Converting To Brackish?

[deftuch]

i was thinking of converting my already cycled tank with fish in it to a brackish set up for adult mudskippers alongside finger fish, monos, mollies ect. but is it as simple as removing my fish getting the salt level right then adding new fish. i mean will my cycled filter lose any bacteria by adding salt? do i need a protien skimmer? ect ect? is there any does and donts please x

 

[Livewire88]

Hello,

I did the same thing early in the year, I took advice from nmonks (Brackish Expert) and as I was only going "low end" brackish I was able to up the salinity level fairly quickly. This is a copy and paste of the advice nmonks gave me;

Given you want to grow plants as well, your aim is SG 1.002-1.003 at 25 C; that's about 5-6 grammes of marine aquarium salt mix per litre of water. In other words, 500-600 grammes for a 100 litre aquarium (though in all likelihood your tank contains rather less than this, maybe 90 litres, if you account for the rocks, gravel, etc., so you might want to reduce the amount of salt mentioned by about 10%, i.e., 450-540 grammes.

The sooner you switch to brackish, the better. At this very low salinity, you can actually mix up all the salt you need into a jug of water, and then pour it into the tank across an hour. That'll give your plants and filter bacteria time enough to adapt.

After I followed these instructions I kept an eye on the water stats and did not experience any Ammonia or Nitrite spikes.

 

[deftuch]

Hello,

I did the same thing early in the year, I took advice from nmonks (Brackish Expert) and as I was only going "low end" brackish I was able to up the salinity level fairly quickly. This is a copy and paste of the advice nmonks gave me;

Given you want to grow plants as well, your aim is SG 1.002-1.003 at 25 C; that's about 5-6 grammes of marine aquarium salt mix per litre of water. In other words, 500-600 grammes for a 100 litre aquarium (though in all likelihood your tank contains rather less than this, maybe 90 litres, if you account for the rocks, gravel, etc., so you might want to reduce the amount of salt mentioned by about 10%, i.e., 450-540 grammes.

The sooner you switch to brackish, the better. At this very low salinity, you can actually mix up all the salt you need into a jug of water, and then pour it into the tank across an hour. That'll give your plants and filter bacteria time enough to adapt.

After I followed these instructions I kept an eye on the water stats and did not experience any Ammonia or Nitrite spikes.

hi mate good advice. but the range of salinity i will need for mudskippers is 1.005-1.0015 and temp between 26 and 28 degrees??b

 

[grayshark1956]

i was thinking of converting my already cycled tank with fish in it to a brackish set up for adult mudskippers alongside finger fish, monos, mollies ect. but is it as simple as removing my fish getting the salt level right then adding new fish. i mean will my cycled filter lose any bacteria by adding salt? do i need a protien skimmer? ect ect? is there any does and donts please x

Oh, this is wonderful, someone else has my idea, too! I have a similar situation: in brief I'll explain: I have an established aquarium, tropical fish plus goldfish (goldfish were removed, got big and were donated) so I have tropical fish including a betta, its a community tank. Weeks later I found red claw crabs at pet store, employee told me they'd be fine in my freshwater tank, found out later they need salt, ok, so I discover by reading on my computer they need brackish water (like you do). Now, I have spent hours and hours working on making my tank brackish: crabs have homemade cave/rock area I built myself plus a large plant so they can get out of water. They love it! I also have heater, filter, air stone, hydrometer, etc. Now, I've gotten thru cloudy white water (water changes, chemicals, new gravel vac) and I also learned about kinds of salt required. Too much controversy over salt, but, I am following advice first from several stores who insisted I add aquarium salt, so I did in small amount. The fish are unharmed, crabs are unharmed, even plants are unharmed. I hope this helps so far...are you new to aquariums and mudskippers? Is this a type of salamander? If so, do you have them in sand or mud or gravel? Do you have a heater? I need to also find out about a protein skimmer, I don't know what that is yet. I'm still working on my tank but was happy to read your post, if you think of anything to add or ask, let me know, I'm still learning but have learned alot more in less than a week. Hope this helps you.

