# Mudskipper Setup



## Guest (Mar 28, 2007)

At the request of another member, here's a look at my newest setup: mudskippers! 

After attending the NEC convention a couple weekends ago, I bought as an intelligent impulse (lol) three dwarf indian mudskippers. I had a cycled 30 just sitting at home, so I turned it into a brackish haven for my new little guys.

Tank Specs:

Standard 30 gallon
Fluval Plus 2 Internal Filter
Visi-Therm Stealth 100 Watt Heater
60 hrz Fountain Pump (for trickling waterfall effect)
Standard Flourescent Lighting
Play Sand/Pea Gravel mix for substrate
About 10 gallons of water or so in the tank
For decor I've got one large centerpiece fake driftwood. I concealed the filter and pump by putting them behind this, and used flexible Eheim tubing to place the waterflow from the pump over the driftwood. This makes a trickling waterfall effrect, just a slight effect since the pump is so small (I'm considering figuring out a way to attach the tubing to the outtake nozzle of the internal filter instead of having to worry about the pump). I've also got another fake driftwood and a real piece of driftwood sticking out of the water with some limestone and various rocks as well for the mudskippers to perch on. I've also got a nice little sand bank on the left side. 
For plants, I have some java mossed placed randomly around the tank (which I frequently find the mudskippers perch upon) as well as some duckweed.

Pics (sorry for the chords everwhere, and the condensation inside the tank):

the tank before i added the sandbank.









better look at the centerpiece









one of the little guys 









That's all for now. Will post some updated pics later. I'm also considering getting some other brackish gobies, maybe a knight goby or more mudskippers, either more indians or another dwarf variety (if there is one).

(Waddya think Red? lol)


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## redpaulhus (Jan 18, 2005)

I love it.
what are you feeding them ?
I know Frank was using live blackworms at the booth (and giving out samples - I had a bag of blackworms sitting on top of ice in my hotel sink all weekend :mrgreen and I was thinking of using various small live foods (fruitflies, whiteworms, tiny crickets) and dried foods like plankton, bloodworms, etc along with frozen goodies.

I was soooo close to bringing some of these home - but I knew I didn't have a valid tank for them (yet).

Not to mention the fact that I dropped over $100 on stuff between the vendors and auction :mrgreen: 

I like the layout.
Are you seeing any "displaying" by the males ?


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## Guest (Mar 28, 2007)

Ha, I'm seeing some domination by the males  I have two bigger ones whcih are a little more colored than the third smaller one so I think the two big ones are male, third is female. The two big ones tend to fight each other off of their hangout spots, nothing bad though. its kinda cute 

Im feeding them frozen bloodworms and hikari carnivore pellets which they all take very readily considering Frank has gotten all his mudskippers over to dried foods, which is great. I'll probably vary their diet a little more though. Tonight I plan on feeding them some frozen mysis and i think I have some frozen beefheart buried in the freezer somewhere...
I know what you mean about the auction though, me and my mom got a little carried away there. lmao


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## Guest (Mar 28, 2007)

lol, Thanks Beki.


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## mudskipper26 (Nov 30, 2006)

Nice setup. Yours skippers look just like mine , but i like your setup because it has real plants.


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## mudskipper26 (Nov 30, 2006)

Scuba Kid said:


> Ha, I'm seeing some domination by the males  I have two bigger ones whcih are a little more colored than the third smaller one so I think the two big ones are male, third is female. The two big ones tend to fight each other off of their hangout spots, nothing bad though. its kinda cute
> 
> Im feeding them frozen bloodworms and hikari carnivore pellets which they all take very readily considering Frank has gotten all his mudskippers over to dried foods, which is great. I'll probably vary their diet a little more though. Tonight I plan on feeding them some frozen mysis and i think I have some frozen beefheart buried in the freezer somewhere...
> I know what you mean about the auction though, me and my mom got a little carried away there. lmao


Try feeding them either Freeze dried krill or FD planton, they love that stuff. Then they started eating freeze dried bloodworms. So there main diet is dried now. Have you ever feed them a cricket? They have to be the smallest you can find, but it's very cool to watch.


