Marbled hatchet fish

[jbuck]

I am thinking of having a school of these I would imagine no less than 8. I have been doing some research but wanted to know if anyone else has kept them or had experience with them

 

[otmmy]

Yes I had 6 of them in my 75 gallon and they are such cool fish very friendly . I had mine for a few years never had any problem just make sure the top is closed at all times they like to jump. They will eat pretty much anything u put in there(mine would eat flakes, brineshrimp,bloodworms)There mouths are on the tops of there head so flakes is really easy for the to eat but they will learn to swim down and catch other falling food. I would defenitly get a nice school and I think 8 is a good number.

 

[jbuck]

Thanks for replying so quickly. I am slightly concerned about a couple of things though. They like near neutral or slightly acidic water where as my tank at the moment sits around 7.6-7.8. If I drip acclimatise them slowly they should be ok right? I mean by the time I get them the tank may be sitting a bit lower as it will be rescaped with an abundance of wood and when I set up the co2 I may try a ph controller as a pose to timer. The othe issue is I have a juwel tank and there are 2 small cut outs at the back of the tank roughly 2" long by 1" high. One is directly above the filter box in the corner so I don't think escape is possible from there but the other one just has a couple of cables running through it. I'm guessing that would be quite an easy jump for these fellas into dry land which I really don't want. If I covered that side of tank with some floating plants that would solve it I guess. Just wondering if you think I am worrying too much

 

[jbuck]

Scratch ph controller just seen the prices

 

[paytertot]

Scratch ph controller just seen the prices

Don't worry about ph, the fish will get used to it. Altering the ph can cause fluctuations which is much worse. A stable ph is much better than "ideal". Besides if it comes out of your tap that way, you would have to use a ph buffer every time you did a pwc. That would not be good.

 

[otmmy]

Don't worry about ph, the fish will get used to it. Altering the ph can cause fluctuations which is much worse. A stable ph is much better than "ideal". Besides if it comes out of your tap that way, you would have to use a ph buffer every time you did a pwc. That would not be good.

Yes he is right about the stable ph and as for the opening in te back I think a floating plant would work great they enjoy a little cover like that to hide under.

 

[Chiroptera]

With the hatchetfish, just make sure the current at the top of the tank isn't too rough. They enjoy having a current to swim against, but if it's too much for them they'll swim at the middle of the tank like a normal schooling fish instead of top-swimming. I had that issue with my silver hatchets. If you're okay with that, then it's fine, but I love watching them swim and display their natural behaviors. They skim across the top so neatly.