 

[deftuch]

i was thinking of converting my already cycled tank with fish in it to a brackish set up for adult mudskippers alongside finger fish, monos, mollies ect. but is it as simple as removing my fish getting the salt level right then adding new fish. i mean will my cycled filter lose any bacteria by adding salt? do i need a protien skimmer? ect ect? is there any does and donts please x

Oh, this is wonderful, someone else has my idea, too! I have a similar situation: in brief I'll explain: I have an established aquarium, tropical fish plus goldfish (goldfish were removed, got big and were donated) so I have tropical fish including a betta, its a community tank. Weeks later I found red claw crabs at pet store, employee told me they'd be fine in my freshwater tank, found out later they need salt, ok, so I discover by reading on my computer they need brackish water (like you do). Now, I have spent hours and hours working on making my tank brackish: crabs have homemade cave/rock area I built myself plus a large plant so they can get out of water. They love it! I also have heater, filter, air stone, hydrometer, etc. Now, I've gotten thru cloudy white water (water changes, chemicals, new gravel vac) and I also learned about kinds of salt required. Too much controversy over salt, but, I am following advice first from several stores who insisted I add aquarium salt, so I did in small amount. The fish are unharmed, crabs are unharmed, even plants are unharmed. I hope this helps so far...are you new to aquariums and mudskippers? Is this a type of salamander? If so, do you have them in sand or mud or gravel? Do you have a heater? I need to also find out about a protein skimmer, I don't know what that is yet. I'm still working on my tank but was happy to read your post, if you think of anything to add or ask, let me know, I'm still learning but have learned alot more in less than a week. Hope this helps you.

i was thinking of converting my already cycled tank with fish in it to a brackish set up for adult mudskippers alongside finger fish, monos, mollies ect. but is it as simple as removing my fish getting the salt level right then adding new fish. i mean will my cycled filter lose any bacteria by adding salt? do i need a protien skimmer? ect ect? is there any does and donts please x

Oh, this is wonderful, someone else has my idea, too! I have a similar situation: in brief I'll explain: I have an established aquarium, tropical fish plus goldfish (goldfish were removed, got big and were donated) so I have tropical fish including a betta, its a community tank. Weeks later I found red claw crabs at pet store, employee told me they'd be fine in my freshwater tank, found out later they need salt, ok, so I discover by reading on my computer they need brackish water (like you do). Now, I have spent hours and hours working on making my tank brackish: crabs have homemade cave/rock area I built myself plus a large plant so they can get out of water. They love it! I also have heater, filter, air stone, hydrometer, etc. Now, I've gotten thru cloudy white water (water changes, chemicals, new gravel vac) and I also learned about kinds of salt required. Too much controversy over salt, but, I am following advice first from several stores who insisted I add aquarium salt, so I did in small amount. The fish are unharmed, crabs are unharmed, even plants are unharmed. I hope this helps so far...are you new to aquariums and mudskippers? Is this a type of salamander? If so, do you have them in sand or mud or gravel? Do you have a heater? I need to also find out about a protein skimmer, I don't know what that is yet. I'm still working on my tank but was happy to read your post, if you think of anything to add or ask, let me know, I'm still learning but have learned alot more in less than a week. Hope this helps you.

i was thinking of converting my already cycled tank with fish in it to a brackish set up for adult mudskippers alongside finger fish, monos, mollies ect. but is it as simple as removing my fish getting the salt level right then adding new fish. i mean will my cycled filter lose any bacteria by adding salt? do i need a protien skimmer? ect ect? is there any does and donts please x

Oh, this is wonderful, someone else has my idea, too! I have a similar situation: in brief I'll explain: I have an established aquarium, tropical fish plus goldfish (goldfish were removed, got big and were donated) so I have tropical fish including a betta, its a community tank. Weeks later I found red claw crabs at pet store, employee told me they'd be fine in my freshwater tank, found out later they need salt, ok, so I discover by reading on my computer they need brackish water (like you do). Now, I have spent hours and hours working on making my tank brackish: crabs have homemade cave/rock area I built myself plus a large plant so they can get out of water. They love it! I also have heater, filter, air stone, hydrometer, etc. Now, I've gotten thru cloudy white water (water changes, chemicals, new gravel vac) and I also learned about kinds of salt required. Too much controversy over salt, but, I am following advice first from several stores who insisted I add aquarium salt, so I did in small amount. The fish are unharmed, crabs are unharmed, even plants are unharmed. I hope this helps so far...are you new to aquariums and mudskippers? Is this a type of salamander? If so, do you have them in sand or mud or gravel? Do you have a heater? I need to also find out about a protein skimmer, I don't know what that is yet. I'm still working on my tank but was happy to read your post, if you think of anything to add or ask, let me know, I'm still learning but have learned alot more in less than a week. Hope this helps you.

