The Puffer Forum

Iliveinazoo wrote:We've got 2 male Barbarus Skippers - you were really lucky to get a female.
Don't think about keeping fiddler crabs with them, mine lived peacefully for a couple of months before the attacks started - so had to buy another tank!!
Keeping mudskippers peacefull with each other seems to be a mix of the right amount of land and depth of water. We thought that we could keep them both in a 3/4 filled tank with archer fish but the bigger skipper attacked the smaller skipper so often that the smaller one only ever came out of the water to breathe before getting chased straight back under.
They are now both together again in a dedicated tank with about 4 inches of water and a few seperate land areas and visual breaks and they're doing great.

Our tank has a door at the front and they get so excited at feeding time that they jump at the food as it's going in - we've had 2 escapes that way - chasing a mudskipper around the bedroom while shouting at the dogs with only 5 minutes to spare before you have to leave for work is not fun!

I'm sorry, but you made me laugh, just imagining the mudskipper moving about with you chasing and the dogs in tow! I have 3 dogs so I can sympathise with you.

Before we got ours, I tried to read everything and anything that had to do with Mudskippers, and decided that I shouldn't try to have anything but Mudskippers in the tank. We have the sort with doors in the front too, but the doors click shut and you can actually lock them. So we've not had any escapes, which is good because I imagine one of my dogs would end up eating the poor Skipper.
We originally got 2 together, but one week later, the big male died, and I was gutted!! They actually seemed to be mating, not fighting, and I had hopes of baby Skippers flopping about. I'm not sure why he died, but about 2 weeks later we went back and got another male, this one even bigger than the other, and I really did feel sorry for the female because she stayed under the water just about all the time, and she had been so happy and active before we got the 2nd male. She was probably cursing me for getting the other male.
I never actually seen any bullying going on, but I didn't see her above water much, so either she was intimidated, or he bullied her, not sure which. I've had them about 4 months now and it's just recently that she's staying out of the water. I also made another cave for them, so that might have had something to do with it. I took plastic bottles and pushed them into the sand and voila! instant cave! She hangs out of hers and I know she feels safe there. I think he might be too big to go into the cave, at least Ive never seen him inside one yet.
The big male used to come right up to my hand when I would put the shrimp in, but then my husband decided he wanted to hold the male and that ruined everything!! The male now does a runner every time I open the doors, I was surprised that he stayed still long enough for me to get those pictures of him. I have told my husband to leave him alone. I am hoping that if he sees that I'm not a threat, and I don't want to hold him, that maybe he will come up to me again like he used to.
The guy at the LFS previously owned some of the ones that were for sale, and he showed us just how tame they can become. He opened the doors, put his hand in and the largest male jumped right into his hand! I was thinking, "Wow, so that's how it's going to be!" But it isn't. I don't mind, I am patient and can wait to see if they become a little tamer.
I definitely feel that these are my number one. okay well maybe puffers AND mudskippers can share the number one position of my favourite aquatic fish.

how do you find out if its a female or male???

have you guys

have a full tank shot

im interested at your aquarium designs!!!

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The big male used to come right up to my hand when I would put the shrimp in, but then my husband decided he wanted to hold the male and that ruined everything!! The male now does a runner every time I open the doors, I was surprised that he stayed still long enough for me to get those pictures of him. I have told my husband to leave him alone. I am hoping that if he sees that I'm not a threat, and I don't want to hold him, that maybe he will come up to me again like he used to.
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That's our problem, the both of them are so tame that when they see you approaching with food they gather at the door waiting for it to be unlocked.
One has always been tame and has let you hold him but it has taken about a year for the other to come out of his shell and jump on the food while it's still in the hand/spoon.

j_wishbone wrote:how do you find out if its a female or male???

With some species the female's first dorsal fin is not present at all whereas with others like the Barbarus it is a bit more difficult as the fin is still there but it's smaller.

I've been trying to get decent shots of all of my tanks but they always come out rubbish!

How do you manage to make half the tank out of the water and the other half water? Doesnt the substrate eventually level out?

Well mine was doing nicely, until recently, it is starting to slip a little, but for the most part it's still holding. I use gravel and stones to make it stronger in some places. I also inserted a piece of plastic down into the sand, as a retaining wall, you can't see it because I've put stones and gravel around it. You have to be very creative, but it can be done. The LFS where I got mine from have them in a tank and the only "land" they offer them is pieces of driftwood being held up by rocks, so they don't really have any "land" so to speak, but I like giving them some place to hang out, and besides, you need some place to put the food, they won't take food in the water, at least it's not preferable, they probably would eat in the water if they had no other choice.

yeh ive done the same thing

ive put some rocks on the beach part to minimize the erosion

but in theory you have to turn the sand anyways.. or the gas builds up in between and could become deadly

so you will have to keep re-doing it anyways....


I plan to make some type of platform so that I dont have a thick layer of sand.. I dont plan to breed them anyways.. so they dont need the depth of sand to dig in??

I've taken some pictures so you can see my basic set-up. I think they should have a bigger tank, but it will do for now and they actually do seem to be happy enough. The reason I like this type of tank better than a regular fish tank is the access you have with the doors in the front, and it works well because I don't need deep water.
So anyway, here's a few shots so you get the idea of how mine's been done. Sorry they aren't better, but it seems either I get too close and it goes blurry, or I'm too far and you don't get enough detail.

Very intersting tank design..... I like it.... THese creatures seem so darwinian it aint even funny.... I do agree with the above poster that they are confused about going back to the water or coming out of it. Maybe they found that evolutionary sweet spot where they just thrive straddling both environments? Anyway very cool fishes and tank....

i like the set up mate.. good stuff


this was my one from a couple years back...