New Archer- Identification?

[smashtime105]

Here is my new archer my LFS ordered in for me. He seems to be doing well and is out swimming in the open. Apparently he is camera shy because he went to the back when I started taking pictures. Can anyone identify the exact species?

 

[nmonks]

Difficult to say. The sooty black colour on the body, if for real and not just stress colouration, would imply Toxotes chatareus. However, the alternating black bands on the flanks with black spots between them are also seen in Toxotes microlepis, a species that is furthermore characterised by having two black spots on the soft part of the dorsal fin.

Telling these two species apart is very difficult. The reality is that it's done scientifically by counting scales. Toxotes chatareus has proportionally bigger scales than Toxotes microlepis, so there are fewer of them along the lateral line (~32 versus ~45).

On balance, my feeling is that this is Toxotes microlepis. Toxotes chatareus typically has no more than seven black patches on the flanks, and while these do alternate in size between big and small spots, they're usually (but not always) confined to the top half of the flank. Toxotes microlepis has a "messier" look, with more spots/bands on the flanks, and the bands can run down to the lower half of the flank.

It's worth mentioning that most aquarium books are hopelessly muddled on identifying archerfish. I have to own up to this myself; the archerfish labelled as T. jaculatrix on p 68 of my book is almost certainly T. microlepis. The photos on Fishbase aren't at all helpful, either.

Cheers, Neale

 

[smashtime105]

Difficult to say. The sooty black colour on the body, if for real and not just stress colouration, would imply Toxotes chatareus. However, the alternating black bands on the flanks with black spots between them are also seen in Toxotes microlepis, a species that is furthermore characterised by having two black spots on the soft part of the dorsal fin.

Telling these two species apart is very difficult. The reality is that it's done scientifically by counting scales. Toxotes chatareus has proportionally bigger scales than Toxotes microlepis, so there are fewer of them along the lateral line (~32 versus ~45).

On balance, my feeling is that this is Toxotes microlepis. Toxotes chatareus typically has no more than seven black patches on the flanks, and while these do alternate in size between big and small spots, they're usually (but not always) confined to the top half of the flank. Toxotes microlepis has a "messier" look, with more spots/bands on the flanks, and the bands can run down to the lower half of the flank.

It's worth mentioning that most aquarium books are hopelessly muddled on identifying archerfish. I have to own up to this myself; the archerfish labelled as T. jaculatrix on p 68 of my book is almost certainly T. microlepis. The photos on Fishbase aren't at all helpful, either.

Cheers, Neale

I got a photo with a little better lighting and he stopped being camera shy, hopefully this helps I'm probably wrong, but I thought archers LOST color when they were stressed. Also remember this is a juvenile, and don't they have more color than adults and lose it as they get older? Once again, I'm probably wrong seeing as the only source I have is the trusty internet. Thanks again

 

[Dave Legacy]

An archer's color can go either way when they're under stress. I find that they usually go dark when they're stressed out by their enviornment/tankmates and trying to stay hidden, but go light when they're stressed from being attack. My initial feeling was that you have a T. microlepis, but based on the more relaxed coloration and shape of the head/mouth from the second picture I'm leaning towards T. chatareus. It's typically easier to ID Archers after they've had a while to settle in an become comfortable. It might help you ID the fish if you knew what region of the world it was exported from.

Best regards,
Dave