The Puffer Forum

I just got a little 8 inch baby mbu. I was wondering how much I should feed him. I want him to grow fast, but I don't want to overfeed him.

Thanks,

Alex

2-3 good meals a week. Then small snacks of snails etc daily. If you want fast growth feed often. This could affect his longterm health so not advised

I feed mine small portion everyday. He seems happier and more active this way. I tried every 3 days and he seems very grumpy.. Seems to be angry with me lol..

lol, ok thanks guys. I think i'm going to give him a few snails every day. And then a big meal every other day, does that sound good? or is that too much?

Out of curiousity, how much did u pay him? At 8in, its going to cost a bomb here...

Yeah he was expensive....I really wanted one though, he was around 290 including shipping

Whoa.. $$

There is no real reason to feed an 8" T. mbu daily. Light snacks are fine but real meals to a lightly rounded belly may be too much. Obesity, especially coupled with lower water quality, in captive puffers is the commonest cause of shortened lives in captivity IME. Alternate days or 3x weekly are the max I used with mine, and I still had problems with keeping water quality high at that rate.

I hope you have a huge tank.

I got a 1,200 gallon pond;)

That's roughly what rtr kept his in, with various veggie filters etc. I am sure he will post his exact mbu set up to give a rough idea of the monstrous upkeep these giants need

Oh ok great! I just received him, he's around 9 inches (bigger then I thought!) he's very lazy though...is that normal?

Give him time to adjust & adapt to his new surroundings. He's been through a lot!

Is he in the pond now?

yeah, I just put him in, I let him acclimate for around 45 minutes and then eventually put him in. He seems to like it a lot!

Pics please!

I'll try to post some pics later, he hasn't ate anything yet, is that a bad sign? I got him yesterday around 10:30ish..