Mudskipper paludarium- an alternative solution

[SgtMajWiggles]

You're welcome. The coconut shell makes total sense now, but I just couldn't place it...

Thank you, Sarge.

No, no turtles in there. The round thing in the back right corner? A coconut shell.

[cider]

hey, hx, wonder what the temp has to be kept at for these awesome guys ? How difficult are they to keep ? How do you ensure they don't escape with no cover ? do they need brakish/slightly salt water ? what is the average life span ? what else can you keep with them ? can you use real wood ? sorry about soooo many questions .hope you dont mind. your tank and pics are truly inspiring !!
G

[hx]

hey, hx, wonder what the temp has to be kept at for these awesome guys ? How difficult are they to keep ? How do you ensure they don't escape with no cover ? do they need brakish/slightly salt water ? what is the average life span ? what else can you keep with them ? can you use real wood ? sorry about soooo many questions .hope you dont mind. your tank and pics are truly inspiring !!
G

Hey, and thanks, G.

Temperatures around 25° are fine, I think. They come from very shallow waters/living partly on land, which leads me to believe the temperatures must fluctuate during day and night. I would guess that they adapt well to varying/various temps.

I have read that they are considered very hard to keep. But I can't see the hardness, really.
They stress easily, if they are kept in an unsuitable habitat and especially, if they are kept in a dense population without a chance to get a rest from each other.
Also, I bet the many species (theres at least 20) of mudskippers are not the same. These guys are Periphthalmodon septemradiatus. Not the most aggressive and not the biggest species. They are found in river estuaries exceptionally high up the river, thus fare best in low salities, 1.000-1.003.
Most mudskipper species need a slighly higher salinity.

My tank is covered, they would jump out in no time if it weren't. They climb, using their fins as little feet and they jump very accurately to where they want to go. Both vertically and horizontally. It's fun to watch them actually "run" when they go for food or away from one another.

The life span is unknown to me.

Tankmates can be kept. Brackish fish small enough to not bother the skippers. I've got bumblebee gobies in the tank. The skippers don't eat them, even though the bbgs could easily fit in their mouths. There's also an exchange student trio of Anableps in their tank, growing a bit before they go into a bigger brackish tank.
Nerites try to help me with algae in there.
People report having kept crabs with skippers. I can see Ucas being very suitable, habitatwise. But I think skippers will bother them.

I have some real driftwood in the tank, and it is doing well in brackish.

Added that they eat just about anything I offer, I must say they make pretty good "pets".

Thanks again, I'm happy to hear you are inspired!
/Hx

[cider]

hi hx,
wow ,great info you have provided. The aquarium store I use has had them , so I will have to be sure to see if they are the smaller species. I have summers off and this seems like a good project , and they are so darn cute... . I will do more reading on them, make sure I can give them everything they need before I commit , but in the meantime.. I will enjoy peeking at yours

many thanks , G

[hx]

hi hx,
wow ,great info you have provided. The aquarium store I use has had them , so I will have to be sure to see if they are the smaller species. I have summers off and this seems like a good project , and they are so darn cute... . I will do more reading on them, make sure I can give them everything they need before I commit , but in the meantime.. I will enjoy peeking at yours

many thanks , G

My pleasure. Thank you.
Mudskippers are great fish. Go for it, you will not regret.

[wimvanvelzen]

Great tank for great fishes - a very nice job!

[hx]

Thank you, Wim!

[cider]

love the video, really shows their behavior, and I'm thinking, if one has these cuties, I can't imagine one would need a TV ,thanks again for the info and great video !
G

[hx]

Beats tv any day.

I just need to make me an HQI photographing light.

I hate the colors in these, but here you go:






Mosses rule.

[cider]

oh , so very nice, really looks like they love their home.... great job and cute mudders !
happened to catch a documentry few nights ago, saw a few muskippers, blew me away ,and thought of yours ! these guys are just too darn cute. thanks for the pics !
G

[cider]

hi hx,
still wondering about this type of setup and if it would be feesible for me , so wonder what type of filter is best ? Dosen't look like one can use an HOB, what I am used to, and how did you cycle it? established filter media from another tank or fishless ? I can imagine even a tiny bit of amonia could be deadly to this type of creature, guess I will need to to a LOT of reading before I make a decision... still love looking at yours !!! thanks
G

[hx]

hi hx,
still wondering about this type of setup and if it would be feesible for me , so wonder what type of filter is best ? Dosen't look like one can use an HOB, what I am used to, and how did you cycle it? established filter media from another tank or fishless ? I can imagine even a tiny bit of amonia could be deadly to this type of creature, guess I will need to to a LOT of reading before I make a decision... still love looking at yours !!! thanks
G

Well, HOB might be the only filter type not suitable for paludariums with water levels only halfway the tank or so.

I'm running a diy internal filter made out of filter sponge, very similar in principal to this. I glued it together with two 2" thick, 10"x10" pieces of sponge and it fits under the rooting system. The pump does about 250 gallons per hour. Works great.
Water circulation on the pools is made with another pump equipped with a small filter sponge.

I cycled the tank for about two months. That's after keeping it circulating with just water for a month, to let the cement cure.
During the two months I just added salt very slowly to try and acclimate the plants in it. I guess using partly used sand from another tank and putting in the plants pretty much seeded the bacterial colony.

I haven't read any data comparing mudskipper tolerance to ammonia with other fish, but if I had to guess, I'd say they tolerate worse water qualities than most.
They do habit very small, sometimes very warm puddles of stagnant water. They even oxygenate the water in their mouths with fresh air to get oxygen through gills. My gut feeling is they can take is as it comes?
This is just my quess. And I do try to keep their water clean...

Thanks!

[hx]

Someone's doped my Samolus. I went away for a week and here's what it's come up with:

[cider]

very cool ! ....funny ,I was looking at your pics again just last night ...still love these guys ... such characters! thanks
G

[hx]

Thanks, C.

The Samolus keeps getting bigger and shooting more flower stems



The first plant that really seems to like it in this tank.
Well, Vals have finally acclimated, I guess, since they are spreading quite well.


Also, the black mangrove propagules are showing very promising growth in one of those Riparium Supply planters:


I have high hopes I can grow a nice "foliage" with the mangrove to fill up the upper part of the tank in the future.