archer fish tank size

[kentobizmol]

there is not substitute for "archer fish"
archers are archers.
that's kinda like sayin, "it looks like a redtail catfish but it's only 3" and the guy told me to put it in a 10gallon tank!"

pet shop people are not educated!
archers are BIG!

 

[landmineyouth]

I have my archer (about 3.5" right now) in my 75 gallon and he's doing quite well thus far. Just survived a 2 week power outage too, he must be a trooper. He also shares the tank with a 5.5" pleco and a 7" BGK as well as some black neons and other assorted small tetra's....... by the way, Could anyone post more info about archers up here, like their life spans, growing rate, etc. etc.? Thanks.

 

[Capo]

pet shop people are not educated!
archers are BIG!

You cant just say that
That is very stereotypical dude! not nice at all
Its like saying to someone they will need at least a 200 gallon tank because they have gourami, because giant gourami grow big...If it is a Charateus or Jaculatryx then yes a big tank will be needed.

gourami are BIG! lol, man, don't make ourageous claims.
and no, not all archers are big, i come from the land of archers
there are 2 species which are 15cm long or less, which is no bigger than many Tanganikan Cichlids!

BTW, to Acidburn, count how many spots the archer has, if it is 7 then it will grow to 30cm, because it is a 7 spot archer. count the big lines and the small spots in between.

Good luck!

 

[guppy]

Okay, there are five known species of archers, they are all genus Toxotes and look pretty much alike, in the USA the two you are most likely to find are brackish to freshwater fish,

the most common is the common or seven pot archer (T. jaculatrix) from India to Australia and it gets to 12".
The other is the largescale, spotted, or giant archer that comes from the same areas but prefers a somewhat more brackish habitat, (T. chatareus) to 16"
One that is becoming more available is from Southeast asia and the Malay penninsula, it is also fresh or brackish and prefers at least some salt. It is the smallscale or pygmy archer (T.Microlepis) and only gets to 6".
The next one is from Indonesia, New Guinea, and Australia, it is seldom marketed but sometimes you can get lucky, It is the Lorentz's or primitive archer (T. lorentzi) it gets to 6" and is found freshwater only.
The last one is only found in Oz, It is the Western archer, it is rarely exported from Australia because they keep all the good stuff for themselves, heheh, it is found only in freshwater and does not get over 6".

Archers in general need a wide tank at least twice their adult length but depth is not important, they are slow cruisers except when feeding, then they are competitive and can be fast The smaller ones can be kept in a standard 55g but the larger 2 should be kept in a wide 125g or larger. I love these guys and had a lorentzi for a couple years. It shared a 55g with some african butterflyfish and congo tetras.

 

[acidburn470]

Where I would I be able to get pygmy archers does anyone know of a site online. Cause the ones at my LFS are the more traditional archer.

 

[Capo]

Thanks Guppy, thats what i meant but it wouldve taken ages to write that info lol.
Guppy is always on the ball!
Sorry acidburn, i dont know any online stores which have the small archers, although you could try the usuals www.aquabid.com is the only one that comes to mind now, and they wont always have archers....come to think of it i have never seen one there but they always get many strange types of fish every now and then.

 

[guppy]

Jedaaquarium in thailand handles the pygmy, (T. microlepis) they call it five blotched archer and have a $5oo minimum order. They show up everyonce in a while and as more fish are coming in from Thailand and Vietnam their #s are going up, the Singapore guys can propbably find them but shipping would kill you.

 

[Gooda]

So I am looking at getting some archer fish for a new tank set up, and was wondering what your opnion is on what size the tank should be? When I was at the fish store the guy told me 15 gallons for each archer you have, and I felt like that might be a little low.

You are such a hack! hike your happy self 2 miles down the road and look at my tank, you know, the one you helped set up, with the 5 archer fish in it....

Any way, when I was researching for my tank, about 100 gallons would be the smallest i would go with a tank. And groups of three or more are best. As for the brackish water, that is most important when they are smaller. As they get larger they do well in fresh water too, but a little salt never hurts.

Also, they rarely grow to their full 1' in captivity, but a varied diet and a lot of patience they might eventually make it to 8" to 10"

 

[Lspooky4]

it's really only like a mile or so.....and i don i don't think you could pull a 100 in the dorms....water changes might be a little time consuming ;-)

 

[Gooda]

Yeah, getting the tank into that little room might be tricky... and I don't think that your hall director would be too pleased with you.