im fairly knowledged on how to look after tropical fish. i have no idea when it comes to mudskippers though, i just love them and you can mix them with small friendly tropical fish such as mono angels and mollys however they are brackish also so its ok. i mean as long as i monitor the salt levels it should be the same as any other tropical tank just as you monitor the levels regarding waste and the nitrate cycle ect. the only diff being you add salt with every water change and monitor the salt levels. i just wondered if it works the same way as tropical tanks but salt being the only difference. if i was to get diseases would i buy treatment under the marine class? im not sure what a protein skimmer is either, all i know is they cost a fortune and you need them with marine tanks! is it the same as a brackish tank, i dont know!! lol

 

[Livewire88]

Hello,

I did the same thing early in the year, I took advice from nmonks (Brackish Expert) and as I was only going "low end" brackish I was able to up the salinity level fairly quickly. This is a copy and paste of the advice nmonks gave me;

Given you want to grow plants as well, your aim is SG 1.002-1.003 at 25 C; that's about 5-6 grammes of marine aquarium salt mix per litre of water. In other words, 500-600 grammes for a 100 litre aquarium (though in all likelihood your tank contains rather less than this, maybe 90 litres, if you account for the rocks, gravel, etc., so you might want to reduce the amount of salt mentioned by about 10%, i.e., 450-540 grammes.

The sooner you switch to brackish, the better. At this very low salinity, you can actually mix up all the salt you need into a jug of water, and then pour it into the tank across an hour. That'll give your plants and filter bacteria time enough to adapt.

After I followed these instructions I kept an eye on the water stats and did not experience any Ammonia or Nitrite spikes.

hi mate good advice. but the range of salinity i will need for mudskippers is 1.005-1.0015 and temp between 26 and 28 degrees??b

I would assume you could up the salinity level gradually over a period of a few weeks so that the bacteria is not killed off.

If you hold for a little while nmonks will be along to give exact instructions on what you will need to do

ps; the brackish tank I had is the last picture on my sig, and I miss it quite a lot

 

[deftuch]

Hello,

I did the same thing early in the year, I took advice from nmonks (Brackish Expert) and as I was only going "low end" brackish I was able to up the salinity level fairly quickly. This is a copy and paste of the advice nmonks gave me;

Given you want to grow plants as well, your aim is SG 1.002-1.003 at 25 C; that's about 5-6 grammes of marine aquarium salt mix per litre of water. In other words, 500-600 grammes for a 100 litre aquarium (though in all likelihood your tank contains rather less than this, maybe 90 litres, if you account for the rocks, gravel, etc., so you might want to reduce the amount of salt mentioned by about 10%, i.e., 450-540 grammes.

The sooner you switch to brackish, the better. At this very low salinity, you can actually mix up all the salt you need into a jug of water, and then pour it into the tank across an hour. That'll give your plants and filter bacteria time enough to adapt.

After I followed these instructions I kept an eye on the water stats and did not experience any Ammonia or Nitrite spikes.

hi mate good advice. but the range of salinity i will need for mudskippers is 1.005-1.0015 and temp between 26 and 28 degrees??b

I would assume you could up the salinity level gradually over a period of a few weeks so that the bacteria is not killed off.

If you hold for a little while nmonks will be along to give exact instructions on what you will need to do

ps; the brackish tank I had is the last picture on my sig, and I miss it quite a lot

id like to remove fish, add salt and new fish all in a day if possible. i dont understand how you can rise the salt levels without leaving the fish in there first? which could kill them if the salt stresses them out too much? if i could do it all in a day or too in a safe way that would be great

 

[grayshark1956]

i was thinking of converting my already cycled tank with fish in it to a brackish set up for adult mudskippers alongside finger fish, monos, mollies ect. but is it as simple as removing my fish getting the salt level right then adding new fish. i mean will my cycled filter lose any bacteria by adding salt? do i need a protien skimmer? ect ect? is there any does and donts please x

