Marine Archerfish

[fishesfriend]

Can I keep an archerfish in a marine aquarium
Can I keep an archerfish in a 75 gallon aquarium
Can I keep small scale archer with an ocellaris clownfish and royal gramma
What would be a "safe" size for tank mates, I will still ask for about each one.

[snorvich]

Can I keep an archerfish in a marine aquarium
Can I keep an archerfish in a 75 gallon aquarium
Can I keep small scale archer with an ocellaris clownfish and royal gramma
What would be a "safe" size for tank mates, I will still ask for about each one.


The archerfish (Spinner Fish or Archer Fish) are a family (Toxotidae) of fish known for their habit of preying on land based insects and other small animals by literally shooting them down with water droplets from their specialized mouths. The family is small, consisting of seven species in the genus Toxotes; which typically inhabit brackish waters of estuaries and mangroves, but can also be found in the open ocean as well as far upstream in fresh water India to the Philippines, Australia, and Polynesia.

Archerfish or Spinnerfish bodies are deep and laterally compressed, with the dorsal fin set far back, and the profile a straight line from dorsal fin to mouth. The mouth is protractile, and the lower jaw juts out. Sizes are generally small,about 5–10 cm but T. chatareus can reach 40 centimetres (16 in).[2]


Capture of prey

Archerfish are remarkably accurate in their shooting; adult fish almost always hit the target on the first shot. They can bring down an insect that includes grasshoppers, spiders and butterflies on a branch overhanging the water, 3 m above the water's surface This is partially due to their good eyesight, but also their ability to compensate for the refraction of light as it passes through the air water interface when aiming for their prey. They typically spit at prey at a mean angle of about 74 degrees from the horizontal, but can still aim accurately when spitting at angles between 45 and 110 degrees.

When an archerfish selects its prey, it rotates its eye so that the image of the prey falls on a particular portion of the eye in the ventral temporal periphery of the retina[8] and its lips just break the surface, squirting a jet of water at its victim. It does this using the narrow groove in the roof of its mouth. It presses its tongue against this groove to form a narrow channel, then contracts its gill covers to force a powerful jet of water through the channel. The resulting jet of water can be up to 2–5 m long, but their accuracy only allows them to shoot insects 1–2 m away depending on body size. The fish can alter the power of the shot for prey of different sizes. If the first shot does not knock the victim into the water, the archerfish will keep trying.

Young archerfish start shooting when they are about 2.5 cm long, but are inaccurate at first and must learn from experience. During this learning period, they hunt in small schools. This way, the probability is enhanced that at least one jet will hit its target.

Archerfish will often leap out of the water and grab an insect in their mouth if it happens to be within reach. Individuals typically prefer to remain close to the surface of the water.

So given this, how are you going to feed them?

[fishesfriend]

I plan to set up a mangrove swamp and let insects climb around on them and let the archer shoot them down. I will feed frozen foods, and sheet algea to other inhabitans.

[aday2remmbr]

i believe most brackish fish can be kept in full marine tanks, i am not positive about the archerfish. because they are not normally found in marine tanks i dont know where you could find info on compatible tank mates. also mangroves will take some time to grow, i had a friend try to do this and he used fake plants suspended above the tank and put crickets on them, but take not you do not have to feed them this way just simply dropping them into the water works as well. you can get crickets from virtually any pet store.

[fishesfriend]

I would like to keep clown gobies with the archer but I think the clown goby will get eaten. What would be a good size for tank mates?

[philter4]

I would like to keep clown gobies with the archer but I think the clown goby will get eaten. What would be a good size for tank mates?
In Southern New Guinea archers are in full sea water regularly, and brackish water fish do better in full sea water then in full fresh. As far as keeping them in salt water tanks I have done it in the past, when I opened my fish store in San Diego (Tropical Fish World in Rancho Bernardo) I used archers to cycle the marine tanks because they do better and are cheaper then damsels. I had almost no losses. I would not keep them with anything peaceful, they are aggressive and can get up to 10-12 inches for some species and will eat any fish they can over power. With that in mind they can probably eat a clownfish and definitely eat a royal gramma so they are probably not the best tank mates. I would put them with larger tangs, aggressive angels and things like some of the less aggressive triggers. They are as reef safe as any other fish, they will eat any shrimp or crabs they can catch but stars, feather dusters and stony and soft corals are fine with them.

As far as feeding and prey capture, they take normal aquarium foods and don't suffer if they don't use their shooting abilities, although in a mangrove type system they will preform as often as you give them the opportunity and it is very impressive to watch. We used to hold crickets above the water and if an archer hit the cricket we would drop a cichlid pellet into the water as the "reward". Basically what I am saying is they will do fine in a fish tank if you never give them targets or insects to feed on, it is more that you will be missing out on a fascinating behavior if you don't let them preform.

[fishesfriend]

Did you ever get smale scale archers ( 5-6in. max) because I would like to keep them with smallerfish?

[fishesfriend]

Anless smalescale archers are alot nicer I think I just won't get archers, but still make a mangrove tank.

[philter4]

Did you ever get smale scale archers ( 5-6in. max) because I would like to keep them with smallerfish?

They are not in the hobby commonly, the only one you will probably find is the common archer, Toxotis jaculatrix. I have sometimes seen a few oddball species but never in a group, just as a few here and there mixed in with other brackish water fish. Still, even a small species is very aggressive and has a large mouth that can do a lot of damage to smaller fish.

I have seen largescale archers, T. chatareas in the wild, they, along with the other Australian archers, are the most freshwater of the different species, almost never being found in pure marine water. They are also the most common of the odd species in the hobby because they come from Asia to Australia where other fish are collected so they are sometimes imported as bicatch. I have also seen and collected the primitive archer, T. lorentzi, in New Guinea but I didn't bring any back with me.

[singold]

Might as well just set up a Brackish tank if getting an Archerfish, especially this particular type of Brackish fish, given its eating habits. Brackish fish are from estuaries. I used to have a Brackish tank. I kept SG at 1.008 to 1.010. SG is in the middle of freshwater and saltwater since these waters are where freshwater and the ocean merge. Many Brackish fish end up venturing to the open ocean, generally as adults. However, I would doubt this would be the case with Archerfish, again given their specific eating habits. Mono Sebaes and Mono Argentus are 2 type of Brackish fish that end up venturing into the ocean as adults.