New Archers

[Native Freak]

Hey all, had a 40Litre tank for about a year now and have had 1 tiger barb, 2 mollies, a large angel, 2 silver dollars and 1 gourami living in it, all seem to be very healthy and growing nicely, got bored with them and bought 2 archer fish the other day (always loved them, i'm very big into native australian fish and fishing for them) i realise my tank may be a bit small for them permanantly (Archers are currently approx 10cm) will they outgrow the tank or will i have to buy a bigger tank for them to get to the maximum size?
Also is it illegal to feed them small fish? If not what fish would they likely eat? And what else can i feed them besides moths crickets and other insects?
Thanks for your replies in advance
Freak

[OrionGirl]

The archers really should be in their own tank, where you can keep the water level lower and provide them with branches for incests to sit on and be shot off. Also, you'll want to research archers, as some species are brackish water fish and will be susceptible to disease if kept in freshwater. You can feed them small fish, but I doubt they will take to them. It's not their natural food source, and they really will prefer insects.

They will seriously crowd your already crowded tank--angels really should not be in less than a 40 GALLON tank--40 liters is about 1/4 too small.

[Captain Hook]

Isn't 40 Litres equal to about 10 gallons? Pretty much all of your fish will get too big for this tank. Angels and silver dollars both get really big, as do some gouramies. I'm pretty sure what OG means to say is that 40 litres is 4 times too small .

I'm pretty sure archers get to be quite large (thinking over 8") but not sure.

[Native Freak]

Small minnows are actually Archers natural food sources as well as insects. I'm from Australia, they are native to the northern part of the country and are often caught on spinners and small lures which immitate minnows, so they should eat fish. They even take lures the same size as them and larger (maybe wild fish are more predatory)
I know my tank is pretty small at the moment, its 30.5cmhigh X51cmlong x25.5cmwide i will eventually be going up to a larger tank maybe specifically for the archers, i was just wondering if they will still grow at the same rate in the small tank as in a large one.
Frankly my angels and other fish bore the hell out of me

[PumaWard]

Well, until you can get a better tank for some archers, you may want to consider some dwarf cichlid species. Have a pair and some schooling fish like cardinals or neons. If you could get them to breed, you would have an interesting tank. Dwarfs would also suit your tank better than angels.

Here's some good species you could try if you wanted,

Blue Ram
Kribensis
Key Hole Cichlids
Bolivian Ram

If you aren't into cichlids, you could try a dwarf puffer.

Some archer fish species can get up to a foot long. So you would need something like a 40g breeder or a larger tank like a 75g. They are also brackish water fish so they really aren't compatible with the fish you have now.

You can find more info here on them
http://fishprofiles.com/profiles/fw/profile.asp?id=Toxotes+jaculatrix

hth

[125gJoe]

Originally posted by Native Freak
[B......
Frankly my angels and other fish bore the hell out of me [/B]
I was thinking Archers should be fun to watch! It would be hard to get used to an air gap on the aquarium. They need "spitting room!"

[Native Freak]

Hmmm, i may try and sell my other fish and just keep the two archers in the tank and decrease the water level, i have added salt to the tank (1 tablespoon per 20L) as suggested by the aquarium shop and the fish seem to be even healthier than before, now living in the brackish water conditions, the archers are thrivin, great colouration and very active fish.
Maybe buy some small schooling fish (neons?) to keep in there with them and give it a natural river type look and add some lillies for feeding time

[MrGoodbytes]

I don't think neons would like the brackish conditions very much.

Gobies or sailfin mollies would add some interest to the new tank and like brackish conditions.

Graeme

[125gJoe]

Originally posted by MrGoodbytes
I don't think neons would like the brackish conditions very much.
Gobies or sailfin mollies would add some interest to the new tank and like brackish conditions.
Graeme
No the Neons would not work...
The other fishes sound good for the tank though.
Good suggestion Mr. Goodbytes!