Archers spawned - Now what?

[Legacy]

Here's some information from the book, "Aqualob Special: Brackish-Water Fishes" - by Frank Schafer, that you may find useful if this should occur again in the future:

Archerfishes have been successfully bred in the aquarium(Herkner, 1987). Four-year-old specimens of Toxotes microlepis(termed T. chatareus in the article) spawned for the first time in October, in a 600-litre aquarium with a density of 1.010, but at this salt content the eggs weren't viable. Only when the density was reduced to 1.006 did the eggs remain clear (the previous clutch had turned whitish) and started to develop. At 25C the approximately 3mm long larvae hatched on the fifth day after spawning. Unfortunately rearing proved unsuccessful on the account of the difficulties with the food supply, although the fry which were left in the spawning tank fed well on the copepods present there. Unfortunately the adults were highly cannibalistic, so that rearing in the spawning tank failed as well. But be that as it may, the report does demonstrate that breeding archerfishes in the aquarium is possible. These fishes exhibited no external sexual dimorphism except that the female, at 18cm long, was significantly larger than the two approximately 12cm long males.

- Frank Schafer (Aqualog Special: Brackish-Water Fishes)

I'm an archer keeper as well, also with four 2.5" true T. Jaculatrix. I hope to be this lucky to have them spawn in the future. I keep mine in 1.012SG right now in a 40G Breeder. I'm currently in the proccess of setting up thier new display tank, also. It's a 200G (84"x24"x24"). I was wondering if you could give me some info on your display... maybe I could get some ideas on how to improve mine. Mine would techincally be considered a Paludarium.

Anyway, I hope this might help you or any other archer keepers in the future. I wonder what triggered the spawning? I wonder if the freshwater encouraged it. I have read that they'll spawn after the first rainfall of the season. Maybe the very cold temperature stimulated something they experience in their natural enviornment.

 

[Zoodiver]

I wish I could tell you what kicked them into gear. But I never expected them to even live.

The display is in progess. It's a 500 gallon tank, with about 300 gallons of water to give a half/half look. I'll run in brackish at that point. It will be a single pump drive into a large canister, inline heater and then back into the tank via a 2 ft water fall over some decorative rock work. Still working out the lighting details for the display. Decar is a wood stump and some tall narrow branches to simulate a mangrove area. A few plastic plants as well. The substrate is 1/8" dark brown gravel.

Here's the current set up (Just cut and pasted from an earlier post):

They're in freshwater (75 gallon holding). I've got a canister filter and twin powerheads (one on each end) for circulation. Temp 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.


I'll try and find some pictures of the display to post.

 

[Legacy]

Your tank sounds great! One of these days I want to go something in the 500g area. For now they'll have to live in my 200g with only about 100g of water. I made a 3D background simulating mangrove roots with polystyrene and concrete(SikaTop Seal 107), this is working out very well so far but it doesn't look nearly as natural as authentic wood.

My tank has two tall sand bed that were made possible by sheets of polystrene that were stacked up. I also have 15 Red Mangrove Saplings on the way from Hawaii that my buddy's dad has been sprouting for me.

Is this tank for home use? I'm very interested to see how your tank comes out. I'd especially like to see photos of it and possible compare notes with you in the future on your experiences with the archers. As for feeding I've noticed that mine will eat anything. I offer them Crickets,Frozen Bloodworms/Mysis and about once a week I drop a couple cichlid pellets in to ensure they're getting enough vitamins. I have a feeling that larger specimens would enjoy eating wax worms.

Are you 100% sure that your species is T. Jaculatrix? T. Microlepis is more commonly sold on the market but always mislabelled as T. Jaculatrix. T. Microlepis looks very similar but only inhabits areas with a SG of 1.000-1.005sg. This could be why they were so quick to spawn in freshwater and probably why they're doing so well in it right now. T. Jaculatrix is best kept in SG of 1.010-1.015. Do you have a pic of one of your archers?

 

[Zoodiver]

Yeah, mine are jacs. It's not a home set up, it's at work (a zoo). I don't have my camera at work today, I'll try to remember it tomorrow. This group was known to be picky eaters at the zoo they came from, so I expected them to not like much. They said krill would work every now and then, but I have yet to see it. I think once they are in a tank with more room and a more friendly environment, they will do better.

 

[guppy]

Live crickets/grasshoppers scattered on the top should tempt them.

 

[Legacy]

May I ask what qualifications are required for the career position you're in. I'm totally into that kind of stuff but I really don't have too much of an idea on how to get started. I see that most Aquarists require an AA minimum. I most interested in building the display enclosures.

 

[Zoodiver]

A lot of places require a 4 year in biology (or related) OR the same amount of time PAID experience. (Volunteer stuff doesn't float anymore). But that's for animal care. For jobs like that, check out the AZA joblisting (www.aza.org).

If you like designing/building....look into places that do zoo construction. (A company like CLR for example.) There are a TON of them out there. Find out what degrees/training they look for.

 

[Don4921]

that is so kool wi8sh i could do that

 

[brackishdude]

Wow, that's my dream job!! Lucky bastid