mudskippers

[animalzrok2]

today at the lfs i fell in love with mudskippers. anyone know anything about them??????

 

[Homer8]

yep i have one and i have done a ot of research on them. they are by far my favorite fish.
Min tank size for 1 is 10 gallons and its all about surface area
temp-about 80 with high humidity
SG- 1.005
substrate sand
food- any live food that fits in there mouths. i feed mine crickets which is fun to watch them hunt
they are very easy to take care of and i recomend them to everyone. they spend 90% of their time out of water. mine watches me more then i watch him. ill look over and he'll be staring at me. i had 2 but one jumped out. they werent too aggressive with each other but they like there space. when i get the money i would like to set up at 55+ gallon tank and have fiddlers and mudskippers

 

[animalzrok2]

thank you!!!!!!!!!! at the fish store i was looking at a 30 gallon that thy already set up and the said i could keep 5 max in there as long as there was only 1 male. is that true???????

 

[Homer8]

5 may be pushing it just because they do like there space i would say 3 maybe 4 would be a good amount. When i make a huve mudskipper tank im going to go by 3 mudskippers per 20 gallons. The more room the happier they will be. Plus your just starting with them and you dont want to over do it right away. When i had two i was always worrying over which one ate what because when it comes to feeding time one mudskipper will try to take control and eat everything. If you do get 5 make sure about 90% of the tank is land(wet land). It doesnt matter how deep the tank is just its footprint. Try to have about 100 square inches per skipper.

 

[animalzrok2]

ok. its a high tank not wide. does that make a difference? if so how?

 

[Rutrag]

Fish generally swim side to side rather than up and down. They base their territories on square footage rather than cubic footage. I imagine this is especially true of mudskippers who are either out of the water or only at the top.

Another way to think about it is to think about your bedroom. Everyone would like a bigger bedroom, right? If your bedroom was twice as tall as it is now, you really don't get to use the added space (assuming you don't add a loft or something). However, your room is twice as big as what it was. On the other hand, if we made it twice as long, you'd have lots more space.

Also, the surface area of the tank is where oxygen gets in and CO2 gets out. So it's harder in a way to oxygenate a deeper tank.

 

[animalzrok2]

okay thanks ill buy a long one. its just that the tank was already a mudskipper tank in the lfs but i agree with the bedroom thing.

 

[Homer8]

that and mudskippers spend 90% of their time on land unlike normal fish that can swim up and down in the tank. oxygenating the water for mudskippers isnt that important as it is with most fish because as long as their skin is wet they can get oxygen right out of the air.

In about a year or so i plan on upgrading and buy about 6-9 midskippers and im trying to think of a cool design for a tank. i know that i want a waterfall in the tank trickling down rocks but i dont know what i want it to look like yet. here is what i have now. i have 1 mudskipper on top and a figure 8 puffer on the bottome but the future tank will probably be mudskippers,BBGs, 1 freshwater flounder and a few fiddler crabs. needless to say its going to be a large tank

when i first got my mudskippers i had to act fast so got a temp 10 gallon tank and this was them then

 

[adeebm]

Yep mudskippers are fairly easy to take care of. Spacing requirements depends on the species. For instance, indian mudskippers, which only get to about 4in, can be housed in much higher densities than africans, which can get upwards of 9in. Salinity requirements also vary by species, but usually 1.005 to 1.015 is fine. If you can get pics of the ones at your LFS I could ID them. Also Homer, mixing mudskippers with fiddlers is not a good idea. I have tried this with a medium sized species and it doesn't go well for the fiddlers. They will hide in the presence of the mudskippers, causing stress, and while the skippers can't eat them outright, the will nip off the legs. Indian mudskippers might work with fiddlers, since they max out at 4in and are more docile, but I have yet to try it.

Tank setup can be fairly simple, with half land and half water. They don't often go in deep water and will spend most of their time either perched out of water or in a shallow area. In the wild, most species live in muddy areas, but playsand works well. If you can create a shallow, beach or mangrove type environment, that is best. They'll eat live foods like crickets and small insects, as well as any frozen foods like bloodworms. I'm sure it's possible to get them on flakes or pellets as well.

