Yet another Mudskipper thread, please help.

[Astralmind]

So there are tones of highly informative threads on the subject already and I've read them. Thanks to everyone who has shared their knowledge so far.

I have a 90g (4x1.5x1.5) that I plan on filling up to the 1 foot mark, leaving 6 inches high of land area. Sand seems to be the ideal substrate so I'll go with that too. Filter wise I will most likely go for a Rena Xp3 and attach the Rena 300W heater to it's input (sealed in a thick cartridge, supposed to be safe). I currently have an old fluval 304 (or is it 303?) that is not in top shape so I guess investing in a proper filter is the best thing to do. Red Mangroves are readily available on ebay for cheap so I'll add a few in there for sure. While skippers are technically brackish water fishes, I've read and asked around quite a bit and it seems the Indian mudskippers can adapt well to freshwater, especially if they were breeded in such an envrionment which is exactly the case for me (the place I'm ordering them from breeds them in freshwater without any issues).

Cycling wise, after reading very different opinons online I believe I will give Tetra SafeStart a try with their conventional method while monitoring things closely. Either with the skippers themselves or other potential tankmates if someone has a good idea.

So far I'm looking at buying 8-10 skippers and haven't found an ideal tank mate yet. Any suggestions are welcomed, I'd rather add fishes at this point than crabs/frogs.

and.... I'm left with my biggest challenge : The actual tank setup. I've seen some wonderful setups on this forum and elsewhere but unfortunately, my skills are... limited to put it lightly. I was hoping to go with a fully aquatic setup (ie no sand banks) with plenty of surface platformes. Either driftwood, rocks, floating platforms... Ultimately, I'd like to keep the water part of the aquarium uncloged as much as possible to either accommodate some fishes or simply give the skipper more room to swim (undersanding how critical it is for them to have land areas). Besides JK47's setup #2, I haven't seen anyone going this way. I am worried that building a sandbank would end up in a real headhache to clean an maintain (the slope slowly sliding etc..) and find it takes away a lot of room.

Any suggestions ? Is it a terrible idea ?

Thank you

 

[SalmonAfrica]

Red Mangroves are readily available on ebay for cheap so I'll add a few in there for sure.

Mangroves need lots of good light and plenty of nutrients in the form of wastes. The good light is easy enough to get, but a handful of mudskippers won't be enough to sustain even one mangrove properly. Fertilizers may be an option here, but from personally trying to keep mangroves in a confined captive space, I'd recommend you opt out of it.

Look around for pieces of driftwood that look like wood, or even artificial roots, to replace the mangroves.

While skippers are technically brackish water fishes, I've read and asked around quite a bit and it seems the Indian mudskippers can adapt well to freshwater, especially if they were breeded in such an envrionment which is exactly the case for me (the place I'm ordering them from breeds them in freshwater without any issues).

As far as I know, nobody has bred mudskippers of any species. I may be wrong. Not too long ago a person came on to Monsterfishkeepers and said that they had bred the Atlantic mudskipper, which got a lot of attention. However, there was only one fry and it never survived to adulthood. We'll never know if it was a mudskipper fry or not.

While most mudskippers adapt to freshwater - mainly because they sometimes experience freshwater in the wild - to be safe you'll want to have at least slightly brackish water, aiming for a SG of at least 1.005. In these conditions they'll be much happier and less susceptible to disease.

Cycling wise, after reading very different opinons online I believe I will give Tetra SafeStart a try with their conventional method while monitoring things closely. Either with the skippers themselves or other potential tankmates if someone has a good idea.

Skippers are highly tolerant of ammonia, nitrites and nitrates. Despite this, you don't want to risk harming them. Even after using the SafeStart, only add the mudskippers a week or two into the cycle.

So far I'm looking at buying 8-10 skippers and haven't found an ideal tank mate yet. Any suggestions are welcomed, I'd rather add fishes at this point than crabs/frogs.

