Brackish
Description
The Archer fish has a compressed elongated body with a flat face; the body color is silver with a greenish/brown back and 4 or 5 black bars running vertically across its body.
These fish are named Archer fish because of their unique ability to shoot down insects from just above the water surface, they do this by putting their tongue on the roof of their mouth which forms a tube, they suddenly close their gills and water is forced up and out of the tube reaching up to a 3 metre distance.
They are native to the brackish waters of Papua New Guinea, India, Australia and Southeast Asia.
Archer fish care
Housing
The Archer fish need a large tank preferably 100 gallons as they can grow up to 12 inch in length and need to be purchased in groups rather than individually. The temperature of the tank should be kept at (6.8-8.0) with a ph of (7.1-8.0) with a teaspoon of salt added to the water.
These fish like to form shooting parties where each Archer fish will shoot at their pray at the same time, then as the insect drops into the water the whole party of Archers will rush to eat it. They prefer to jump up and grab their pray and if that doesn’t work they will shoot them down, because of this it is advisable to have a good fitted tank lid.
The Archer fish has a gentle nature and therefore can be mixed with Barbs, Swords, Cats, Gouramis, and Datanoids
Feeding
As the Archers like to shoot their pray live food must be added to the surface of the tank, like Meal Worms, Live Brine Shrimp and dry seaweed.