--Adeeb

 

[Homer8]

Yep mudskippers are fairly easy to take care of. Spacing requirements depends on the species. For instance, indian mudskippers, which only get to about 4in, can be housed in much higher densities than africans, which can get upwards of 9in. Salinity requirements also vary by species, but usually 1.005 to 1.015 is fine. If you can get pics of the ones at your LFS I could ID them. Also Homer, mixing mudskippers with fiddlers is not a good idea. I have tried this with a medium sized species and it doesn't go well for the fiddlers. They will hide in the presence of the mudskippers, causing stress, and while the skippers can't eat them outright, the will nip off the legs. Indian mudskippers might work with fiddlers, since they max out at 4in and are more docile, but I have yet to try it.

Tank setup can be fairly simple, with half land and half water. They don't often go in deep water and will spend most of their time either perched out of water or in a shallow area. In the wild, most species live in muddy areas, but playsand works well. If you can create a shallow, beach or mangrove type environment, that is best. They'll eat live foods like crickets and small insects, as well as any frozen foods like bloodworms. I'm sure it's possible to get them on flakes or pellets as well.

--Adeeb

When i talk about spacing requirements im obviously talking about smaller mudskipper species. Most people that own mudskipper keep smaller species. Mine is about 5-6 inches and which is about average. Indians are smaller by about an inch or two. I think when i upgrade ill go with atlantic because i like the blue fins. I love my midskipper and hope that they all have similar personalities through out different species. As fo food mine will only eat live food. If its not moving he isnt interested.

P.S.
Everyone should own a mudskipper. They are the greatest. Everyone thinks they are amphibians when they see them. Very interesting and very funny.

 

[adeebm]

When i talk about spacing requirements im obviously talking about smaller mudskipper species. Most people that own mudskipper keep smaller species. Mine is about 5-6 inches and which is about average.

I was just clarifying the difference in size and temperament among species, since to the OP it may not have been obvious what size you were talking about.

Also, have you tried hand feeding yours? It's quite fun!

Oh and for the OP, make sure you use a true marine salt mix for salinity. Table salt does NOT work. Most likely, your LFS will have had them in FW. You can gradually raise the salinity to whatever level you choose, though they should survive being introduced to a higher salinity. In the wild, they move to and from bodies of water with varying salinities. You'll also want to make sure to cycle your tank beforehand as with any fish. I find small canister filters work well for low water levels, as HOBs often can't function if the waterline is too low.

--Adeeb

 

[Homer8]

I have and he has no interest in it. I really cant wait to upgrade but im worried about what i will do with this guy. I wont fet rid of him but i dont think mixing him with a different species would be a good idea.

 

[adeebm]

Yeah, mixing P. barbarus with smaller species will probably go badly. Why not have two tanks?

--Adeeb

 

[Homer8]

Yeah, mixing P. barbarus with smaller species will probably go badly. Why not have two tanks?

--Adeeb

yea im probably going to go with indian mudskippers instead because they are small. i wish i could find my species Periophthalmus variabilis

 

[Homer8]

i forgot to mention that if you feed your skippers meal worms, what i do is crush the head of the meal worm first because meal worms have been know to eat through a fishes stomach. i want to try fruit flys next because i think it will keep him amused chasing all the wingless or flightless flys.

 

[Tigroscr]

i forgot to mention that if you feed your skippers meal worms, what i do is crush the head of the meal worm first because meal worms have been know to eat through a fishes stomach. i want to try fruit flys next because i think it will keep him amused chasing all the wingless or flightless flys.

That's very interesting info. I've never fed my fish mealworms but I had a tree frog at one time I fed those to, he lived about 6 months or so then mysteriously died I wonder if that's why??

 

[NoFishingAllowed]

Those are SO cute!! I want some one day! How hard is it to have a brachish tank?

 

[Homer8]

That's very interesting info. I've never fed my fish mealworms but I had a tree frog at one time I fed those to, he lived about 6 months or so then mysteriously died I wonder if that's why??

could be because meal worms have a tough outer skin and frogs and most fish swallow them whole. my mudskipper squishes them in his mouth but not always.