Be careful. Yes, Indian mudskippers a whole lot less territorial and boistrous compared to their other mudskipper kin, don't push their limits. I'd go for a maximum of 8 in the tank, preferably less, and then having more females than males.

As far as tankmates go, it's up to you. If you got the brackish route like I suggested, most smaller fish will be fine with water that deep. Mollies are a good idea, and other goby species, like Knight gobies or bumblebees can work.

Avoid monos, archers, scats and shark catfish. They're all large waste producers and potential predators to mudskippers, especially when they get bigger.

and.... I'm left with my biggest challenge : The actual tank setup. I've seen some wonderful setups on this forum and elsewhere but unfortunately, my skills are... limited to put it lightly. I was hoping to go with a fully aquatic setup (ie no sand banks) with plenty of surface platformes. Either driftwood, rocks, floating platforms... Ultimately, I'd like to keep the water part of the aquarium uncloged as much as possible to either accommodate some fishes or simply give the skipper more room to swim (undersanding how critical it is for them to have land areas). Besides JK47's setup #2, I haven't seen anyone going this way. I am worried that building a sandbank would end up in a real headhache to clean an maintain (the slope slowly sliding etc..) and find it takes away a lot of room.

It's up to you, really.

Both options are viable - the platforms of rock/wood can work provided that they have a gentle enough slope to climb up. It doesn't even have to be a very gentle slope, either, as mudskippers are very good climbers! If you want it to look 'nice', go for the root look. Having a few branches that look like mangrove roots coming down looks effective both above and below the water.

The sandbank is often viewed as the more common option. Yes, the sandbank can get clogged with waste. And yes, it can slump. The first solution is to get a pump under the sand bank - that's what it did. I covered it in material to prevent sand getting into the impeller, and covered it in the sand bank. Now water is drawn through the bank. Granted, though, you'll have to siphon the bank every now and again to remove the waste.

As for the slumping, make some retaining walls. I just used rocks, but some people silicone glass to the bottom of the tank to act as the walls. And it works very well.

Good luck
Tim

 

[Astralmind]

Wow, thank you so much for you detailed reply Tim, greatly appreciated !

I finally got the skippers, 5 to be exact. I had ordered 12 but they only had 5 in stock so that's where I'm standing for now. I received them about a week ago and 4 out of 5 are doing amazingly well: They've gained weight and seem to be fully acclimated to their new environment. In fact, within 2 days they could be hand fed.. Unfortunately, there is a 5th one who isn't looking all that great. It's spending most of its time underwater, breathing heavily and simply not looking well... I find that 5 (and possibly 4) is

As for the setup, I decided to fill the tank up to 9.5 inches and scattered different fake roots/platform. Substrate is aragonite sugar sand and I have mangroves coming in (seems like I might have wasted my money on those but I'll give it a shot anyways). The mudskippers seem to be enjoying the setup but it doesn't look too great simply because I'm using nothing natural...it looks empty.. I'll have to work on this but at least it's very functional and keeps the humidity under control.

I decided to add a cup of ocean salt to help things a bit. Hard to tell with the crappy hygrometer I got but it looks like I'm at around 1.002-1.003. I've got a refractometer coming in the mail. I plan on slowly rising the salinity not to rush anything.

Food is somewhat an issue: I've used forzen ghost shrimps and bloodworms, they love it but it's very messy and hard to clean (sand substrat and already low water level). Do you have any alternatives to those ?

Overall, mudskippers are absolutely great! I think 5 isn't enough to properly fill my 90 g though... 8 would have been much better but then again, paying the shipping for an extra 3 doesn't make much sense... as for tank mates, I've decided to keep limit this tank to Indian Mudskipper only... if I ever want something else, it'll have to go in an other tank! I'll see what I end up doing.

 

[SalmonAfrica]

That's good to hear Good luck with number 5.

