Pics of mudskippers and hog chokers

[kkirkt]

My mudskippers finally made it out of their quarantine tank and I just wanted to share a few pics. I tried to make a video but wasn't sure how to get that large of a file from my iPhone to my laptop to post
Here you can see one hogchoker on the side, one mudskipper on the side, and several mudskippers on various platforms

Mudskippers from above. One is eating a cricket and another just took a bite of some frozen food.


Hog choker eating an earthworm.



The same hogchoker after hiding in the sand. You can see his eyes and the dark shadow is his full belly.

This is my first time posting pics, so I hope this worked out (I don't know why one seems to have posted twice).

Tank info:
125 gallon (6 feet long) brackish setup (~1.006 s.g.)
5 Indian Mudskippers (Periophthalmus Septemradiatus)
2 Hogchokers (Trinectes maculatus)
3 Zebra Nerite snails
20++ Mollies (started with 8, plan is that the fry are some of the food for the hogchokers- I've seen that happen once)
10+ ghost shrimp
A few assorted plants and way too much hair algae

 

[kno4te]

Nice tank and fish!

 

[FishEZ]

Thanks for sharing, it looks fascinating.

 

[elting44]

Very very cool.

 

[krichardson]

Nice,I have seen mudskippers for sale from time to time and have been tempted to try them in a set up.

 

[PYRU]

Ive always like mudskippers, but never pulled the trigger.

 

[Deadliestviper7]

Beautiful brackish set up any plans to add a dragon fish? (They help keep the sand clean)

 

[spotfin]

How big are the hogchockers? I only ever see really small ones for sale around here.

 

[kkirkt]

Thanks for the comments. I started this brackish tank with the hope of getting mudskippers, it just took a lot longer than I hoped for. I also wanted a figure 8 puffer but after recieving some advice from others I decided to not get the figure 8 puffers with my current stock.

Deadliestviper7- I've thought about a violet goby (dragon goby) but I have a few concerns- size (I prefer smaller fish since I don't have a huge aquarium) and I didn't know if they would interfere with the hog chokers. Although both are native to southeast USA. I've definitely thought about it and would love to hear from people that have them.

Spotfin- The hog chokers are about 3.5 inches and 4 inches (long). They were about the size of a nickel when I got them. Initially live black worms were the food of choice.. Now they primarily eat earthworms with occasional Hikari Carnivore bites and frozen blood worms. I have seen one eat a Molly fry (which is wha I hoped would happen). The difficult thing is that they. only eat what is right in front of them (or on them) since they are ambush feeders. With a mixed tank, the mollies quickly get interested when I feed the hogchokers. I try to feed the mollies then quickly feed the hog chokers. I love feeding the hogchokers when people visit. I tell them to watch the worm and then suddenly it disappears as the hidden hog choker grabs it (visitors never see the hogchokers initially).

 

[J. H.]

Wow. beautiful tank, and you're the first person I've heard claim to have kept hogchokers successfully. I love flatfish, I need some.