Updated brackish tank pics

Sploke

resident boozehound
Staff member
Oct 20, 2005
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Matt
Well I finally got my mudskipper in there, so decided to try and get some decent pix of the way the tank stands now.

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You can barely see some crab legs sticking out from under the rock here. My obese molly takes up a lot of the picture, I know.
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Dalmation molly juvies
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Violet goby
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Mudskipper top half
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Mudskipper bottom half
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Very nice.. thought about doing something similar at one time but decided against it. How do you like the mangroves? I've been thinking about adding some to my BW setup. I heard Java Fern and Jungle Val would grow in BW but so far mine hasn't done too well, maybe from lack of enough light.. Dunno..
 
I have java fern and java moss growing well in sg about 1.010. I got about 10 mangroves from ebay, only one of them survived. I guess they're a lot more fragile than I thought, so I might get some more and try again. The mangroves I got also had already sprouted roots, and apparently its a lot tougher to get them to switch from fresh to brackish or salt after the roots have sprouted, so next time I'll just get the unsprouted propagules and treat them with a bit more care. Also, my tank, as you can see, has no light over it, just the ambient light in the room from a north-facing picture window and a regular east-facing window. Everything grows, just not at lightning speed.
 
sploke said:
I got about 10 mangroves from ebay, only one of them survived. I guess they're a lot more fragile than I thought, so I might get some more and try again. The mangroves I got also had already sprouted roots, and apparently its a lot tougher to get them to switch from fresh to brackish or salt after the roots have sprouted, so next time I'll just get the unsprouted propagules and treat them with a bit more care. Also, my tank, as you can see, has no light over it, just the ambient light in the room from a north-facing picture window and a regular east-facing window. Everything grows, just not at lightning speed.

I think you have them submerged too much. When i have grown them sucessfully int he past, I tied/rubberbanded them to driftwood etc so that half or so of the seed was above water. Some I even lay almost horizontally and they grown jus fine with less vertical space lost at the get-go. I think the key is to have the crown above water. Drill some holes in the anchoring object and the roots will grow into them securing the tree.

Drill a hole on top of that lava rock, big enough to set the seed into and stay upright. Drill smaller holes branching down at angles within the "pot" for the roots to grow. Buy another larger piece of rock and set up a mound of trees. Drill some holes in the plexi sheet and tie one on. lay some down on your island and let them grow/root haphazardly.

Your skippers and your trees would appreciate at least a clipon style light for light/warmth. A good choice:

http://www.melevsreef.com/fuge_bulb.html

Nice tank!
 
nice skipper :) ive never seen an alantic before...
 
Not familiar with mudskippers but hear you guys talking about them often. They look a lot like a marine goby. Do they need time out of the water to breathe like a turtle? Is that the purpose of the contraption on the left side of the tank?
 
They have gills like fish, so unlike turtles...turtles have lungs. I believe they are fairly closely related to marine gobies. They do like time out of the water, and yes that's what the little ramp/platform is for. They have small sacs behind each eye that they can fill with water. They use this water to cycle through their gills to breathe while they're out out water, and they can also roll their eyes back into it to keep them moist when out of water. They're pretty interesting little creatures.
 
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