Hatchet Fish

[mitche8359]

I don't have the scientific name. Wife likes these and saw them at the LFS. Will do some research on the web about them, but anyone have practical knowlege? Comments would be appreciated.

 

[Guest]

Wife likes these and saw them at the LFS.

I have an admission to make here, I bought 6 of them 2 weeks ago, just cuz MY wife wanted them!

Still havent done any research on them, but they like my plant tank.

 

[Somethingfishy]

Hatchet fish are really cool. All they do all day is just float at the top. Nothing more to keeping them. I also had about 6 of them.

http://www.fishprofiles.com/profiles/characins/hatchet.asp

 

[jasonit]

I LOVE hatchet fish! They are really cool looking and easy to keep. I know they like to be in species groups. I do have one word of warning... Make sure that your tank is tightly covered. Hatchet fish, in the wild, will jump out of the water and catch bugs on low hanging leaves, using their stiff pectoral fins to "glide" very short distances. I lost 2 hatchet fish through the opening in the back of my tank's hood - that clear plastic part you can cut or whatever. I just took the whole thing off and in the course of a week found both of my hatchets dried to the carpet. I blamed the cat until I did a little research.

 

[mitche8359]

Ok well I read a little bit about them and the here is what I found:

A small fish that can live in ear canals, translating thought matrices enabling the "wearer" or "host" to understand any alien language. Said to disprove the existence of God, but I think He was double-bluffing.

No wait thats the babelfish.

Here's the stuff on the hatchet fishes.

Hatchet fishes are neat little creatures. And they jump. One could say that the fish can jump high enough to jump out of a tank of water because they can and do if one is smart enough to leave the hood open after feeding them. Another useful tidbit is that hatchet fishes eat, preferrably live awful things like misquito larvae, brine shrimp, worms of various types. And if live food isn't readily available, freshly killed food is the next best thing, with cheesburgers, tapioca pudding and flake food rounding out the list.

Some people have lost several hatchets from them jumping out of the tank. Since my wife has a nasty habit of not closing the hood, I'll have to change that behavior before I invest in some. They also like to be in groups of six though people have had them in groups of two without problems.

just cuz MY wife wanted them

Ok corvuscorax, what else do you have in your tank because of your wife?

 

[Guest]

Ok corvuscorax, what else do you have in your tank because of your wife?

2 salt& pepper cory's and, as i was planning on getting 3 more angels anyway, i let her pick them out.

I took the word of the LFS lady that the hatchets would be fine with my other occupants, plus they have a plant show tank w/some hatchets in it so i figured we'd be fine. I like them so far, unique shape, dont swim around much, but school up when they do, looks good.

Everything else the wife wanted was not compatible (african chiclids, barbs, other brightly colored fishes w/ no business in a plant tank).

My canopy has 440 watts of light (4 bulbs vho output) so we never leave it open(it's blinding), only 2 small holes in the back for tubes and wires. If they manage to jump out of there they will have to be extremely unlucky.

My wife doesn't know anything about the hobby, just wants a pretty tank. I'm fine with that. If i try to explain things like cycling, her eyes glaze over, i can tell she don't give a hoot!

 

[mitche8359]

My wife doesn't know anything about the hobby, just wants a pretty tank

I hear you. On the drive home, I invited my wife to help set up the hospital tank last night and she eagerly accepted. When we got home, she decided to do laundry instead. She hates laundry. Her excuse was she didn't want to be blamed if the fish died.

I can't remember if you said you had a couple dwarf cichlids or not. I saw some in a plant tank the other day at the lfs and they looked incredible.

Sounds like you have a nice tank. I'll have to see if you have pics in the gallery.

I'll have to look for the cory's to see if they are what I'm thinking of. I had a couple spotted cory's in the tank a couple weeks ago, but they were in the number that died.

 

[something_fishy]

I had them, then I didn't.........again, and again.......

I've tried to keep several varieties of hatchet fish but sad to say, I can never seem to keep the little buggers alive. They seem to be very fragile and die at the drop of a pin. That could be just me, but all the other fish I keep I have no problems with, and this wasn't a one time thing, its every time I try them. Just my little input for what it's worth.

 

[mitche8359]

That's not good to hear. I have the same problem but with ottos. Not sure why but I can't keep them alive.