Anyone Kept An "archerfish"

[cooledwhip]

I just watched a documentary online and found out about these archerfish. Such a different fish, so cool and interesting. I wanted to know if anyone had kept any and what the tank requirements are? Thanks

 

[Robbo85]

I haven't but I have always wanted to, they look fascinating. I have seen tanks that are part of a terrarium so they can hunt insects on branches over the tank but not sure if that is a necessity or not but its pretty cool.
 
There was a episode of Tanked they made one for Penn from Penn and Teller, you should be able to find it on YouTube, it even has lizards and snakes in it.

 

[Baccus]

Archer fish can actually grow quite large and are quite a good fish for anglers. They can be kept in fresh water after being converted from brackish but really they do better in brackish tanks, a fresh water set up should only really be a temp home for them. They can also be semi aggressive and a larger archer fish will bully smaller archer fish while happily eating any small enough tank mates. There are 2 species of archer fish the Banded Archer is a bit more peaceful then the 7 Spot Archer or Largescale Archer.
 
I have seen archer fish kept in large tanks (over 6ft) with scats which will grow to similar size.

 

[james41683]

There are 6 or 7 species of archers, I believe Toxotes blythii is the only completely freshwater species. The tanks I've seen were normally filled half way with a branch hanging above the water or sticking out above the surface. To feed you just put crickets on the branch and the archers spit to knock them off.

 

[fluttermoth]

I will say one thing; once archers are in captivity, they soon learn that the insects will eventually fall into the water, so they will stop shooting them in a (usually) short span of time.

 

[cooledwhip]

I will say one thing; once archers are in captivity, they soon learn that the insects will eventually fall into the water, so they will stop shooting them in a (usually) short span of time.

Thank you for that. Is there any way to avoid them realizing that they will just fall in? Like feeding once in a while? and ONLY with live crickets? 
 
Also thanks for the other replies everyone.
 
And are there any plants that can survive in brackish water? Any swords? ferns? Crypts?

 

[squidneh]

I'd assume the best way to avoid them learning insects will fall in the water would be to set something up above the water so that the insects have a better chance of staying dry unless they are shot down. This would probably involve a larger set up with a make shift terrarium on top of the aquarium. 

 

[cooledwhip]

I'd assume the best way to avoid them learning insects will fall in the water would be to set something up above the water so that the insects have a better chance of staying dry unless they are shot down. This would probably involve a larger set up with a make shift terrarium on top of the aquarium. 

Most likely I would make a terrarium. No lizard or geckos or anything. No thanks. I would love to have some terrestrial plants. Also let the amazon swords flower and go above the water. That would be awesome.