Archers spawned - Now what?

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Zoodiver

Zoodiver

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MFK Member
Aug 22, 2005
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I've got 4 archers (Toxotes jaculatrix) in a 75 gallon holding tank waiting for their display to be completed. Last night they spawned. Obviouslly, I have no idea if they were fertilized or not. I pulled out what I could and set them up in a small tank with an air stone to circulate.

Suggestions or ideas? I didn't really expect these fish to live after the shipping blunder. Is there anything special I should be aware of or can they be cultured like any other fish egg?

Thanks.

Matt
 
There's not much out there on raising archer fry. Here's all I found:

Breeding

Captive breeding has been accomplished accidentally on a few occasions. The pair spawns close to the surface and about 3000 floating eggs are laid. The eggs should be transferred to a rearing tank where they hatch in 12 hours. Feed the young small insects and live food that can be taken from water surface. It is believed that in the wild the more solitary adult fish will head out to coral reefs to breed, while the smaller juveniles will form groups in the brackish mangrove swamps of southeast Asia and Australia.

I would imagine you could feed them on FD cyclop-eeze or any other FD floating small food. Ideally, you want to have a wingless fruitfly culture for them. But, if you don't already have one going, that's a pointless concern.
 
Oddball said:
There's not much out there on raising archer fry. Here's all I found:

Breeding

Captive breeding has been accomplished accidentally on a few occasions. The pair spawns close to the surface and about 3000 floating eggs are laid. The eggs should be transferred to a rearing tank where they hatch in 12 hours. Feed the young small insects and live food that can be taken from water surface. It is believed that in the wild the more solitary adult fish will head out to coral reefs to breed, while the smaller juveniles will form groups in the brackish mangrove swamps of southeast Asia and Australia.

I would imagine you could feed them on FD cyclop-eeze or any other FD floating small food. Ideally, you want to have a wingless fruitfly culture for them. But, if you don't already have one going, that's a pointless concern.
Click to expand...






:iagree:
couldnt have siad anything better than that of course oddball knows alittle more than i do about the subject
 
As Oddball said, it happens occasionally by accident, a couple hints I found on getting them to survive, watch for fungus on the floating eggs, it can happen quick and they are prone to it if the salinity is below 1 tsp salt/gallon. At 82 degrees F. they should hatch in 12 hrs, feed with floating live foods at first, one site suggests brine shrimp naupuli and wingless fruit flies. They also suggest powdered flake foods at the same time. Good Luck!
 
gj thats nice



ur now a archer fish breeder he he


i think you mightneed brackish water pretty soon no??
 
This morning some of the eggs have clumped together (similar to how frog eggs look). I removed some with a fungus yesterday. The water is in the low 80F range. However, it's been about 20 hours now and nothing has hatched. I'd guess they weren't fertilized. I have no clue on the ratio of the fish that are in together.....well, one female :D

As for the fish size, they are all 5-7 inches. They're in freshwater (75 gallon holding). I've got a canister filter and twin powerheads (one on each end) for circulation. Temps stays between 80-82 F. Lighting is twin 48" flor. They've got a dark brown gravel bottom with lots of tall plant cover. They've been eating crickets very well...almost from the first day. They don't seem to be too interested in anything else I've tried.

For those that didn't hear the history, these fish should be dead by now. They came from a zoo on the Eastcoast. The airline shipping them decided "LIVE TROPICAL FISH" weren't a priority, and set them aside when the flight was full. Of course, they then vanished from the face of the Earth because the paper work said they were still on their first flight. The two boxes they were in got set outside for awhile, then stored in a non-heated hanger. They were missing for 2 days. I was frantic the entire time trying to locate them. The airline kept telling me they were on the "next flight" and to get them then. When I got them a couple fo days later, the water they were in was in the low 40F range. I lost three of the seven shipped with in 24 hours. One of the boxes had been crushed and a bag was broken.

I'll keep an eye on them. This spawning might have to be written off as 'practice' and see what happens at a later time.

Thanks for the help.
 
Hell of an adventure these guys went through. Try again to spawn them. But, I'd go with the writeups I've found and, at least, try in heavy brackish. I would imagine the eggs require salt to fend off fungal attacks and maintain proper osmotic regulation for development.

Oh, pics of these large specimens would be nice. And, PM me if you wish the eggs checked for viability. I can stain them and check under a scope to see if they were fertilized.
 
All of the eggs have gone bad. I'm not really going ot push to have them spawn again. Right now I'm so tight on space for the fish I do have and so short on time (I work seven days a week because I'm the only fish guy here), that raising fry is almost out of the question at this point. Maybe down the line.
 
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