Small scale archerfish (Toxotes microlepis)

[Omrit]

A group of 5 arrived at the LFS so I snatched them up before they even hit the water. Always wanted the clouded archer, and I figured these guys are similar?


Now that I have them home under some good lighting they are pretty banged up especially their noses, although they are moving around together looking alert which is a good sign. Is this a species prone to infection/illness?


They react when I approach the tank, so I tried feeding them some floating food with no luck. Going to try some frozen bloodworms tomorrow, and if that does not work then I will try some sort of livefood. Any recommendations on feeding would be great, they are currently about 3 inches long.


Any info in general is welcome, although with how little results turned up online this must be a seldom kept fish. Will update this post with some pics later.

 

[Hybridfish7]

Forgot about these and got scared for a second when you said microlepis, lol. I got mixed up and thought you accidentally bought the biggest species; I'm used to the biggest of things ironically having "micro" in their names (boulengerochromis microlepis, channa micropeltes, etc) but forgot these were the non blythii "tiny" guys. OLIGOlepis is the big one.

I remember wanting them awhile back and doing research, but most has been forgotten unfortunately. I don't have any first hand experience with care or health stuff, but like all archers they'll appreciate things like bugs or daphnia, if you can get your hands on the latter. They stay around the same size as blythii, yours can probably (at most) double in size over the course of their lifespans. Because of their similarity to blythii, both in size and native habitats (especially when considering the close proximity in which they occur to one another), I'd probably just treat them the same as blythii.

 

[Omrit]

Forgot about these and got scared for a second when you said microlepis, lol. I got mixed up and thought you accidentally bought the biggest species; I'm used to the biggest of things ironically having "micro" in their names (boulengerochromis microlepis, channa micropeltes, etc) but forgot these were the non blythii "tiny" guys. OLIGOlepis is the big one.

I remember wanting them awhile back and doing research, but most has been forgotten unfortunately. I don't have any first hand experience with care or health stuff, but like all archers they'll appreciate things like bugs or daphnia, if you can get your hands on the latter. They stay around the same size as blythii, yours can probably (at most) double in size over the course of their lifespans. Because of their similarity to blythii, both in size and native habitats (especially when considering the close proximity in which they occur to one another), I'd probably just treat them the same as blythii.

I expected as much although there is not all that much info on blythii either.

Even the most damaged one is schooling well, and all of them are near the surface acting like archerfish which is a relief.

Fed frozen blood worms tonight. One archerfish ate a few, and the rest seemed like they wanted some but the filament barbs were too fast. Hope I don't have to move the filament barbs over this because I do like how they look together. Kind of a whacky idea, but I think I might whip out the divider during feeding time at least until everyone is eating well.

 

[Hybridfish7]

Could always try hand feeding them

 

[SourAngelfish]

The ones i kept were extremely shy and picky when first introduced. Try live crickets, thats what got mine going.

 

[the_deeb]

Archers typical have a strong motion-driven predation drive. They are most likely to strike as soon as something hits the water but less interested once it’s static or just floating around. You could try tossing in some pellets or vibra bites from a slight distance away.

They also have a strong competitive feeding drive so it’s good that you have a group. As soon as one or two start feeding the rest should soon catch on.

 

[Omrit]

The ones i kept were extremely shy and picky when first introduced. Try live crickets, thats what got mine going.

Did you end up having success with this species long term?



Day 3 update, I think everyone ate! Even the fairly banged up one ate, and he is the one I am really worried for. Might still separate him for my own peace of mind we shall see. The largest two are rather assertive about the food which is good, so hopefully the rest follow their example. I fed frozen bloodworms ,and the ones that sunk to the bottom I sucked up with a turkey baster and shot at them. The barbs are terrified of it, but the archers loved it. They lined up and I shot food into their mouths, kind of shocking given how jumpy they are about everything else.


Hard not to be nervous about them though, never kept an archer much less a fairly uncommon species like this.

 

[Omrit]

Update: Their little beaks(or whatever you call the tip of their weird mouths) are healing, and everyone is eating well. I have been feeding pellets(for the barbs), and then a frozen shrimp or worm for the archers. They accepted freeze dried shrimp easily as well, and as of today eat the pellets too. So smooth sailing as far as feeding goes at least.


I'm not sure how many species could arrive with the damage some of these guys had and not develop some sort of illness. This must actually be a super hardy species which I didn't expect. The clouded archers I have seen in fish stores were always a bit sickly looking, so I expected the worst.

I didn't quarantine them because they already had damage from running into glass(I presume the beak damage is from this) which is why I opted to put them straight into their large tank since my quarantine tank is not large.

Anyway very happy with these guys. If anyone is considering them just go for them. I think they would go well with a lot of other oddball species especially since they are so surface oriented. They also aren't ravenous eaters, and anything that falls below the top 40% of the water column is ignored so potentially a good pair for slow to find food bottom dwellers.