The Puffer Forum

Hello everybody. My name is John, from the country of Singapore.

I've been keeping fish for a long while, and restarted the hobby after a 6 years break. Has always been keeping large cichlids and predatory fishes in the past.

did not have real puffer experiences until i got a baby mbu 2 months ago. I am impressed by "his" personality and intelligence. As an experience cichlids keepers, that says a lot !

the little fella is now abt 5+" long (from abt 3") and currently resides in a 4ft tank.
Have just ordered a 300gallon with a 120gallon sump just for him. have read about their size requirements, and unfortunately thats the biggest dimension i can fit in the apartment i am in. will probably follow my usual practice of 50% twice a week water changes. I hope this can at least house him for the next 3 years.

would just like to say that this is a fantastic forum, and with many helpful people with very respectable knowledge of this particular group of fish.

What will happen in 3 years?

thats the latest time by which i will move out of where i stay now.

By that time a good tank can be built either at the new place or my studio.
Current place has too many things built in. very hard to find space. new place will be great as i can design from scratch .

LSZ wrote:Have just ordered a 300gallon with a 120gallon sump just for him.

hi there! Am really envious of U!

LSZ wrote:thats the latest time by which i will move out of where i stay now.

By that time a good tank can be built either at the new place or my studio.
Current place has too many things built in. very hard to find space. new place will be great as i can design from scratch .

Sounds great - I'm jealous. I'd love custom tanks. Keep us updated - we'd love pictures of the new build when you get to design it.

yes i am looking forward too . The 300 gallon is coming in mid Feb.

and hello everyone ! pufferpunk , LilGreen and Scpion !

Hi! I have 1 that's close to 11in now. Since we are in the same little red dot, we could share local tips in future. Its real hard to find people that appreciate puffers here.

Hello Scion, nice to meet you !

How long did yours take to get to 11" ? what is his diet like ?

I feed a mixture of apple snails, ghost shrimp (frozen) , crayfish (i mass order them alive and freeze them in batches) , little crabs and bloodworm . vitamin water to soak the food now and then too. just about to start getting human seafood like squid, clams etc. I am thinking of mincing assorted seafood and use a syringe to fill up empty shells with them . do you know where i can get empty shells ?

It's funny, though, because of all the foreign countries we get traffic from, the most comes from the UK, Canada... and little tiny Singapore. I also get a ton of Singapore traffic on my own forum.

Hi LilGreen,

yes this is not surprising as Singapore has got a very active and large fishkeeping community.

exotic / wild species are very regularly imported here and they sell out in a matter of hours .
tropical climate makes it relatively easy for fish upkeep as well.

LSZ wrote:I am thinking of mincing assorted seafood and use a syringe to fill up empty shells with them . do you know where i can get empty shells ?

I doubt this will work and will make a mess out of your water.. Maybe your intention is for them to chew the shell but its best just let them have the "unprocess" types. ie. cockles, mussels, large apple snails, crays, crabs, human prawns, scallops etc and many more. Just remember to freeze them for ate least a day. I never feed blood worms though.. i think he too big for that.

When they are still young, the growth rate will be roughly 1in/mth.

Where did u get your little buddy from?

Welcome to the forum

hi there and

Wow we're seeing a lot of people form S'pore with Mbu puffers lately. For such a small country you guys and gals like to play with BIG fish!

Congrats and welcome