Can you tell me what these spots are?   2/13/09 Hello to all, My MBU has these 4 small black spots under his eye. His water is great, amn 0, nitrite 0, and the nitrate 10-15 max. temperature at 78 F. Any thoughts? Thanks Ed <Mmm, likely "just" chromatophore expression... This specimen looks like it's had some physical damage (the mouth)... perhaps "ran into" something sufficiently to cause (temporary or no) neurological damage.. Could be a Protozoan or worm involvement... but I think not. I wouldn't "treat" for this in any case. Bob Fenner>

Mr. MBU  1/18/09 Mmm, no accompanying text, message? BobF.

Re: Mr. MBU 1/19/09 Hi Bob, Sorry about not having the text in the pictures I sent. My name is Ed I have been though a lot with the little MBU. He was about 3 inches when I purchased him 4 months ago and now is about 8 inches. His water quality has been really good in his 200 gallon tank with Nitrates at 10, for over a month now. He has his own MySpace page with a video. <A celebrity!> My wife likes to video him for her UTube page. The MBU likes to watch videos of himself on her phone, he will come to were her phone is and watch it. <What a ham!> From his attitude after seeing another MBU on the phone I do not think he would do well with another one in there with him. <Ahh!> One thing I found interesting was he has after eating gone to his hiding spot and regurgitated and slowly eaten his food again, almost like there was competition for his food, but there's not. Here are some links to the crazy fish. _http://www.myspace.com/443998993_ (http://www.myspace.com/443998993) _YouTube - momsyz450roost_ (http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=momsyz450roost&search_sort=vide o_date_uploaded) <Thank you for sharing. Bob Fenner>

Sulking Mbu Puffer  12/28/-5 Hi, <Hi, Pufferpunk here> I am hoping you can help us with our MBU puffer as we are so worried about him, We have had our MBU puffer for about a year now. He has always been a happy little fish and has always fed well. We recently moved house and were in the fortunate position of being able to purchase a new tank and set it up at our new house several weeks before we moved our fish across. We have a Trigon 350 tank now and had a 3 foot regular tank before. We were able to take half the water from our old tank with us also and were really careful to get the water chemistry the same as our old tank. All our fish have been fine during and since the move (now a month ago) except the puffer. He has not really eaten at all since the move. His colour is still perfect, but he has obviously lost a lot of weight. He seems to have a small lump on the right hand side of his body towards the base where it meets his tail although we're not sure as his body looks different now he has lost weight and think maybe its just his body if that makes sense. We have been monitoring the water and apart from a small problem with nitrate levels which we have managed with water changes the water is fine. The thermostat on the heater broke initially during the move and the water got hotter than it should (approaching 30) so we had to get a new heater and slowly got the water temperature down again and it has remained constant since then. This is the only thing that I can think may have affected him other than the move. I have tried all his favourite food (mussels, cockles, shrimp, live river shrimp) which he would normally relish and he has shown no interest at all. He spends most of the day sitting mid tank in one corner at the front pointing slightly at an angle down (with his mouth down and his tail in the air), and has a swim round the tank two or three times a day. He swims fine and all his fins and tail seem to work and look fine. I've asked all our local aquatic centres and they keep asking about the water chemistry which we know is fine so we are stuck. I don't know what info you need but we have had the same fish for years now (one Plec, one black red tailed shark, one one spot Synodontis, two clown loaches and one solitary zebra Danios). We added the puffer about a year ago and they all get on fine together. We use the jewel internal filter and our Fluval 404 which we used with the old tank. We have air stones, but no live plants. Can you suggest what we should do? Should we try snails - we have never fed him them before? Help!   Aba <Sounds like you're taking great care of your puffer!  I know you would think it would appreciate the bigger roomy tank but puffers are very sensitive creatures & not happy with changes.  I moved a Fahaka puffer from a 55g to a 125g & it wouldn't eat for 3 weeks.  Just sulked in it's cave & wouldn't even greet me.  You could try adding garlic juice to it's food & offer live foods but it should be back to itself soon.  Check out this mbu article: http://www.thepufferforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=150 & post your puffer stories there too!  ~PP>

