Mudskipper questions

[mpeterb]

Can anyone share information about keeping mudskippers? I just got a new 40 gallon tank and I want!

I was planning on getting Indian mudskippers from here:
http://www.livefishdirect.com/store.php?fid=616

My general plan is half mud, gravel over the submerged mud, I have an Eheim 2213 I was going to position over a half tube to make a stream into the water.

Is there a mudskipper forum? Anyone with personal suggestions?

Any help would be much appreciated.

Thanks,

Matt

[Bully]

http://homepage.mac.com/nmonks/Projects/FAQ/5c.html

[Diana]

I have kept them. They climb. They can escape.

I built an island with rocks. Not a deep pile of mud or gravel.
Tankmates included a Dragon Goby, Orange Chromides Mollies and a Guppy.
Plants never did well in that salt level, but occasionally I would add some. All they did was to die slowly.
SG 1.004.

[mpeterb]

Thank you both.

[andyroo]

You can often buy mangrove propagules (seed-pods) in marine petshops or on-line. They grow very slowly and can't really be transplanted (for cleaning), but will add some nice greenery. Scratch-that, I only know them in the wild- I don't know what they're like in an aquarium/terrarium setting.

Mudskippers are estuarine/tidal, usually on the marine side of the salinity scale. In 40Gallons you may not be able to get enough depth for regular fish, but you could have a nice collection of crabs and invertebrates. Start with mollies and play it by ear, i guess.
A

[Matt]

I kept a group of P. novemradiatus for several years in a very simple set-up and found them quite easy. Definitely the best mudskipper for home aquaria as they only grow to around 5-6 cm. The main consideration is provision of space for each fish; if there aren't enough exposed areas for individuals to form small territories you'll be left with the weaker specimens clinging to the glass constantly and being out-competed for food. I used to feed them individually which worked very well because if you put the food in the same spot every day the dominant fish will simply not allow the others near it. It's also entertaining as they become hand tame quite quickly and will jump onto your palm to feed.

Keep the diet varied. They'll accept frozen bloodworm, Artemia, chopped prawn (shrimp) and other such items, and I used to offer a single weekly meal of a high quality Spirulina-based flake food to provide some vegetable matter.

Water depth is unimportant as this species is highly terrestrial and you'll find that most of the time they sit half-in, half-out of the water. Personally I wouldn't keep other fishes in with them to maximise the amount of available floor space and inverts are probably best avoided too. I'd also be a bit wary about using mud; where will it be taken from?

Some pics:

[odyssey]

I traveled to Okinawa of the Japanese southernmost department and took pictures the south mudskipper of a natural habitat last week.

South mudskipper (Periophthalmus argentilineatus).
The south mudskipper is distributed over the Ryukyu chain of islands widely in Japan. I inhabit from mangrove forest floor to the water's edge edge.



Without swimming in the water for them when danger is felt, they jump and run awaya on surface of the water, .

[Diana]

Interesting pictures, Odyssey.
How salty is the water there? Is this in an area where fresh and salt water are mixing?
When there were several nearby how much space did each fish have?

[odyssey]

They live at a tideland.
The salinity of the water from tideland isn't fixed.
Fresh and salt water are mixing there.

As far as I saw, they didn't crowd.

[mpeterb]

Thanks to Matt and Odyssey for pics and advice.

Personally I wouldn't keep other fishes in with them to maximise the amount of available floor space and inverts are probably best avoided too. I'd also be a bit wary about using mud; where will it be taken from?

I'll probably keep some guppies in the tank to start, so the skippers can nibble fry if they want to.

The mud would come from my own backyard. I know that cautious aquarists might cringe at that idea, but as we speak I have minnows, bettas and shrimp in various pots and tanks in my yard, all have dirt in them for hyacinths to take root in, and certainly dirt has gotten into my pond and doesn't seem to have done any harm to my goldfish or koi. I'm not being snarky, that's just been my experience.

As far as I know mudskippers haven't bred in captivity, but just the same I want to provide as close to their native environment as I can with 4 square feet. That means enough water to play in, if they ever want to, as well as enough soft sediment for them to dig burrows in.

[Diana]

I tried mud from my yard for a planted tank.
So much fine matter that it never cleared. What a mess!

I am not frowning on using available materials. I am concerned about how deep it will be, though. My brackish water tank was a full tank, just a bit shy of water at the top for room for the mudskipper. I had other brackish water fish swimming in the rest of it. This is why I made a flat rock into an island on very tall legs.

I like the picture above, where the mudskippers are all there are in that tank. The water level is really low. Plenty of room to grow a baby mangrove.

[mpeterb]

I'll know for sure when I have it set up, but I was thinking 10-12" of water, or about half a tank. I'll be sure and have a tight lid, maybe just a screen instead of glass.

As for the mud, I've done it in planted tanks covered with gravel, and out door tanks without gravel or filtration, but I think you might be right about the mess with a filter on. Maybe I'll arrange the return so it doesn't kick up a big mess, maybe I'll give up and have sand in the water and shore, with only mud in the land area? I'm not ordering the skippers until I'm happy with the tank, so I'll have some time to play around with it.

I did order some mangroves.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... CA:US:1123

Thanks again to everyone who replied here, this really is the best forum I'm aware of.

[Ruhig Blut]

Hi Matt,

I'm not sure if it's useful for you, since it's a german forum...
If you have specific questions I can try to translate.

It's a thread about a tide-simulating aquarium with mudskippers:
http://www.scalareonline.de/sco/viewtop ... =4&t=13351

Ingo

[mpeterb]

That is so cool! I looked at it with google-translate, but that only helps a little. Does he explain what exactly he did to achieve the tides. And what's a Blauenfilterschwamm, if you know?

Thank you.

[Francois van Brederode]

Blue filter sponge me thinks