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## Guest (Mar 30, 2007)

wow...... looks good so far........

how much money would it cost to buy and keep a mudskipper? are they really easy to care for? i would love a mudskipper!


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## Guest (Mar 30, 2007)

hoofclopson said:


> wow...... looks good so far........
> 
> how much money would it cost to buy and keep a mudskipper? are they really easy to care for? i would love a mudskipper!


easy if you have the right setup and can feed them well. They require a brackish tank with plenty of places to leave the water. They spend 90% of their time on land. Mine were $8 each but you might have trouble finding them at an lfs. I bought mine from a seller at a convention.


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## Guest (Mar 30, 2007)

oh. how long do they live? do they make great pets???


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## Guest (Mar 30, 2007)

I'm not sure how long they live, and yes they make great pets. They are also very specialized pets and need the correct kind of setup.

Besides, before you set up something like a mudskipper tank, you need to correct your current setups, such as your 7 gallon puffer tank....


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## Daeorn (Dec 13, 2006)

Thats just a nice tank. Thats how I wanted to set mine up, but could never locally find anyone who sold mudskippers. Might I ask where you purchased yours?


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## Guest (Apr 4, 2007)

Thank you for the kind words. 
I purchased them at an aquarium convention I attended.

The man that runs this website is who i purchased them from. He has some dwarf indian muskippers in stock, the species I have.
http://www.franksaquarium.com/brackishwater_fish_farm.htm


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## Daeorn (Dec 13, 2006)

excellent, thank you so much. 

I'll have to look into them more. They're such cool animals.

I'm trying to see the plausability of having a dragon goby/mudskipper tank. I think it would be neat. 

Great luck with your fish tank, again - its really nice.


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## PEVINE (Mar 7, 2007)

great set up. i saw one at the lps n they r just cool seem like they would be great. in a 45 how many could live given: the water is mixed good, enough land to water ratio is provided , and everything factors out?


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## saltypickle (Sep 25, 2007)

jesus shipping on that web site is alot i would also consider a mud skipper tank urs is AwsomE thanks for the inspiration if u could tell me a site with info on them plz post!


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## redpaulhus (Jan 18, 2005)

Hey SK -
How are the `skippers doing ?
I was going to try and get some from Frank at the convention this year, but since he doesn't have them listed "in stock" on his site (and hasn't answered my email) I decided to ask Ned at Uncle Ned's Fish Factory (.com) 
Ned, being such a cool guy (and total fishhead), is going to get me a dozen for $60 :mrgreen:

I'm going to put them in a 40g breeder, I think. Current plan is to have a slowly fluctuating water level - I'll probably use a "carlson surge" style wavemaker but with a very slow fill rate and low energy surge.
I'm hoping to document it all and write up both a newletter article and speaking program on the tank, fish, etc. (I've been asked to talk to the NH club later this year and I don't have any programs ready that I haven't already seen a NH club member do better than I do)

What are you using for a salinity ?
I was thinking of just going with a mix of 1g seawater for every 3g freshwater - nice and easy to mix up, I can even use water from my reef tank, and I'll be at 25% NSW or about 1.007 (I think - I'm doing the math in my head)

I've got a big fake plastic tree root (looks mangrove-y) that I'll put in there, and I'm thinking about putting in one of the floating "turtle docks" that automatically adjusts to the water level (although I may cover it in cork so it looks more natural and less plastic-y).


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## oliesminis (May 7, 2007)

thats pretty fantastic tank, how much of there time do they spend out of the water?

-olie


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## Guest (Mar 18, 2008)

redpaulhus said:


> Hey SK -
> How are the `skippers doing ?
> I was going to try and get some from Frank at the convention this year, but since he doesn't have them listed "in stock" on his site (and hasn't answered my email) I decided to ask Ned at Uncle Ned's Fish Factory (.com)
> Ned, being such a cool guy (and total fishhead), is going to get me a dozen for $60 :mrgreen:
> ...


Hey Red. 

The skippers are doing good. 
Your setup sounds amazing (kicks the crap out of mine. :razz
I keep my salinity about 1.008 so, what you have planned should work very nicely.
Can't wait to see it. 



oliesminis said:


> thats pretty fantastic tank, how much of there time do they spend out of the water?


