fahaka?

Puffers stunt quickly. If there are too many hormones in the water, growth will slow or stop.

Yeah, I was also thinking too many hormones contributing to growth stunting.

LilGreenPuffer wrote:How big is the fahaka?

Puffers stunt quickly. If there are too many hormones in the water, growth will slow or stop.

Fahaka is at least 7 inches. If it's hormones then why is the Fahaka growing like a weed? I have a 450 gallon with lots of fish and my scaleless Pike cichlids like my Cr.Lenticulata and Cr.Strigata are growing really fast . My clown loaches grow slow but are also growing too! So does the hormone thing only apply to Puffers or other scaleless fish?

So if this is indeed the problem, would the Mbu be stunted already? Again it's been about 1 inch of growth in 4 1/2 months. All my tanks are full with other fish so I don't have another tank to put him in, so should I cut my losses and sell him to someone that can put him in his own tank. I originally wanted to grow them up and keep the most personable one but the Mbu just won't grow.

Is it possible that he was stunted before you got him? If so, he will grow slowly and not very much for the rest of his life.

tman wrote:So if this is indeed the problem, would the Mbu be stunted already? Again it's been about 1 inch of growth in 4 1/2 months. All my tanks are full with other fish so I don't have another tank to put him in, so should I cut my losses and sell him to someone that can put him in his own tank. I originally wanted to grow them up and keep the most personable one but the Mbu just won't grow.

This happens with all fish, scaleless and scaled but, scaleless fish, are more succeptable to stunting due to hormone exposure and their resorption rate. For some reason puffers have a higher hormone production and even then it varies between species. We give suggested minimum tank volume in the Pufferpedia based on fish size, their bioload, and hormone load (if known), hence the reason for the need of such a large water volume for MBU's. It sounds like your MBU is still young and if you get him out of that tank and in to something more appropriate sized now he should fare well.

I have a species tank of Dragon gobies and one of the one I have is a rescue. He was kept in a 20 gallon tank for about 3 years and is only about 5 inches long and really slow growing. The other two I have are the same age, were kept in a 75 gallon tank from fry and are aroud 12-15 inches. The little one is growing but not like his tank mates, all because he was kept in tight quarters as a juvenile and had high hormone exposure.

I get the impression that tight fitting spaces are why GSPs seem to be grow so slow...

It's really not necessary to quote the post before you.

Wouldn't a strong UV sterilizer destroy growth inhibiting hormones and prevent the stunting effect?

More than likely not. Hormones are chemical messengers and mediators that are not live organisms.

I was under the impression that Fahakas are just very fast-growing fish, so I don't really think you could compare the rate of growth between the MBU and the Fahaka. And I would also say, from talking to other people who own MBU's, that they grow at different rates because I've known some people who haven't had theirs for very long and it's grown quite large, and I've known other people who have had theirs longer and it's not so large. And thing is, I know one person who kept theirs in a fairly small aquarium (smaller than what an MBU should have been kept in) and yet it still grew quite large in there.

So, in my opinion, I would just say that I think they have different rates of growth. All the information I have ever read about a Fahaka says they grow nearly 1 inch a month. I researched them for a time because I was torn between having a Fahaka and a MBU, and in the end I got the MBU because I wasn't prepared to have a 12" puffer at the end of a year's time.

Dadof4 wrote:More than likely not. Hormones are chemical messengers and mediators that are not live organisms.

I use Purigen to prevent chemical warfare between my corals. Think it might work for this application?