Anyone up for some mudskipper talk?

[Mr.Jingles]

Although 90 gallons would be best, as would a larger tank for any fish, I dont understand why a 50 gallon would not be sufficient. I also dont understand why you would need 40 gallons of water to support these fish, as they live most of their lives on land, using the water for occasional swims, chilling half in and out, and also getting more water to breathe on land. I would think it sufficient to use a fourth of that to support 4 fish, so long as they have muddy land to live on/in.

so, thats where I am confused. why would it be minimal to use a 90 and 40 gallons of water?

 

[cdawson]

well it would just depend on how many and how much water you'd have in the tank. There has to be a land:water ratio and each fish needs a certain area of territory. Trust me I used to think the same thing, but after keeping them for awhile I had to upgrade the tank due to aggression, and water quality problems. Like I said above, these are high waste producing fish that get to a max 6". They need at least a good 15-20g each of water to adequately live in an aquarium. They also need to be fed quite often as well. Contrary to popular belief, they do spend alot of time on land, but they do spend alot of time in the water as well (even moreso, than land). Most of the time they sit just on the waters surface still in the water. Which is where they make their waste, not on land. Even if they did, it would still affect water quality. Most importantly for mudskippers you need a LONG tank. Ideally a custom tank would be best, making it as long as you possibly can get with alot of surface area. However, not everyone can get that. A 90-100g long will suit a small colony of mudskippers best. Minimum 40-45g of water.

 

[Mr.Jingles]

ok...well I'll go with what I have and keep in mind what you are saying. thanks for the info.

 

[donald432]

i've had a group of three (two males and one female) mudskippers for about 4 months. i feed them chunks of store bought shrimp and crickets about once or twice a day. there are 7 red legged hermit crabs to clean up the excess food stuffs, and a couple of puffers (although we might be removing one of those puffers).

all of these are kept in an 85 gallon tank with roughly 50-60 gallons of water. there is plenty of floating driftwood, and 4 foam islands. i do a 25% water change every 10-14 days and i try to keep the specific gravity between 1.008 and 1.010 but it has been known to fluctuate.

i don't have time to discuss filtration, but i believe that with the proper setup (lots of land, lots of filters), mudskippers are very tolerant to changing water conditions. i've heard that in the wild they live on tidal flats, where the water is constantly changing. (disclaimer: this is no excuse to mistreat your fish)

 

[Rythic]

Donald you realize this was a 6 year old thread =)