Central Mudminnows!

[Mattimeo]

Tank: Fluval Ebi 8 gal
Light: 2x Fluval 13W PFC
Filter: Stock Ebi
Plants: Egeria najas
Mayaca sellouiana (removed)
Limnophila sessiflora
Ceratopteris cornuta
Salvinia minima
Pistia sp. "dwarf water lettuce"
Taxiphyllum sp. "peacock moss"
Lomariopsis lineata
Echinodorus ozelot
Pogostemon stellata
Vallisneria nana

Fish in focus: 2x Umbra limi, 1 male 1 female. They get around 5-7 inches but do not require a large tank - a 10 gal will suffice for a pair or trio for life. They aren't actually minnows but are members of the pike family and exhibit similar behavior to their larger cousins. They tend to lurk motionlessly in plant thickets, stalking any suitably sized prey they come across. They tolerate a wide variety of water conditions (can be kept in water from 2-27 degrees C) and like labyrinth fish come to the surface to breathe atmospheric air. Because of this adaptation, they are able to forage in hypoxic environments and are often found thriving in winterkill ponds unsuitable for other fish species.

I currently have 9 central mudminnows distributed in 4 aquariums, I had more but lost a bunch to a columnaris outbreak. It would appear that the larger specimens I had were from a different collection locale (they were from a bait shop) and proved highly susceptible to columnaris in 0 salinity water - the symptoms cleared on the few remaining specimens the second I added salt and haven't resurfaced since. Treatment with the typical gram negative medications would clear up the symptoms, but they would return when the treatment stopped. The other fish in the tank (including some sensitive shiner species) never showed any signs of infection and the water parameters were always spot on. I never had any problems with the bacteria with any of my smaller mudminnows.

The tank featured is documenting the growth of the 2 smallest (youngest) mudminnows I have. These photos were taken about a week after I set the tank up and added the fish, around the end of January:









The mudminnows were both around 1.75-2 inches at the time of those photos.

Fast forward to today, the female was being camera shy but I got a few pics of the male:







The tank is pruned weekly (hasn't been pruned this week);



The male has outgrown the female slightly, approaching the 3" mark with the female a hair smaller. They're currently feeding on chopped nightcrawlers, frozen bloodworms, frozen glassworms, frozen brine shrimp, chopped market shrimp, fresh salmon chunks and frozen mysis shrimp. They'll pretty much eat anything meaty. They get quarantined rosy reds and captive bred guppies as a treat every now and then. They're tough and not easily bullied, but tend not to bully other fish outside of the spawning season. They have a few small tankmates that function as a cleanup crew (1 Stiphodon goby, large Otocinclus) and a couple of juvenile Aplocheilus panchax that will be rehomed once my next planted tank finishes cycling. There's also a random minnow species that came with some feeder ghost shrimp that has outgrown feeder status, I will probably move it along with the 2 killies.

Does anyone else here keep mudminnows? They're great little predators with loads of personality!

[dafrimpster]

I have kept both central and eastern. I traded them off a year or so ago. really cool fish. I love to watch them hunt down daphnia.