Tank 9: Brackish Mudskipper tank

This is a brackish tank with a built-in land area for African Mudskippers,
Periopthamus barbarus

Tank Size (LxWxH)	60" x 18 x 15" / 152 x 46 x 38cm
Volume	Nominal: 50 imp gallons/60 US gallons/227 litres Actual volume: 25 imp gallons/30 US gallons/114 litres (half-filled to land area level).
Filtration	Eheim Pro-II 2028 external canister filter with spray bar return.
Heating	Heated room
Lighting	Low - fluorescent room lighting only.
Substrate	Aquarium sand
Decor	Large land area made from glass shelf and coated in sand, plus twisted branches.
Background	3-D effect artificial background roll
Water parameters	Temp=26oC ; pH=7.8 ; s.g.= approx. 1.008 30% water change every week.
Fish stock	5 Mudskippers (Periopthalms barbarus)

African Mudskippers

This tank was designed specifically for Mudskippers and I added a glass shelf to create a large land area, as these fish spend a good portion of time out of the water. The shelf is fixed in place at about 6"/15cm height to give a good water depth. A larger grained sand was added to the shelf after coating it with a thin layer of silicone sealant, this keeps the sand in place so that it isn't gradually lost over the edge of the shelf and into the water.

Due to their specialised needs, it is normally advisable to keep Mudskippers in a species tank, especially the larger and more boisterous species such as P. barbarus. However, this tank was originally also home to 3 Zebra Blennies, Omobranchus zebra), a rarely imported brackish blenny. They were wily enough to live alongside the mudskippers and compete effectively for food and often seemed 'curious' about where the mudskippers were going when they climbed onto the land part to feed on crickets...

The feeding in this tank consists of bloodworm, brine shrimp and krill, as well as pieces of larger foods such as mussel, prawn and whitebait. The Mudskippers are also fed crickets on the land area, to allow them to indulge in their natural behaviour of eating insects on land. Note that the crickets fed should not be too large, not fed too often in large numbers, as there could be a risk of impaction (digestion problems).

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