Most.


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## karazy (Nov 2, 2007)

looks awsome! if anybody is wondering where to get mudskippers and is in the calgary area at all they usualy have them at riverfront aquariums. but im not sure which species


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## redpaulhus (Jan 18, 2005)

Scuba Kid said:


> Your setup sounds amazing (kicks the crap out of mine. :razz


One big difference - your's is up and running, mine is mostly still "in my head" - so your's kicks the crap out of mine (and looks awesome!) !!

I forgot to mention - if you'd like any more `skippers let me know - Since Ned quoted me a price per dozen, I'm buying the whole dozen - but I was originally planning on 4-6.
So I should have extras if you want any, $5 each

Are you going to NEC this year ? I can't wait :mrgreen:


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## Guest (Mar 19, 2008)

I think I may be a tad late...I didn't register yet. I don't think I'm going to be going anyway...

I'm not too disappointed though since there's no saltwater stuff this year. I just signed up with Boston Reefers and their auction is next weekend...so I'm sure I'll be broke come time for the NEC. lol


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## redpaulhus (Jan 18, 2005)

yeah, the reefers absolutely rock.

If you ever get a chance to see Greg Hiller's tanks - do so !
I was there years ago (before he upgraded to his 400g+ tank) and I was blown away.

He's been coral "farming" for years - he has like 3 show tanks and at least one big 100g+ "frag tank" that he just uses for propagation... I don't know if he's still raising fish as well, in the past he bred and raised a few types of clownfish, plus bangai's and seahorses. Unreal stuff. And a very very nice guy as well.
Actually - pretty much everybody I've met thru the Boston Reefers has been a great guy or gal.


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## badassissimo (Mar 21, 2008)

*Mudskipper*

Do mudskippers and gobies have to be in brackish water? I am trying to setup a tank for "freshwater" stingrays that will probably be brackish from what I understand and I am looking for good tankmate candidates. I'm not sure if mudskippers would be good or indian gobies would be big enough. Could you maybe let me know about that? Heres my email: [email protected]. Feel free, anyone, to send ideas. Thanks.


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## Guest (Mar 27, 2008)

Uhh, there are freshwater stingrays. Exactly what kind of rays do you have?

Mudskippers and some gobies are brackish. These guys would probably not make good tankmates for rays though, seeing as they need land to come out onto so that woud be hard to implement in a ray tank. Also, they would become a snack as soon as the ray was big enough.


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## redpaulhus (Jan 18, 2005)

I got my 'skippers !
I ended up with 16 rather than 12 - I bought the whole lot.
The store took a big loss on this order(everything else he ordered from that vendor died, and the shipping alone was more $ than he quoted me for my dozen 'skippers) so I helped out by buying them all.
(I think he's still losing money, so I'm bringing him some of my plecos to sell gratis )

They are soooo cute !
I'll upload some pics as soon as I can.
So far mine are eating live blackworms and frozen foods (bloodworms and spirulina brine shrimp).
Other tankmates include two "saltwater feeders" (killies) that I cycled the tank with, and a few marine ghost shrimp.
I'm probably going to add some nerite snails as well.


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## Guest (Apr 4, 2008)

Nice! Can't wait to see pics.


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## Sea-Agg2009 (Aug 2, 2008)

Kinda reviving an old thread, but oh well. 

I've am thinking about maybe setting one of these up after my 75 gets started. It looks pretty easy to set up. Couple of questions:
1. Would you change anything about the initial setup you have pictures of?
2. Do you think a small brackish goby would work in the water. I am thinking of maybe a bumble-bee goby.
3. I read somewhere that skippers like humidity. Do you have a lid on your tank, or is the water alone enough to keep them moist?


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## Guest (Aug 13, 2008)

The setup did change slightly from the pics. Instead of a bunch of rocks on the left, I made a sand bank which I believe they prefer.
Yes, brackish gobies would be fine in the water. I have 2 bumblebee gobies in this tank.
I do have a full hood on the tank.


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