Oh, this is wonderful, someone else has my idea, too! I have a similar situation: in brief I'll explain: I have an established aquarium, tropical fish plus goldfish (goldfish were removed, got big and were donated) so I have tropical fish including a betta, its a community tank. Weeks later I found red claw crabs at pet store, employee told me they'd be fine in my freshwater tank, found out later they need salt, ok, so I discover by reading on my computer they need brackish water (like you do). Now, I have spent hours and hours working on making my tank brackish: crabs have homemade cave/rock area I built myself plus a large plant so they can get out of water. They love it! I also have heater, filter, air stone, hydrometer, etc. Now, I've gotten thru cloudy white water (water changes, chemicals, new gravel vac) and I also learned about kinds of salt required. Too much controversy over salt, but, I am following advice first from several stores who insisted I add aquarium salt, so I did in small amount. The fish are unharmed, crabs are unharmed, even plants are unharmed. I hope this helps so far...are you new to aquariums and mudskippers? Is this a type of salamander? If so, do you have them in sand or mud or gravel? Do you have a heater? I need to also find out about a protein skimmer, I don't know what that is yet. I'm still working on my tank but was happy to read your post, if you think of anything to add or ask, let me know, I'm still learning but have learned alot more in less than a week. Hope this helps you.

i was thinking of converting my already cycled tank with fish in it to a brackish set up for adult mudskippers alongside finger fish, monos, mollies ect. but is it as simple as removing my fish getting the salt level right then adding new fish. i mean will my cycled filter lose any bacteria by adding salt? do i need a protien skimmer? ect ect? is there any does and donts please x

Oh, this is wonderful, someone else has my idea, too! I have a similar situation: in brief I'll explain: I have an established aquarium, tropical fish plus goldfish (goldfish were removed, got big and were donated) so I have tropical fish including a betta, its a community tank. Weeks later I found red claw crabs at pet store, employee told me they'd be fine in my freshwater tank, found out later they need salt, ok, so I discover by reading on my computer they need brackish water (like you do). Now, I have spent hours and hours working on making my tank brackish: crabs have homemade cave/rock area I built myself plus a large plant so they can get out of water. They love it! I also have heater, filter, air stone, hydrometer, etc. Now, I've gotten thru cloudy white water (water changes, chemicals, new gravel vac) and I also learned about kinds of salt required. Too much controversy over salt, but, I am following advice first from several stores who insisted I add aquarium salt, so I did in small amount. The fish are unharmed, crabs are unharmed, even plants are unharmed. I hope this helps so far...are you new to aquariums and mudskippers? Is this a type of salamander? If so, do you have them in sand or mud or gravel? Do you have a heater? I need to also find out about a protein skimmer, I don't know what that is yet. I'm still working on my tank but was happy to read your post, if you think of anything to add or ask, let me know, I'm still learning but have learned alot more in less than a week. Hope this helps you.

i was thinking of converting my already cycled tank with fish in it to a brackish set up for adult mudskippers alongside finger fish, monos, mollies ect. but is it as simple as removing my fish getting the salt level right then adding new fish. i mean will my cycled filter lose any bacteria by adding salt? do i need a protien skimmer? ect ect? is there any does and donts please x

Oh, this is wonderful, someone else has my idea, too! I have a similar situation: in brief I'll explain: I have an established aquarium, tropical fish plus goldfish (goldfish were removed, got big and were donated) so I have tropical fish including a betta, its a community tank. Weeks later I found red claw crabs at pet store, employee told me they'd be fine in my freshwater tank, found out later they need salt, ok, so I discover by reading on my computer they need brackish water (like you do). Now, I have spent hours and hours working on making my tank brackish: crabs have homemade cave/rock area I built myself plus a large plant so they can get out of water. They love it! I also have heater, filter, air stone, hydrometer, etc. Now, I've gotten thru cloudy white water (water changes, chemicals, new gravel vac) and I also learned about kinds of salt required. Too much controversy over salt, but, I am following advice first from several stores who insisted I add aquarium salt, so I did in small amount. The fish are unharmed, crabs are unharmed, even plants are unharmed. I hope this helps so far...are you new to aquariums and mudskippers? Is this a type of salamander? If so, do you have them in sand or mud or gravel? Do you have a heater? I need to also find out about a protein skimmer, I don't know what that is yet. I'm still working on my tank but was happy to read your post, if you think of anything to add or ask, let me know, I'm still learning but have learned alot more in less than a week. Hope this helps you.

im fairly knowledged on how to look after tropical fish. i have no idea when it comes to mudskippers though, i just love them and you can mix them with small friendly tropical fish such as mono angels and mollys however they are brackish also so its ok. i mean as long as i monitor the salt levels it should be the same as any other tropical tank just as you monitor the levels regarding waste and the nitrate cycle ect. the only diff being you add salt with every water change and monitor the salt levels. i just wondered if it works the same way as tropical tanks but salt being the only difference. if i was to get diseases would i buy treatment under the marine class? im not sure what a protein skimmer is either, all i know is they cost a fortune and you need them with marine tanks! is it the same as a brackish tank, i dont know!! lol

