Ok, so after RE-thinking...

[Markw]

I think instead of doing my original plan of a tank with BBGs, flounders, sailfin mollies and trying some indian skippers, I think I will turn the 55gal into an Indian Mudskipper aquarium and maybe keep some red claw crabs in it if this is possible. Any Idea about this one? And make a 20gal long that I have sitting around into an aquarium into the tank with the BBGs and flounders. In the Indian Skipper tank, how many indians could I keep in this aquarium in order for them to still thrive? I hear that when keeping the indians, the more you keep, the less agressive they are, so any advice here would be amazing. Also, would the Red Claw Crabs be a good tankmate for these guys? I would love to keep some of these. The tank footprint is 48x12.5x21" LxWxH. Any help here would be amazing. About the sandbanks, how do you keep them up? I would imagine that they would be pretty hard to keep up and would build waste very readily. So, my questions for this thread are:

1.) How many Indian Mudskippers could I keep in my 55gal tank?
2.) Could I keep RRCs in with them?
3.) Are there any other acceptable species of animals that I could keep with them?
4.) How do you keep the sandbanks up at the specific angle?
5.) How do you keep the sandbanks from becoming bacteria-filled death-pits?

Thanks in advance.
Mark

 

[Markw]

Ok, so I know none of my original fish can be kept with skippers, how about these:
1.)GSP
2.)F8 puffer
3.)Waspfish
4.)Red Claw Crab
5.)Fiddler crab

Which ones of these can be kept with the Indian mudskippers? If more than one, which ones can be kept all in the same tank together with the skippers? I mean, how many combinations can I get out of these fish and the Indian Mudskipper?

Mark

 

[SalmonAfrica]

First you have to know that none of the fish you mentioned in your last post should be kept in a mudskipper aquarium. Firstly, the water for a mudskipper tank is extremely shallow (it should be 10cm deep or less), and this is hardly ideal for any of those species space requirements. Secondly, water in a mudskipper tank can have nitrate levels that are pretty much toxic to other fish; this is because of the low water volume and lack of efficient filtration for such shallow water. Of course, if you could find a good filter for your skipper tank, I don't see any problems, other than the depth issue.

One fish I know that doesn't have an issue wih shallow water is the Wrestling Halfbeak, Dermogenys pusilla. They only use the upper water column anyway. Again I would only suggest going this route if you can provide good filtration.

I also wouldn't recommend keeping crabs with mudskippers, and vice versa. I know that several species of skippers eat crabs in the wild, and again, several species of mangrove crabs eat mudskippers. You can take the chance but one species is going to lose out, big time.

Now to answer your original questions:
1) Two to five, but in that case only keep one male, the rest must be females.
2) Rather not
3) As mentioned, Wrestling Halfbeaks if you can provide adequate filtration
4) Use glass glued to the bottom or pieces of slate to act as retaining walls with the sand
5) Regular siphoning and manually turning over the sand during maintainence

 

[Dragon cqzzzzz<]

I agree with SalmonAfrica for the most part, but he/she doesn't seem to know what an Indian dwarf mudskipper is. They only get 4" long, and are less territorial than larger species. You could probably keep six or so. Maybe more. Just make sure there are plenty of places for them to claim as their own.

 

[SalmonAfrica]

doesn't seem to know what an Indian dwarf mudskipper is

Other than I know that they are mudskippers, and regardless of whether they are less territorial or not, being safe rather than sorry is something I'd recommend when keeping a species that can be territorial to any degree. Some people often underestimate what mudskippers can do to each other...

Unless, of course, you wanted to keep six or more females?