A Bully Of A Mudskipper

[richpuk1]

Hi all...

I've had two mudskippers since last Saturday and the past few days the slightly larger one has been 'attacking' the other - so much so that the smaller one now either hides behind the filter or at the bottom of the tank.

If they were two kids, I could tell him/her to cut it out - but it's not that easy with fish! Does anyone know how I can get the larger one to just be civil with the other? I'm sure its a territorial thing, but I think have enough land for them both to feel comfortable on.

Hope someone can help
Richard

 

[nmonks]

Absolutely normal.

Periophthalmus barbarus is notorious for males killing one another and is normally kept singly. Boleopthalmus is also known to be extremely aggression. Most other species are aggressive too, but being smaller, less likely to kill. Overstocking tanks can be useful, just as with mbuna. Surprisingly perhaps, making sure no one fish has enough space for its own territory is the aim. In the wild even a small mudskipper could well claim several square feet of space, so the average tank may well provide viable territories for one or two males. Best to keep just one mudskipper or a whole bunch of them, such that no one specimen can create a viable territory. Obviously overstocking causes water quality problems too, so you have to filter the tank well and perform water changes more regularly.

If you haven't looked at my book, there's a LONG chapter on mudskippers, and you'd find this chapter very useful. I can't take the credit though -- it was written by Richard Mleczko.

Cheers, Neale