The Puffer Forum

Hi, I an new to tpf and I have been my MBU's guardian for about 6 months since falling in love with her in my Lfs
She is healthy, happy and on her way to her third tank already.
I have read everything I can find on MBU's, and gone in a full circle when it comes to raw or cooked shellfish.
Tiny has been fed cooked king prawns and cooked mussels (shell on and off) that I buy from any supermarket, but i am now panicking that it should be raw product I buy and feed her.... ?

welcome to TPF!
raw.....
frozen for several days to kill of any potential nasties, then defrosted and fed

IMO the answer is raw. The protein strands become denatured when food is cooked and that can lead to digestive problems.

Thanks both, I will take that as clarity.
Last one to clear up... The mussels I buy (shell on) are fresh and alive...which surely I can't freeze for a few days, so is it possible to buy fresh but dead mussels... I dont eat fish so this whole subject of buying shellfish is news to me! Thanks

TinyTheMBUpuffer wrote:Thanks both, I will take that as clarity.
Last one to clear up... The mussels I buy (shell on) are fresh and alive...which surely I can't freeze for a few days, so is it possible to buy fresh but dead mussels... I dont eat fish so this whole subject of buying shellfish is news to me! Thanks

You can buy them shell on alive and fresh in which case you should boil them and then freeze them, or you can buy them preboiled and frozen. Either way they should be boiled before you server them to puffers as otherwise the flesh content will be minimal and it will be harder for the puffer to open. Shell on boiled means they still have to bite through the shell but there will be a nice juicy morsel waiting for them inside

you can toss them in a freezer for 24 hours

I have always boiled them since I bought her, as someone else said raw shellfish have some bad pathogens that only die upon being cooked..but even on this thread there are two saying raw, and one saying cooked... I think I will continue to boil the mussels, but give her raw king prawns

Walrus Head wrote:

TinyTheMBUpuffer wrote:Thanks both, I will take that as clarity.
Last one to clear up... The mussels I buy (shell on) are fresh and alive...which surely I can't freeze for a few days, so is it possible to buy fresh but dead mussels... I dont eat fish so this whole subject of buying shellfish is news to me! Thanks

You can buy them shell on alive and fresh in which case you should boil them and then freeze them, or you can buy them preboiled and frozen. Either way they should be boiled before you server them to puffers as otherwise the flesh content will be minimal and it will be harder for the puffer to open. Shell on boiled means they still have to bite through the shell but there will be a nice juicy morsel waiting for them inside

the shell opens when they are boiled.... you can still crack the shell open for them on uncooked foods.

our digestive tracts have evolved over 10's of thousands of years to consume cooked foods. Most puffers are wild caught.. they do not get the nutritional value out of cooked foods.

J-P wrote:

Walrus Head wrote:

TinyTheMBUpuffer wrote:Thanks both, I will take that as clarity.
Last one to clear up... The mussels I buy (shell on) are fresh and alive...which surely I can't freeze for a few days, so is it possible to buy fresh but dead mussels... I dont eat fish so this whole subject of buying shellfish is news to me! Thanks

You can buy them shell on alive and fresh in which case you should boil them and then freeze them, or you can buy them preboiled and frozen. Either way they should be boiled before you server them to puffers as otherwise the flesh content will be minimal and it will be harder for the puffer to open. Shell on boiled means they still have to bite through the shell but there will be a nice juicy morsel waiting for them inside

the shell opens when they are boiled.... you can still crack the shell open for them on uncooked foods.

our digestive tracts have evolved over 10's of thousands of years to consume cooked foods. Most puffers are wild caught.. they do not get the nutritional value out of cooked foods.

Trust me they do! Especially from Cooked Mussels as they are really meaty when cooked, I do however feed king prawns to my puffers Raw.

Walrus Head wrote:

TinyTheMBUpuffer wrote:Thanks both, I will take that as clarity.
Last one to clear up... The mussels I buy (shell on) are fresh and alive...which surely I can't freeze for a few days, so is it possible to buy fresh but dead mussels... I dont eat fish so this whole subject of buying shellfish is news to me! Thanks

You can buy them shell on alive and fresh in which case you should boil them and then freeze them, or you can buy them preboiled and frozen. Either way they should be boiled before you server them to puffers as otherwise the flesh content will be minimal and it will be harder for the puffer to open. Shell on boiled means they still have to bite through the shell but there will be a nice juicy morsel waiting for them inside

Incorrect! Raw is ALWAYS the way to go. Even when purchased live, you freeze for 24-48 hours & defrost in tank water with a few drops of fish vitamins.

Trust me they do! Especially from Cooked Mussels as they are really meaty when cooked

Cooking doesn't add nutrition or mass, and making the texture "meatier" doesn't make it more nutritious. It's science. (And logic.)

I agree with the others. Definitely feed them raw. None of our fish get any cooked food unless the betta food contains cooked meat. Everything is raw whether it's alive (like blackworms or home bred crayfish) or frozen (like our home made food or sea food medley).

I go to an Asian food market and buy uncooked, frozen mussels on the half-shell. I never cook their food...no need for it.

Add me in with the thawed raw group, with vitamins if possible - as PP suggested.

I found nice vacuum sealed packages of mussels, at the local produce store--WHOOT!!!