Tetraodon mbu
Overview:
- These fish are fascinating to watch,they have cartoon like faces and often blink and yawn. Tetraodotoxin is the toxin present in these species of fish and is responsible for the deaths of substantial amount of sushi eaters!! Specially trained Fugu Sushi chefs are trained to remove the poison.
Quick stats:
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Listed tank sizes are the minimum
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| Size: | Up to 24″ (60cm+) |
| Tank: | 50 gals when young, enormous when mature 1000+. |
| Strata: | Bottom-middle, mainly comes up to top to take food. |
| PH: | 7.0-fairly tolerant |
| Hardness: | Medium. dH range: 10.0 to 15.0 |
| Temperature: | Mid to upper 70’s (likes warmer best) (26°C+) |
Classification: Tetraodon comes from tetraodontidae meaning 4 toothed-beak made up of 2 upper and 2 lower teeth.
| Order: | Tetraodontiformes |
| Suborder: | Tetraodontidei |
| Family: | Tetraodontidae |
| Genera: | Tetraodon |
| Species: | Mbu |
Common name:
Tetraodon Mbu
- ,Giant green puffer, Mbu puffer.
Distribution
- Freshwater species,found in Lake Tanganyika and lower Zaire.
General Body Form:Conical shaped body, scaleless tough skin, tiny spines except on the round snout and lower beginning of the tail fin. There are two forked nasal openings on either side of the head.
Coloration:Dark green/lighter green and yellow patterns on back,yellowish/mainly white belly. Lightens/darkens color with mood,also able to change patter to camouflage. If dark patches on under belly is sign of ill health/stress. Fantastic striped tail,usually kept “folded”but displays when swimming vigorously.
Maintenance:Maintenance,large tank,good filtration,preferably external canister type,messy eater and large amounts of waste/droppings. Sandy/rounded gravel substrate as likes to rest on bottom,caved places to hide and explore,large open swimming area and some tough plants. Feeding,mollusk’s,i.e. cockles in and out of shell(needs to grind teeth down)loves snails,live ghost shrimp etc. Readily hand tamed to take food but watch fingers.
Characteristics:
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- Widely deemed to be highly aggressive to other fish,however many live very peacefully with community fish,all have distinct personalities,some very lively,some couch potatoes! They really get to know and recognize owner. The “puffing”behavior is usually only exhibited when the fish is in danger or stressed,it is not healthy to try to elicit this behavior on purpose,occasionally they seem to puff for no good reason. It is dangerous for the fish to puff up with air and so it should be caught in a tub of water rather than netted.
Biotope:Inhabits large rivers and lakes
Breeding:
There is no known way to identify the sex of this fish and captive breeding has not been achieved.
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