what will i need to make my 30g a nice home for mudskippers, i read that they are brackish (is there a fw variant?) and ive never kept a brackish tank before, so i was wondering what i would need to do to acheive this.
30g brackish?
- Thread starter austinpetemo
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Check out the FAQ at the top of the forum...there are links to an article on setting up your first bw tank, as well as links to some mudskipper threads.
I would strongly recommend not turning a 30 gallon tank into a mudskipper habitat.
In order to make a mudskipper tank you need land and water. I believe that mudskippers can climb up near vertical surfaces. One of my LFS has a mudskipper tank with lots of large n shaped branches that come out of the water and some rocks along the edge that come out of the water.
I wouldn't go with a tank less than 18" wide. You also want something tall enough to put a lot of water in. When brackish water evaporates the salinity (.005-half sea water strength) rises and if you do not have a lot of water you need to constantly add water to keep the salinity levels in check. I would say maybe a 40br or larger for a full grown mudskipper.
In order to make a mudskipper tank you need land and water. I believe that mudskippers can climb up near vertical surfaces. One of my LFS has a mudskipper tank with lots of large n shaped branches that come out of the water and some rocks along the edge that come out of the water.
I wouldn't go with a tank less than 18" wide. You also want something tall enough to put a lot of water in. When brackish water evaporates the salinity (.005-half sea water strength) rises and if you do not have a lot of water you need to constantly add water to keep the salinity levels in check. I would say maybe a 40br or larger for a full grown mudskipper.
With some proper planning and careful layout, you could probably keep a trio of indian skippers in a 30gal. You would probably want a screen top though.
One of the beauties of BW fish is that they're not nearly as sensitive to changing salinities as SW fish are since the salt levels are constantly fluctuating in brackish environments.
I have to disagree with you here, I have a 30g long tank with 4 Indians. I have plenty of land space and water area. I have a ton of mangroves and my Indians like to climb them and the back wall. With good planning the tank will be fine. Here is a link to one of my threads with pics of my tank. They all have their territory staked out. I wouldn't go more then 4 though. Now if your going with Africans, I wouldn't put more than 1 in there, they get much bigger than the Indians. But a 30g tank will be fine for the smaller species of skippers. Here is a link to my thread with pics. http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=211758&page=3&highlight=mudskipper
I wasn't aware that there are different kinds of mudskippers, I guess I have some more research to do.
As for salinity, I know many people throw freshwater (brackish fish) into brackish tanks with out acclimating them from freshwater can do that seemingly okay (not recommended). But I think if the salinity changes more than .002 in a week you are risking killing off the beneficial bacteria causing ammonia and nitrite spikes.
As for salinity, I know many people throw freshwater (brackish fish) into brackish tanks with out acclimating them from freshwater can do that seemingly okay (not recommended). But I think if the salinity changes more than .002 in a week you are risking killing off the beneficial bacteria causing ammonia and nitrite spikes.