Sulking Mbu Puffer 6/29/05 <Hi, Pufferpunk here> Hi, I wondered if you can help me?  I have had my Mbu for about a month and is about 2 inches long.  When I first got him, he seemed quite happy swimming around at the front of the tank and was eating every day. The last couple of weeks he has retreated to the back of the tank and wont come out, he still eats but only if I put the food at the back with him. I have checked the quality of the water myself and also had my local fish shop do the same and everything checks out fine with the ammonia, nitrite and nitrate being 0. <If the tank is established (cycled), you should be seeing some nitrAtes.  How was the tank cycled?  How large is the tank?  How large of a tank are you expecting to put that monster in, in a few years?> I was told that he might be lonely as he was in the tank on his own so I put 5 zebra Danios in with him but nothing's changed. The only other change I have noticed is that he was darker in colour when I got him but is now a lot lighter. <Many puffers change hues as their moods change or to match the colors surrounding them.  What foods are you offering him?  Please read: http://www.thepufferforum.org/viewtopic.php?t=150  There are several Mbu owners at that site.  ~PP> I'd appreciate it if you could help.  Matt
Mbu Puffer Grumpy?  7/4/05 Thanks for your views but is there anything else you can think of why he may be grumpy? <I believe I have already told you what my guess is to problem.  ~PP>

Mbu Coloring 11/3/03 hi guys, <Hi, Pufferpunk here> Andy our mbu puffer is about 14 inches long. <Beautiful fish!> we have had him about 10 months. he is so sweet. he lives with tetras and a Bala shark. he is in a 135 gallon with two canister filters. <How often do you clean the filters?  I use 2 AquaClear 500s & clean them on alternate weeks, in addition to an Eheim 2217 that gets cleaned when clogged on my 125g.  I hope a much larger tank is in his future.  At least 300g?> I'm worried about his coloring it seems to be dark along the edges of his underside. he has what looks like a small white ulcer near his tail. I'm sending you some pictures could you please look at him and tell me what you think? <What are the water parameters?  A puffer that large in a tank that size is emitting a huge bioload.  I would change 50% of the water weekly.  I have a 12" Fahaka in a 125g & do the same.  As far as the ulcer (couldn't really see a clear picture of it), I'd add Melafix to the water.  I buy the large pond kind (best value). You can get it from www.bigalsonline.com.> he eats fresh shrimp (staple) and I get him fresh water clams, snails, ghost shrimp, crawfish, he has had a couple of red claw crabs lately. we take the pinchers off. <Sounds like a good diet, although I buy pretty much everything I can find at the fish dept of my grocery store.  In addition to what you are feeding, I feed squid, scallops, mussels, crab legs, krill earthworms & crickets.> thanks,  Vivian Rahman <You're welcome--Pufferpunk> <PS I thought you'd like to read a mbu story from a friend & puffer mentor, who has been keeping puffers for over 40 years, Robert T Ricketts: "A long sad and story which I really do not enjoy relating, but they are wonderful fish...  Mine stepped up from 40 -> 75 in only a few months, then to 180 at between 2 & 3 years, and it should have been sooner.  Eventually that was too small.  He did permanent damage to his caudal fin that never straightened out. The first damage was done in the 75, later got worse in the 180.  He really could not turn comfortably even in the large tank.  It should probably have required 3-4'H x 4'D x 8'W to keep from cramping him (or on the order of 1000 gallons for the display only), and larger would have been better.  He was my favorite (and my wife's) by a wide margin of all the fish I've kept, but is probably not suitable for hobbyists.  They are just too big.  His system was the 180 with him, a 120 veggie filter, two 40-gallon veggie filters, a 20-gallon Daphnia filter, a 20-long filter-feeding shrimp filter after the daphnia tank, plus a twin-tower W/D, two large Eheim external canisters and multiple internal Eheims, and 2- or 3- 50 gallon partials per week (alternating weeks).  He was stunted, only about 18-20' standard, but with the huge caudal fins these fish have, he would have been ~26' full length with his caudal flat -- which it could not do with the vertical curl at the rear -- he always seemed to turn the same direction.  Very friendly, very excited to see us, very much a high-personality pet.  I doubt that I will ever keep another, as I cannot house one properly.  I don't track my tank expenses, but I don't think his feeding was that bad, considering that he required about half the tank room just to support him -- his electric bill was likely pretty high though -- all those lights on his veggie filters.  I did breed some albino Bristlenose cats in the veggie filters then, to offset part of his food supply (trade goods).   Unless you have the space, the time, and the price of luxury car to put into a fish, they are just not suited to private keeping.  If I could and was willing to do it over, I'd devote the entire tank room to the one fish.  It would house only the single tank, Monaco style, custom built in place, with custom filters and automated changes.  That was what I had originally planed for the space, but reality intervened, along with college for the kids." Unfortunately his mbu jumped out of his tank one night & was found dead the next morning.  PP>