Hatchets Good Community Tank Fish

[stackem evs]

I would like to put a shoal of hatchet fish (6-10) into a 45gal community tank, but have heard they are not particulary good community fish.

Whats the general feeling?

Thanks

 

[NEONCORY]

I don't know where you heard that they are not good community fish. They are great community fish if you keep with some peaceful not too active tankmates. I keep my hatchetfish(marble) with Tetras and Corys.
There are few things you need to remember when you keep hatchet fish.
1. They are schooling fish and need to be kept in group(6 or more) to be happy.
2. They are known to jump so need a well covered tank. Otherwise you may find the dried up potato chip on the floor in the morning. Never happened to me, my God. Knock on the wood.
3. They would appreciate if you can supply some live food especially insect for their diet. Like fruits fry, mosquito lava, daphnia, grindal/white worms, bloodworms,. etc. I think frozen would work also but I'm not 100% sure but so I hear.
4. They would like to have some floating plants for cover. Like frog bit, duckweeds, riccia etc.
5. No aggressive or too active fish for the tankmate. Some Danio might be too active and some cichild might be too aggressive.
6. The water should be nuetural to acid side (6.6 ~7.2 or so) and temperature should be (76~82 F)
7. And of course, water quality need to kept well. They are known to catch ick easy. Especially, they go through the cold water spell. So important to keep them in high 70's to low 80's. And make sure you don't get the fish in the tank with any fish with white dots. I see this all the time in the petstore tank.

That is all I can think of right now. You can also get some info from web search. Just type "hatchet fish", however there are salt water fish called hatch fish so you need to comb through the info to get right info. Here is one.

http/fish.mongabay.com/gasteropelecidae.htm

I hope I answered some of your questions.

 

[stackem evs]

Thanks for that, a very complete answer. One more if I may, I have a cycled tank, started stocking but only finished its cycle 2-3 weeks ago. How long would you recommend before adding them? Should it be a mature tank eg. 6-8weeks or even a well mature tank 3-6months.