Yes, that's what I thought: salt was the only difference, too. I add salt with larger water changes, I don't add too much, don't want to harm any fish. As for diseases, you can check them out on the internet, ask other members or check out fish stores and hope someone can help. I don't know anything about mudskippers, I don't think they sell them here. I do think marine salt is more concentrated and meant for a reef type saltwater tank. In my case and yours, we need a weaker salt with minerals just right for all tankmates. I also read salt can help fish in that they might not get ick or other conditions. I still haven't figured out my hydrometer yet! I've spent more time on my tank than on cleaning the house. Haven't even had time to watch Ellen! But, also, you might want to check out a bookstore about brackish water conditions. I checked a thrift store yesterday in their books, ofcourse they did not have a book on aquariums or fish, but brackish water I found is interesting and a great learning experience for me. Hope you find out more about your tank and mudskipper requirements.

 

[iliveinazoo]

i was thinking of converting my already cycled tank with fish in it to a brackish set up for adult mudskippers alongside finger fish, monos, mollies ect. but is it as simple as removing my fish getting the salt level right then adding new fish. i mean will my cycled filter lose any bacteria by adding salt? do i need a protien skimmer? ect ect? is there any does and donts please x

There is absolutly no controversy when it comes to salt and brackish water, Grayshark has had it explained to him/her a few times but it appears that he/she won't accept the advice given here.

Use marine salt, when converting to brackish just increase the salinity by no more than SG1.002 per week, you could probably do it twice weekly but once weekly would be less stressful on the nirification bacteria that keeps your tank cycled. If you increase the salinity by too much you will kill off your nitrification bacteria and you will have an uncyled tank!

If you have a cycled tank then you don't need to remove the fauna to convert to brackish. You only need to make sure that they are Brackish fish and that the fish that you decide to keep have the same salinity requirements, i.e Fiure 8's require low salinity SG1.002-SG1.005, Monos and Scats = SG1.005 up to marine conditions. Temperments and sizes all vary greatly.

I vary my mudskipper tank regularly between SG1.008 and SG1.015. They are mostly terrestrial and therefore need a large land area, I have a sand substrate that slopes out of the water into quite a large land area with a couple of large pieces of wood that jut out of the water for them to rest on also. The water is deep enough for an internal power filter, approximately 10cm deep, you do not need any more than this. Any deeper will make it harder to slope the sand out of the tank and if you only provide a floating platform in a deep tank it will make it harder for them to get out of the water.

Mudskippers do not share aquariums well, they will eat anything small enough to fit in their mouths (which are big) and they are reportedly nervous of entering the water if they see larger fish swimming about plus the lower water level will mean less water volume and a more polluted tank - because of their nature mudskippers are fairly robust and can tolerate levels of ammonia that would kill other fish! I have 2 P. barbarus mudskippers, which are apparently the more aggressive species, and they are seperated because the larger will kill the other given the chance. It is a good looking mudkipper - buy one, dedicate a no less than 1m long tank to it and you will be rewarded with its personality.

Protein skimmers are for marine tanks - you do not need one with a brackish tank and it will most likely not work, some apparently work down to SG1.015 but some don't.

 

[deftuch]

good advice. i will remove all my fish and replace with about ten mollys. then over 2 weeks il get the salinity to 1.010 ish. as for creating a platform and easy access im going to first create a wall all the way round the outside of the tank using house bricks, cover them in wire mesh and add moss to cover the bricks. so there will be a platform above the water round the whole tank a brick wide ect. as for making a slope. im going to use a sheet of metal or plastic about 20 cm wide which will run the whole length of the tank and will be supported by the bricks. it will be underneath the top layer of bricks. using the bit of plastic i will put on it very light rocks and some sand giving them access to the brick platform. thius is just a rough idea. but i want to do something different. i want to make life easy and good for the skippers. but still have a nice deep tank for other brackish fish. and as for skippers sharing a tank with other fish ive seen it with my own eyes and i just fell in love with the idea!! also in one of my other tanks i have a 7 to 8 inch climbing perch since it was a baby along side an amozon puffer which is a year old and is still 2cm long. it hasnt been attacked once. nor have my rainbow fish. i have a betta in that tank too and its fine. infact its lazy and is always laying down with the peacock eel and clown loach. my tank has lots of rocks and hiding spots and clean water. the fish are happy and well fed! hence why i have had no problems

