Indian mudskipper habitat

[linuxrulesusa]

Not a cichlid thing at all, but enjoy.

So I'd been looking for Indian mudskippers for about 6 months now without any success, except online, and by the time I found them online it was getting too cold to ship plus they were pricey at $16 ea + shipping.  They're nice because unlike the Atlantic or African varieties, they only get a few inches and are not nearly as territorial.  They're fascinating because as a kind of goby they can perch on leaves or the side of the tank, and because of the ability to breath air, they're almost like an amphibian.  They live on tidal mudflats in the wild.  Here's one guy who tried to simulate it, but I don't have that level of DIY skill/time/$: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AYCpyNSe1o4

Today I found that Twins in Southgate had a bunch (10-12?).  I picked up two this afternoon and two more tonight.  I set them up in a 15g 24x12 tank that I had used as a reef tank, so I was able to reuse the still damp sand to help boost PH and salinity.  I filled the tank about 1/2 full then decided that might be too much, so I backed it down to about 1/3 full.  I need to figure out filtration - probably will get a tetra whisper 20i or similar to do a waterfall type filtration and use sponges instead of the filter pads.  My small heater was bad so joe hooked me up with a submersible 75w...didn't want to fry them by accident with a 200W in 5g of water. 

Here's some pics.

Full tank shot.  I plan to add some driftwood and a bit more décor possibly, but I wasn't totally prepared for them so I threw together what I had sitting idle in my fish supplies.



Perched on a leaf



Just hangin' out.



And a closeup



Eating - I tried a variation on the 'feeder ring' to keep the bloodworms in one spot.  At first I thought they wouldn't figure it out then I found two of them munching away in the bottom of the cup.



And my wife got this shot of one perched on the edge after gorging himself.

[LoveTheFishies]

Very interesting.  Post pix when you get their tank all fixed up.

[Steve]

So odd looking it makes them cute

[linuxrulesusa]

So odd looking it makes them cute

My wife likes frogs so these were right up her alley.  I showed her some online and she was not interestd but once I got them home she was mildly hooked.   

[Ron]

Cool. Neat. Unique. Kinda creepy, but I'm not sure why. 

Those are certainly different from normal "fish". Glad to hear you were able to find them and I hope they do well. Be sure to keep us updated on how they are doing.

[linuxrulesusa]

Cool. Neat. Unique. Kinda creepy, but I'm not sure why. 

Those are certainly different from normal "fish". Glad to hear you were able to find them and I hope they do well. Be sure to keep us updated on how they are doing.

When the guy was catching them one got loose and 'walked' two tanks over and plopped in.  Threw him for a loop.

[Ron]

Cool. Neat. Unique. Kinda creepy, but I'm not sure why. 

Those are certainly different from normal "fish". Glad to hear you were able to find them and I hope they do well. Be sure to keep us updated on how they are doing.

When the guy was catching them one got loose and 'walked' two tanks over and plopped in.  Threw him for a loop.

LOL.

[Ogre44]

Very nice.
I've always liked them as well, regular updates will allow me to keep them vicariously through you

[Sean]

How much we're they there? Are they saltwater?

[linuxrulesusa]

How much we're they there? Are they saltwater?

Twins in Southgate has them (or did as of last night) for ~$10 ea.  There were probably 6-7 left after I grabbed my 4.

Mudskippers are brackish (1.005 to 1.010 specific gravity, compared to full marine at 1.020 to 1.030 SG).  So, instead of 1 cup marine salt/gallon (the Instant Ocean salt I use is about 1 cup/gallon to get ~1.025 SG), you'd do more like 1 cup per 2.5-5 gallons, depending whether you aimed for the lower or higher end of the spectrum.  They were in full fresh at the store (not recommended) but acclimated immediately to brackish; no negative effects so far.  Similar to a Green Spotted Puffer in that you can take them from fresh to full marine in a matter of hours with few to no ill effects.

It's not the most recommended approach, but I do brackish simply by putting the salt in a large butter tub and aiming the hose running from the sink into the butter tub and letting the salt mix as the water is added and overflows into the tank.  Then the power filter does the rest to do the final mix.

I may have to mix the water separately during WCs for the mudskipper tank because the water volume is so small, but I'm not sure yet.  I filled the tank before they were in it.

I'd recommend getting a decent refractometer if you're going to do brackish and possibly full marine later.  The hydrometers (clear plastic with a swing arm) are sometimes fine and sometimes way off.  However, brackish fish do tolerate salinity swings better than marine fish because they're used to the tides coming in and out and evaporation and all those factors. 

[Marty]

Very cool pics and information!

[Sean]

Those are pretty cool, wish I had more room

[auratus]

Coool! maybe you get them to Breed!

[linuxrulesusa]

Coool! maybe you get them to Breed!

I'm not anticipating this, because I guess they're pretty hard to breed.  The guy in the video link I posted in the first post made his setup specifically to allow breeding, I think.  They breed in long burrows that they dig in the mud and need a setup to mimic tidal conditions, as they usually begin breeding at low tide.  So I doubt I can replicate this.  But, you never know.    Thanks for the encouragement.

[Steve]

My Niece was over here yesterday and I showed her the pics. The picture with their eyes above water creeped her out LOL