72G Mudskipper Biotope Build Log with Pictures

[owenz]

After much research and invaluable advice from Teresa, of Teresa's Plants and More Store, I purchased some fern moss, pillow moss, and carpet moss. Having created multiple concave "shelves" to the back wall with room for substrate, in went the moss. Now, about one month later, the moss still lives - despite the humidity problems I have only recently defeated by installing two exhaust fans.

[owenz]

Next up was to fill the tank with water and to plump the sump. The first part was easy. The second? Not so much.

Initially, I made the mistake of linking the return pump to a Lifegard Module filter. The result? The pressure required to run the Lifegard created leaks in my plumbing, and the flow entering the tank exceeded the overflow's ability to empty. I had a leaky plumbing system and a loud, gurgling overflow.

I ended up dismantling and disconnecting the Lifegard, and selecting a pump for the sole purpose of returning water from the sump to the main tank. For filtration, I installed a Rena Star canister that intakes water from the middle, "refugium" section of the sump (separated by baffles) and returns water to "return" section of the sump on the left. I apologize for the terrible pics. If you squint, you can see what I did.

[owenz]

All in all, this project took about five months, endless hours and way too much money. Being from the Boston area, I began referring to it as my own personal "Big Dig" about halfway through, it was so over-budget and off schedule. But finally, after all the hard work, the tank is now working as promised.

As I have mentioned, I have had trouble with humidity. In particular, the cold air of my apartment has resulted in serious condensation in the tank. I have recently solved this problem with two 12v computer fans, one blowing in and one blowing out through the screened in rear sections of the cover. Hopefully, this works, since I'd love to use the fogger consistently.

To close, a few more pics of the tank and its denizens.

[owenz]

One other thing I should mention to anyone trying to put something similar together. When you first fill your tank with water, it will be a mess. The water will be chalk-full of dust and particles, and there is a real risk of leaching of chemicals into the water.

Before putting fish in the tank, I filled and emptied the tank at least six times, running two heaters at full blast after each water change on the advice of Frank of Frank's Aquariums. The additional heat speeds up any leaching that needs to happen.

One week before I was ready to add the first life, I stopped by my local LFS, which was kind enough to provide me with a filthy, disgusting filter pad from their brackish mudskipper tank. I placed this in the sump to seed the tank with bacteria to avoid "new tank syndrome". I also used Nite Out bacteria supplement, which may or may not have helped.

I added a single Orange Chromide first. When he lived for a week, I added the mudskippers. Last week, two more Chromides. Today, all remain alive, although the mudskippers are only just now getting comfortable to hang out in public most of the time.

Questions? Comments? Criticism of my terrible photography skills?

[owenz]

Thanks Grimm. They are funny little trouble makers.

[borgee]

Hey guys, this is my 1st post in the forum... I'm a mudskipper fish enthusiast and im loving your setup bro. You've given me soo many ideas as to what to do next.

Anyways, please check out my website Mudskipperfish leave a comment or check out the posts and pictures.

cheers
borgee

[owenz]

Welcome borgee. Glad you enjoyed the tank. I will post some new pics soon. The fiddler crabs are a cool recent addition.

[pleh]

Look for vampire crabs- they should go well with mudskippers.

[beckdg]

very nice work. stuck.

[owenz]

Originally Posted by pleh

Look for vampire crabs- they should go well with mudskippers.

I'd be curious if anyone tries vampires with Mudskippers. Two words of caution: vampires are true land crabs, and I know in my tank, a crab who cannot survive for periods underwater would not last long. Second, vampires appear to be true freshwater crabs. I would be concerned about how they deal with the salty brackish water.

The fiddlers are great because they can spend lots of time submerged. Indeed, they like to wrestle each other a lot, and in my tank, it seems like the larger crabs stake out territories on land, while the smaller ones spend a lot more time submerged.

Finally, the fiddlers' huge "fight" claws are incredibly inept when it comes to predation. Their only use appears to be for wrestling each other in macho mating displays...they can't even close the things all the way, and when they move around, the big claws get in the way more than anything. They also seem almost disinterested in shrimp and meat in general. They will eat it if they stumble on a pile of shrimp left for mudskippers, but they do not seek it out. Which is a good thing, since a lack of interest in meat means (hopefully) a lack of interest in live prey.

One annoying thing: they love tearing up the architecture. Generally not a problem (everything in my tank is non-toxic...so they can eat whatever their pea-brains tell them is food), but the idiots have managed to expose some pink styrefoam that is not exactly natural in appearance. Still, well worth the slight inconvenience, as their constant movement and wrestling matches are very fun to watch.