 

[grayshark1956]

i was thinking of converting my already cycled tank with fish in it to a brackish set up for adult mudskippers alongside finger fish, monos, mollies ect. but is it as simple as removing my fish getting the salt level right then adding new fish. i mean will my cycled filter lose any bacteria by adding salt? do i need a protien skimmer? ect ect? is there any does and donts please x

There is absolutly no controversy when it comes to salt and brackish water, Grayshark has had it explained to him/her a few times but it appears that he/she won't accept the advice given here.

Use marine salt, when converting to brackish just increase the salinity by no more than SG1.002 per week, you could probably do it twice weekly but once weekly would be less stressful on the nirification bacteria that keeps your tank cycled. If you increase the salinity by too much you will kill off your nitrification bacteria and you will have an uncyled tank!

If you have a cycled tank then you don't need to remove the fauna to convert to brackish. You only need to make sure that they are Brackish fish and that the fish that you decide to keep have the same salinity requirements, i.e Fiure 8's require low salinity SG1.002-SG1.005, Monos and Scats = SG1.005 up to marine conditions. Temperments and sizes all vary greatly.

I vary my mudskipper tank regularly between SG1.008 and SG1.015. They are mostly terrestrial and therefore need a large land area, I have a sand substrate that slopes out of the water into quite a large land area with a couple of large pieces of wood that jut out of the water for them to rest on also. The water is deep enough for an internal power filter, approximately 10cm deep, you do not need any more than this. Any deeper will make it harder to slope the sand out of the tank and if you only provide a floating platform in a deep tank it will make it harder for them to get out of the water.

Mudskippers do not share aquariums well, they will eat anything small enough to fit in their mouths (which are big) and they are reportedly nervous of entering the water if they see larger fish swimming about plus the lower water level will mean less water volume and a more polluted tank - because of their nature mudskippers are fairly robust and can tolerate levels of ammonia that would kill other fish! I have 2 P. barbarus mudskippers, which are apparently the more aggressive species, and they are seperated because the larger will kill the other given the chance. It is a good looking mudkipper - buy one, dedicate a no less than 1m long tank to it and you will be rewarded with its personality.

Protein skimmers are for marine tanks - you do not need one with a brackish tank and it will most likely not work, some apparently work down to SG1.015 but some don't.

Hi, just read your post, I get the thing about marine salt and plan on buying some. My tankmates are fine, please remember everyhwere I went I got different answers, I'm done researching salt now. I am sure of the brackish fish also. I want to find a picture of a mudskipper to see what you have! I did find out I don't need a protein skimmer, but find mudskippers interesting, can't have any, as I am happy with my fish and red claw crabs. Does this make you feel better knowing I'm ok about the salt?

 

[grayshark1956]

i was thinking of converting my already cycled tank with fish in it to a brackish set up for adult mudskippers alongside finger fish, monos, mollies ect. but is it as simple as removing my fish getting the salt level right then adding new fish. i mean will my cycled filter lose any bacteria by adding salt? do i need a protien skimmer? ect ect? is there any does and donts please x

There is absolutly no controversy when it comes to salt and brackish water, Grayshark has had it explained to him/her a few times but it appears that he/she won't accept the advice given here.

Use marine salt, when converting to brackish just increase the salinity by no more than SG1.002 per week, you could probably do it twice weekly but once weekly would be less stressful on the nirification bacteria that keeps your tank cycled. If you increase the salinity by too much you will kill off your nitrification bacteria and you will have an uncyled tank!

If you have a cycled tank then you don't need to remove the fauna to convert to brackish. You only need to make sure that they are Brackish fish and that the fish that you decide to keep have the same salinity requirements, i.e Fiure 8's require low salinity SG1.002-SG1.005, Monos and Scats = SG1.005 up to marine conditions. Temperments and sizes all vary greatly.

I vary my mudskipper tank regularly between SG1.008 and SG1.015. They are mostly terrestrial and therefore need a large land area, I have a sand substrate that slopes out of the water into quite a large land area with a couple of large pieces of wood that jut out of the water for them to rest on also. The water is deep enough for an internal power filter, approximately 10cm deep, you do not need any more than this. Any deeper will make it harder to slope the sand out of the tank and if you only provide a floating platform in a deep tank it will make it harder for them to get out of the water.

