Hatchetfish: Any experience?

[nizz]

Hi all

Is there anyone who's had experience with the hatchetfish? I would like to know your success/failure stories. Thx in advance.

Nizz

[gchoo]

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On 3/28/2002 5:44:48 PM

Hi all

Is there anyone who's had experience with the hatchetfish? I would like to know your success/failure stories. Thx in advance.

Nizz
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I think the only problem is that you need to prevent these guys from flying out... either provide a cover or make sure that the water surface is at least 3 inches from the top of the tank...

[Simon]

they r extremely great jumpers, easily scared.. best to have them in a tank with a cover.. even with a low water line, there is a possibility that they still can jump out.. i lost 30 of them, thru a period of a few months.. i oso realised, everytime the lights goes out, u can hear them splashing on the surface, which is a clear indication that they were scared

[lsz]

the biggest concern is their jumping.

but fortunately i had not lost any in the time i had them.

easily spooked by movement Above the tank, i hypothesis thats coz where the threat comes from for them naturally..(?)

loves small insects/larvae. so bloodworm is a good food. i used to throw in ants etc too.

[coryfav]

my colleague recently put some in his tank in the office.

over the next few weeks, he found a "dried fish" on his table every other day...

i've thought of keeping them in my 3ft tank (i love the marbled ones), but i've already got enough worry about making sure my other top-level fish stay in the tank...[]

cheers!

[rain]

i had two b4, but they both jumped out of the tank within a couple of months after.

they r cute fish, and has anyone ever fatten them up b4?? they look so thin ... im not used to such physical appearance where all my other fish r sort of plump []

[coryfav]

rain, you think if you'd fatten them up, they'd not have "flown" away or what?[]

actually, like what you said, they don't look like "normal" fish indeed.[]

but what attracts them to me, is their pairs of "wings"!

[nizz]

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On 3/29/2002 5:08:07 PM

but what attracts them to me, is their pairs of "wings"!
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Coryfav....so the hatchetfish found u at the lfs huh...since they were attracted to u....hahaha....just kidding...

Anyway, i recently bought 3 fr gan's...tho' none of them 'flew' out of the tank, they still died off one after another within 6 days...my water parameters were fine, unless they can't take temp of 29D Celcius? Maybe tank too noisy for them? Had 23 mosquito rasboras & 12 red noses in a 2ft.

Nizz

[hoppinghippo]

rain: hahaha... I like your remark on them being too thin for a fish. I agree! just like discus, I think it's too thin too!

Nizz: I doubt it's the water temp that caused them to die, if anything won't they attempt to jump out first to escape the unsuitable conditions? maybe it's the way you intro-ed them into the tank? from my experience, some fishes are more hardy in that you can even just dump them in straight away from the plastic bag, but others may be very very sensitive that you need to quarrantine them in a tank by themselves with clean water for at least a week till they're feeding ok and feeling comfortable before transferring them into a tank with vigourous tankmates. oh I saw the mosquitoes finally at the LFs, quite cute!

[benetay]

Went to far east plaza to take a look for myself the LFS unit number is 04-78 if i remembered correctly, they have mosquito selling at 50cents EACH ...

[coryfav]

"Coryfav....so the hatchetfish found u at the lfs huh...since they were attracted to u....hahaha....just kidding... "

nizz,
[] [] very funny! actually i saw this fellas when i only had a 2ft tank but thought maybe if they decided to fly, not enough "runway" and may fly into the tank instead?[] [] []

but now with a 3ft tank, still cannot keep them cos tank has no cover (temperature will become too high if i cover the tank).

anyway, i don't want to see any dried fish on the floor...

[kelstorm]

is 50cents for each mosquitoes considered as expensive???

[Simon]

yes

[barmby]

hi, I love hatchet fish very much.

The main problems I faced are they are great jumper(f$%^ world class!). So I will cover up the tank. By doing so, there is not much ventilation and temperature in the tank shoots up(plant suffered and algae start invading)! Therefore the first problem gave me alot of headache.

My ratio of losing hatchet fish thru their suicidal attempt is close to 95%. Its like buying 5 hatchets, 1 will definitely "jump floor".

For people who knows how to keep Cardinal & Red nose tetra or Ram. Hatchet is absolutely no problem. BUT to get them to feed is another thing. Esp. wild one (ie. Gan's). They will NEVER NEVER fight for food and not to mention those sinking type. Therefore much work need to train them to take FLOATING flakes...

Lastly, I have only encountered 4 types of hatchetso far in S'pore. They are Black Wing, Marble, Silver, and River Hatchet. I think there are many more kinds from books/magazines I read and talking to Uncle Gan.

IMO, they are classy. Really elegant..."low profile and quiet".

--
Colin Koh

[:]

[coryfav]

hi colin, thanks for sharing your experience!
my cardinal and rummy nose tetras are doing great, but hatchets will become "flying then dried fish" in my tank.[]
i've been feeding my colleague's fish when he's away on business trips, and for his hatchets, i've to specially look for them and put the food in front of them! but they definitely go for the worms.