Warning For Mudskipper Owners!

[iliveinazoo]

I've kept 2 P. barbarous mudskippers in my tank for quite a few years now, they have been separated by a divider for most of that time to stop them from killing each other, this meant that one would have a sandbank and the other would have a large wide piece of wood and marine rock for above water perches. I would swap which side of the tank each would have at each water change.

The most confident and aggressive has been in the side with wood and rocks and I did my usual feeding routine last night, as I put the food in he did his usual jump to the food and just missed my finger which I was thankful for because them small teeth hurt! But when I looked in the tank this morning I noticed that the food was still there, this never happens so I feared the worst and unfortunately my fears were realised! He must of either landed on the rock and killed himself outright or knocked himself out and drowned. Please beware of rocks in your skipper tank!

This was my favorite fish so I'm absolutely gutted, the only good thing that comes out of it is that the other gets the whole tank to himself now.

 

[Ninjouzata]

Really sorry for your loss!

 

[FishHelper101]

Aw that sounds awful! I'm so sorry

 

[TallTree01]

My condolences go out to the both of you.

 

[Ch4rlie]

Ah, really sorry for your loss

A good warning for other keepers of these to be aware of this.

 

[DerpPH]

Males kill each other most of the time and Im sorry for your loss . Well it happens. It happened for a reason. I think its life's way of telling you to get a female

 

[iliveinazoo]

Thanks for the messages everyone.
 
DerpPH - I've read that P. Barbarus are just as aggressive to females outside of breeding time so I think I'll just let my remaining male have the whole tank by himself because I'd prefer him to have the space, and I really don't want to put the divider back in!

 

[HX67]

Sorry to read about your 'skipper, too. What a freak accident.
The personalities of mudskippers really make them pets.
 
I agree with you, barbarus will never tolerate each other, as long as there's a visual contact. No matter what gender they are.
 
Better luck with the remaining fish, I hope all goes well with it.

 

[star4]

Sorry for your loss, but thanks for posting. I am looking to venture into keeping skippers.

 

[Mads]

Sorry to hear about your skipper! He sounded like a feisty fellow. It's alway tragic when mudskippers goes away because they got so much personality.
 
I had an accident too with my largest mudskipper. I read an article online that suggested to build borrows from large plumbing tubes, so I build a really nice borrow for my two barbarus mudskippers. But the next morning, I found the largest one dead in the borrow. It' was stock in a 90 degree angle tube.... It really made me feel bad! but now the small one has the whole tank for himself -  his grew really big after the other one died.
 
So a warning on building borrows too.
 
Regards
Mads

 

[iliveinazoo]

Thanks.
I also noticed that when the skippers were together the dominant one was a lot larger even though they were the same size when I bought them, then once the divider was put up the smaller quickly gained size and almost reached the size of the other and since the other died he went through another growth spurt.

 

[brackishman24]

How big are they? I have forgotten the scientific names but the African mudskipper is fairly large and is very territorial and needs a large area to themselves. There are dwarf Indian mudskippers and they only get a few inches and live in groups. All mudskippers can be difficult to feed at first as they are wild caught but as long as you let them settle and feed live or frozen then you should be fine. I'm an editor of a brackish fish facebook page and the admin owns dwarf indian mudskippers and has no issues with aggressiveness and had 6.

 

[iliveinazoo]

P. Barbarus is the one I owned and probably the African species that you are referring to and they do not play nicely.
 
I have read that the Indian Mudskippers are less aggressive and can be overcrowded like some cichlids to avoid aggression.
 
I never had any issues feeding my mudskippers, they would eat anything.

 

[brackishman24]

Yeah I really want to get mudskippers but need a suitable tank for them and will only get the Indians, looks better to have a tank with half a dozen Indians than a tank with just 1 or 2 Africans lol. Some people seem to struggle to get them to feed at first, matter of luck I guess. Live food or frozen always seem to work to get them to feed when they're new but that's the same to any fish really. Mudskippers are awesome because they walk on land and is a fish that can drown. Bet when you got yours they barely had any water in , some have told me their skippers arrive in a big bag but with little water and some chunks of polystyrene for them to sit on. 

 

[iliveinazoo]

They definitely are lovely fish, can't talk for the Indian species but I'd definitely be happy with a single P. barbarous in the future - they probably watch you more than you watch them, and after my Springer Spaniel was probably the happiest person/pet in the house to see me in the mornings!!