Mudskippers do not share aquariums well, they will eat anything small enough to fit in their mouths (which are big) and they are reportedly nervous of entering the water if they see larger fish swimming about plus the lower water level will mean less water volume and a more polluted tank - because of their nature mudskippers are fairly robust and can tolerate levels of ammonia that would kill other fish! I have 2 P. barbarus mudskippers, which are apparently the more aggressive species, and they are seperated because the larger will kill the other given the chance. It is a good looking mudkipper - buy one, dedicate a no less than 1m long tank to it and you will be rewarded with its personality.

Protein skimmers are for marine tanks - you do not need one with a brackish tank and it will most likely not work, some apparently work down to SG1.015 but some don't.

Hi, just read your post, I get the thing about marine salt and plan on buying some. My tankmates are fine, please remember everyhwere I went I got different answers, I'm done researching salt now. I am sure of the brackish fish also. I want to find a picture of a mudskipper to see what you have! I did find out I don't need a protein skimmer, but find mudskippers interesting, can't have any, as I am happy with my fish and red claw crabs. Does this make you feel better knowing I'm ok about the salt?

Just saw picture of a mudskipper, unusual looking creature, but cute. They must require special needs? Forgot to mention my daughter is a chemist but is too busy moving to answer my questions about salt, she's hardly home at all. When she has time, I'll check out salt with her, she would know right away. She is very smart and has experience years ago with tropical fish. Does this make you feel better? Just wondered...

 

[iliveinazoo]

good advice. i will remove all my fish and replace with about ten mollys. then over 2 weeks il get the salinity to 1.010 ish. as for creating a platform and easy access im going to first create a wall all the way round the outside of the tank using house bricks, cover them in wire mesh and add moss to cover the bricks. so there will be a platform above the water round the whole tank a brick wide ect. as for making a slope. im going to use a sheet of metal or plastic about 20 cm wide which will run the whole length of the tank and will be supported by the bricks. it will be underneath the top layer of bricks. using the bit of plastic i will put on it very light rocks and some sand giving them access to the brick platform. thius is just a rough idea. but i want to do something different. i want to make life easy and good for the skippers. but still have a nice deep tank for other brackish fish. and as for skippers sharing a tank with other fish ive seen it with my own eyes and i just fell in love with the idea!! also in one of my other tanks i have a 7 to 8 inch climbing perch since it was a baby along side an amozon puffer which is a year old and is still 2cm long. it hasnt been attacked once. nor have my rainbow fish. i have a betta in that tank too and its fine. infact its lazy and is always laying down with the peacock eel and clown loach. my tank has lots of rocks and hiding spots and clean water. the fish are happy and well fed! hence why i have had no problems

Don't use metal in a tank?
Mudskippers are used to skipping about on mud/sand - I'm not sure that bricks would be a good option because it may damage their body. commonly available moss will not survive at that high a salinity.

it's probably teaching you to suck eggs but remember that you will have to feed the tank with an ammonia source while you don't have any fish in it to keep it cycled, you may just want to keep on feeding a slightly smaller amount of food as if you still had the fish in there.

What you keep in your tanks and how you keep them is your business but what may work for a while might not necessarilly work for what should be the lifetime of your fish. A happy confident mudskipper will jump up and take food from your hand (plastic tweezers) whereas a nervous mudskipper will run and hide everytime it sees you.

 

[grayshark1956]

good advice. i will remove all my fish and replace with about ten mollys. then over 2 weeks il get the salinity to 1.010 ish. as for creating a platform and easy access im going to first create a wall all the way round the outside of the tank using house bricks, cover them in wire mesh and add moss to cover the bricks. so there will be a platform above the water round the whole tank a brick wide ect. as for making a slope. im going to use a sheet of metal or plastic about 20 cm wide which will run the whole length of the tank and will be supported by the bricks. it will be underneath the top layer of bricks. using the bit of plastic i will put on it very light rocks and some sand giving them access to the brick platform. thius is just a rough idea. but i want to do something different. i want to make life easy and good for the skippers. but still have a nice deep tank for other brackish fish. and as for skippers sharing a tank with other fish ive seen it with my own eyes and i just fell in love with the idea!! also in one of my other tanks i have a 7 to 8 inch climbing perch since it was a baby along side an amozon puffer which is a year old and is still 2cm long. it hasnt been attacked once. nor have my rainbow fish. i have a betta in that tank too and its fine. infact its lazy and is always laying down with the peacock eel and clown loach. my tank has lots of rocks and hiding spots and clean water. the fish are happy and well fed! hence why i have had no problems