As for the food issue, play around a bit. Mudskippers are rarely fussy. While I'm keeping a different species to you - the Atlantic mudskipper (P. barbarus) - nearly all mudskippers appreciate the same foods. At the moment, mine is on a diet of prawn and squid. The prawn I buy from the local grocery store, but you'll want to buy the unglazed products. The squid comes from the local bait shop. Both are defrosted, cut to appropriate size and cleaned well before I give them to the mudskipper.

Also previously accepted foods include 'flying ants' (winged female termites, I don't know if you get those where you are), crickets (normally reptile food), pieces of sardine, bits of crab, bits of octopus tentacle, flies, and bloodworm. I'm sure most other 'meaty' foods would be taken too. Just steer clear of treated or seasoned and it'll all be good.

Get some photos and keep me (and any other readers) updated.

Tim

 

[Astralmind]

Well I'll soon add pictures, didn't have much time lately with work. I have ramped up the salinity level to around 1.005 and they all seem to be doing well.

I still think that 5 (well 4 considering one is always underwater) makes the tank look somewhat empty and will order more. Water is crystal clear and the parameters are all top notch. I will mostly likely go for an extra 5, bringing them to 10 total in 45g of water which seems reasonable.

Feeding wise, they are all eating brine shrimps and bloodworms but I'm having a hard time feeding them anything else. 2 out of 5 will eat NLS pellets but the others don't seem to be interested. In any case, this leaves a lot of uneaten food/waste at the bottom of the tank (highly visible on white sand !) I'm vacuuming every other day but in the process I also happen to do a 15% water change which isn't ideal from a practicality stand point as well as stressing out the skippers. Does anyone have a suggestion for making this easier ? Are there any kinds of bottom dweller that would do well in such an environment (one that would eat the food that ends up in the sand) ?

 

[fishy12]

pics?

 

[gfunk823]

i actually just did a tank set up of similar size (75) but what i did was i bought 3 indian mud skippers i have the tank filled half way with water with a sandy beach and rocks with a floating dock in there as well, i keep them with a colombian shark 2 archers a lyretail molly and a lobster and they dont bother eachother, the archers are kinda curious of the mudskippers though but they wont harm them figured id put my two sense in here

also if you do plan on buying 8 to 10 you might wana provide as much land as possible to lessen the risk of them attacking eachother

floating turtle docks work really well

please post pictures when your done

 

[SalmonAfrica]

@ Astralmind - nice work on the tank. With a low salinity like that, maybe try Knight gobies. Otherwise the water changes aren't a bad thing, except for bothering the skippers, but I'm sure they'll become accustomed to it.

@ gfunk - good luck is all I can say. Columbian sharks and archerrs grow huge, and both like to be kept in groups. They'll soon be cramped in that tank. Also, the lobster is a threat. Even if things are going well now, very soon you'll lose some fish.

 

[gfunk823]

yea i just got the lobster out today and brought it back to my lfs and as for the archers and colombian shark i think theyll be fine i know they like to school and they will once i get my bigger tank

 

[Astralmind]

Well the 5 skippers are all doing well. I've raised the salinity level to 1.004-1.005. The mangroves on the other end are not doing really well, 2 died, 4 left looking well though... we'll see if they make it !

I guess my only concern is that the skippers are looking even more skittish then when I first got them. They are still curious at feeding time, obviously knowing that food is coming but I see them being more spread out through the aquarium and more aggressive towards each other.. One in particular is constantly hiding (except when it comes to feeding).

Water parameters are top notch, temperature and humidity are looking perfect and so is salinity (albeit on the low end). No signs of apparent sickness, just more nervousness for lack of better words. They have plenty of land area and yet for some reasons they still like to stick to the glass... I have been doing frequent water changes, could be that it's stressing them out although I try to be careful.

As for pics well they are coming.. Smugmug is down at the moment but I've snapped a few that needs some intense pp in Photoshop but.. will upload them in a few minutes