Mud Enclosure?

[TheBigEmail]

Anyone maintain a mud like enclosure? Something for crayfish, mud crab/lobster, dare I even say a mudskipper? How do you maintain it? Pictures if you have them please!

 

[The Snark]

Interesting idea. Essentially where two biospheres meet. Perforce a biologically hyperactive environment from bottom to top. Something a college bio class would employ as a teaching tool. In nature, these environments are in a constant state of flux as organisms and animals come, thrive then die or depart.
The problematic side is I don't see how it could be avoided in presenting a bio-hazard - for humans, level 2 or even 3 as it goes through natural cycles. Gram negative anaerobes would always be present and any higher order animals living in it would need to have natural immunities. Or develop them.
It would make an interesting environment as you combine amphibious fish and crustaceans. Not sure how you would maintain your primordial ooze as various organisms compete for dominance.

 

[TheBigEmail]

Interesting idea. Essentially where two biospheres meet. Perforce a biologically hyperactive environment from bottom to top. Something a college bio class would employ as a teaching tool. In nature, these environments are in a constant state of flux as organisms and animals come, thrive then die or depart.
The problematic side is I don't see how it could be avoided in presenting a bio-hazard - for humans, level 2 or even 3 as it goes through natural cycles. Gram negative anaerobes would always be present and any higher order animals living in it would need to have natural immunities. Or develop them.
It would make an interesting environment as you combine amphibious fish and crustaceans. Not sure how you would maintain your primordial ooze as various organisms compete for dominance.

How could I forget about the gases it would create haha ‍‍ I wasn’t sure either and was hoping someone could tell me although I might attempt something like this outside over the summer. Although I’d prefer something no bigger than 40 x 30 x 30 with just some backyard critters(just very small insects and worms)my property is mostly wetlands. Maybe I could try to add them to the created environment? Instead of dumping in cups of soil and trying to maintain? Don’t know how I would create the mixture yet tho

 

[The Snark]

How could I forget about the gases it would create

An excellent point. We read posts all the time of animals dying for unknown reasons in containments. The silent killer that ignores the ventilation of the enclosure, methane, is rarely if ever taken into account. If there is a moist environment and organic material, methane is always being generated. It may not be present in deadly quantities but it can certainly weaken and stress the animals.

Recalling a field, cattle pasture. south of Fortuna Calif. About 80 dead cattle around a composting pile experiment.

 

[TheBigEmail]

Thankyou for making me think and the information dude! Definitely gonna post some updates whether it goes good or bad! Hopefully if it goes well I can make the enclosure bigger.

 

[paumotu]

I've seen something similar done by a Chinese aquarist who created a mudflat-intertidal zone for fiddler crabs and mudskippers before. I can't attest to how long it lasted, but it looked quite stable.

 

[Edan bandoot]

If you look up mudskipper tanks or breeding tanks you'll find some, seems pretty high maintenance tho

 

[TheBigEmail]

I've seen something similar done by a Chinese aquarist who created a mudflat-intertidal zone for fiddler crabs and mudskippers before. I can't attest to how long it lasted, but it looked quite stable.

Do you have a link by any chance this sounds like exactly the kind of thing I’d like to do!

 

[TheBigEmail]

If you look up mudskipper tanks or breeding tanks you'll find some, seems pretty high maintenance tho

I was watching quite a few videos last night and I feel like only one came close to what I was going for. Although I think that might have to do with the species of mudskipper being housed? It seemed like because Periophthalmus novemradiatus prefers marine to brackish water all the tanks were more aquatic than mud :/. If you have a link to share I’d be so happy to see. This is stsrting to seem unobtainable