Don't use metal in a tank?
Mudskippers are used to skipping about on mud/sand - I'm not sure that bricks would be a good option because it may damage their body. commonly available moss will not survive at that high a salinity.

it's probably teaching you to suck eggs but remember that you will have to feed the tank with an ammonia source while you don't have any fish in it to keep it cycled, you may just want to keep on feeding a slightly smaller amount of food as if you still had the fish in there.

What you keep in your tanks and how you keep them is your business but what may work for a while might not necessarilly work for what should be the lifetime of your fish. A happy confident mudskipper will jump up and take food from your hand (plastic tweezers) whereas a nervous mudskipper will run and hide everytime it sees you.

If you were writing to me, I know about keeping creatures I want in my tank, and you can keep your mudskippers, wish I could see a real one, but yes, I know what works for a while may not work later. Have had fish a long time, they're actually very easy to care for, its my crabs I am concerned about, they need the right environment and I'm trying to provide that, if I knew ahead of time store sold them I could have researched sooner. But they misled me into adding them to FW tank and not brackish, also denied crabs needing salt. Hey, I learn something new every day, keeps life interesting! Aren't mudskippers an unusal creature? we don't have them here.

 

[deftuch]

good advice. i will remove all my fish and replace with about ten mollys. then over 2 weeks il get the salinity to 1.010 ish. as for creating a platform and easy access im going to first create a wall all the way round the outside of the tank using house bricks, cover them in wire mesh and add moss to cover the bricks. so there will be a platform above the water round the whole tank a brick wide ect. as for making a slope. im going to use a sheet of metal or plastic about 20 cm wide which will run the whole length of the tank and will be supported by the bricks. it will be underneath the top layer of bricks. using the bit of plastic i will put on it very light rocks and some sand giving them access to the brick platform. thius is just a rough idea. but i want to do something different. i want to make life easy and good for the skippers. but still have a nice deep tank for other brackish fish. and as for skippers sharing a tank with other fish ive seen it with my own eyes and i just fell in love with the idea!! also in one of my other tanks i have a 7 to 8 inch climbing perch since it was a baby along side an amozon puffer which is a year old and is still 2cm long. it hasnt been attacked once. nor have my rainbow fish. i have a betta in that tank too and its fine. infact its lazy and is always laying down with the peacock eel and clown loach. my tank has lots of rocks and hiding spots and clean water. the fish are happy and well fed! hence why i have had no problems

Don't use metal in a tank?
Mudskippers are used to skipping about on mud/sand - I'm not sure that bricks would be a good option because it may damage their body. commonly available moss will not survive at that high a salinity.

it's probably teaching you to suck eggs but remember that you will have to feed the tank with an ammonia source while you don't have any fish in it to keep it cycled, you may just want to keep on feeding a slightly smaller amount of food as if you still had the fish in there.

What you keep in your tanks and how you keep them is your business but what may work for a while might not necessarilly work for what should be the lifetime of your fish. A happy confident mudskipper will jump up and take food from your hand (plastic tweezers) whereas a nervous mudskipper will run and hide everytime it sees you.

If you were writing to me, I know about keeping creatures I want in my tank, and you can keep your mudskippers, wish I could see a real one, but yes, I know what works for a while may not work later. Have had fish a long time, they're actually very easy to care for, its my crabs I am concerned about, they need the right environment and I'm trying to provide that, if I knew ahead of time store sold them I could have researched sooner. But they misled me into adding them to FW tank and not brackish, also denied crabs needing salt. Hey, I learn something new every day, keeps life interesting! Aren't mudskippers an unusal creature? we don't have them here.

well if worst comes to worst i could always just have mudskippers but seems such a waste of my lovely big and deep tank. i will find a way to keep the mudskippers happy, safe and with plenty of out the water space and keep a good foot depth of water atleast! i also find it hard to find a new home for my adult severum, firemouth, hoplo catfish and my very large cuckoo catfish. can i justify getting rid of those prized fish for mudskippers? i think i can because mudskippers can become really good friends, full of personality, they recognise you and you can handfeed them