Archers and Mudskippers?

[John]

Haven't posted in over a year! I'm still trying to set up a brackish tank. And because I'm getting a 55 gallon for christmas, I think I might finally have the chance.

Could I have:

2 Archerfish
2 Mudskippers
2 Fiddler Crabs

In a 55 gallon tank?

The substrate would be play sand and the filter would be a hang-on-the-back canister. There would be a land area for the Skippers and Crabs. I would have Mangoves (what other plants would be good?).

I would be fine with dropping 1 Archer or 1 Mudskipper (or all) if that's all I could have.

Lastly, would the Archers eat the Crabs?

Thanks.

[flamingo]

In that size of a tank, i'd only suggest a small group of mudskippers.
Crabs and the mudskippers "might" work, if you can pull it off well- and provide enough land.

I wouldn't use play sand (horrible stuff by itself), so i'd suggest using another type of sand, or gravel. Make the tank half land, half water, with an external canister filter, or an internal filter. sG of around 1.008 or so, and you should be good to go.

[Daeorn]

Please learn from my mistakes, do not use play sand. Use pool filter sand, or definitely something else.

If you do want play sand, don't get a hand on the back filter as it'll just be ruined.

[Ichthius]

I had play sand in with my skipper while quarantining him, and it ruined the HOB filter

I'd also suggest an internal filter. Works great at a lower water level. What type of skippers were you going for?

[Scuba Kid]

I use a Fluval 2 internal filter in my muskipper tank.


And I have playsand.

[John]

Thanks guys.

How much would an internal filter cost? What brand and size?

To save money, I would prefer to use one of the two 55-gallon-size filters I already have, one of which is hang-on-the-back power filter and one of which is hang-on-the-back canister. But I won't if you don't think I should. Plus I'd have to get an extension for the intake tube, and I don't know if I'd be able to get a long enough one.

I already have 100 pounds of play sand, but the only reason I got it was because it was so cheap. I knew I might not be able to use it. It's dirty and a little ugly, and I would prefer a lighter-colored sand. Plus most of the people I've talked to say I shouldn't use it. So if I don't use that, what type should I get? It will be exponentially more expensive, right? Where should I get it? What does play sand do to hang-on-the-back filters? Will other types of sand do that? Why doesn't it affect internal filters in the same way?

And lastly, disregarding tank size for the moment, are Mudskippers + Fiddlers/Mudskippers + Archers/Fiddlers + Archers compatible in theory?

[Daeorn]

Archers won't generally bother larger mudskippers.

My 4 archers have not bothered my mudskipper, or even attempted to.

As far as the sand, it demolished my penguin 400 pretty well, and doesn't look tremendously great IMO (looks natural but yeah).

For the same feel, but better practicality I'd go for pool filter sand, its like 9 bucks for a 30lb bag I think.

The archers shouldn't bother larger fiddlers either, however I'm not sure about fiddlers and mudskippers. I have them together right now, and they will actually chill on the same floating log almost right next to each other without incident but I do not know about for long term.

[fishbone]

Originally Posted by Daeorn

Please learn from my mistakes, do not use play sand. Use pool filter sand, or definitely something else.

If you do want play sand, don't get a hand on the back filter as it'll just be ruined.

+1 million

Fiddlers, especially females, are chilled out for the most part. Males might go for whatever moves in an attempt to ward them off their turf. Now if you were to get red claw crabs I'd say heck no. Watch them closely but IMO you should be fine.

[John]

Okay cool, thanks for warning me guys. Where can I get pool filter sand? Lowes/Home Depot? Is it lighter than play sand? (In color, not in weight.) And will the water be cloudy? And finally, you guys are saying pool filter sand will be okay with a hang on the back canister filter, right?

I don't know what type of mudskippers to get. Does anybody have some recommendations (based on appearance, size, cost, etc.). Also I can't remember how much they usually cost (same with Archers), and I'd like to be prepared before I go to the store. Anybody got any experience with this? I don't trust the prices of online stores to match up with the physical shops.

So I'm getting the feeling from most of you guys that this setup could be done, but you wouldn't necessarily recommend it for this combination of fish and tank size. I'll have to think about it.

[Daeorn]

Pool filter sand can be bought at any hottub/pool/jacuzzi store. You can try home depot/lowes but I'm not sure.

Yes with it you can use a HOB filter with the pool filter sand. I thing play sand is slightly "lighter" but I'm not sure.
It won't make it cloudy if you first give it a good rinsing. Basically its really small grain pebbles, instead of sand grit - so it is heavier and doesn't get kicked up the same as play sand.

As for the mudskippers I just bought a 4" South American Mudskipper at my lfs for 16 bucks.

http://www.franksaquarium.com/bracki..._fish_farm.htm
There they sell Indian mudskippers who don't get as large.

In a 55 gallon tank, you could do several indian mudskippers but I wouldn't recomend them with archers since archers can get bigger, and Indians only get about 4" max.

You could probably do about 3 South American or African mudskippers with 1 archer in a 55, as you'll have to have a portion of the tank as land, or at least, assessable by the mudskippers.

[Scuba Kid]

I have 3 indian mudskippers and I LOVE them. They are awesome little guys and very personable.
But again, they are little. They get about 4 or 5 inches, so not sure how well they'd get along with a full grown archer. What I like about indian mudskippers though is that they can be kept in groups and are fun to watch interact with each other.

BTW, Frank at franksaquarium.com is a great guy. I'd definitely get the skippers through him, especially since he usually has a nice selection.