up with the hatchets
- Thread starter Magnum Man
- Start date
Have you axed those hatchets?
OP
OP
5 hatchets in this picture... ( I thought only 4, but with zoom, I spotted a 5th ) can you spot them all???
Waldo the hatchet. Then Waldo 2 and his brother Waldo 3.
I really like my hatchets, but they took some adjustments. I wanted to keep an HOB running in my marbled/strigata tank, but I had to design rock and wood placment to steer the flow away from the end of the tank (the filter's on the narrow end) so I could have the still water they need. I've found it interesting because it's like Cichlid management - little things you do to create a more targeted environment make them relax and stop hiding as much. I was able to get them into an area where they're easy to feed and they are constantly up to their hatchet ways. I've come back around to tetras after 'working' with a lot of dwarf Cichlids for 30 years, and I've found if you keep the way of thinking, you quickly realize that perspective works for most fish, in different ways. It's a puzzle to be solved, every time.
I got them because when I was a short little kid, my mother had a tank that was kind of high up I'd look up at hatchets, her favourite fish, and really liked them. I decided it was time to let the nostalgia have a run, and got some. Around here, they are no longer easy to find. I get why she liked them.
I'm having more trouble getting the tank right for my pygmy hatchets (Carnagiella myersi). There, it's air filtered and the water moves differently. I find they bunch at the back. I think I'll attack that issue this morning.
None of my tanks would stand a chance in our photo contests, but quite a few are very carefully scaped. Not for visual effect though - they are thought through and arranged to make it easier for the fish in them to act naturally.
I have a possibly naive hope they'll breed. I know they are very tough to almost impossible to coax into traditional breeding, but with lots of space, no other upper level fish and massive root tangles in the tanks, I see no reason why there can't be even a little natural breeding. Their main diet right now is wingless fruit flies one day, freshly hatched artemia the next, and I'm hoping that like many of my more difficult killies, they will produce eggs on live food even if they won't on processed offerings (flake or pellet). The wingless fruit flies travel around across duckweed and frogbit, and the hatchets are very resourceful grazers. It's worth a try, even if it has low success possibilities.
I really like my hatchets, but they took some adjustments. I wanted to keep an HOB running in my marbled/strigata tank, but I had to design rock and wood placment to steer the flow away from the end of the tank (the filter's on the narrow end) so I could have the still water they need. I've found it interesting because it's like Cichlid management - little things you do to create a more targeted environment make them relax and stop hiding as much. I was able to get them into an area where they're easy to feed and they are constantly up to their hatchet ways. I've come back around to tetras after 'working' with a lot of dwarf Cichlids for 30 years, and I've found if you keep the way of thinking, you quickly realize that perspective works for most fish, in different ways. It's a puzzle to be solved, every time.
I got them because when I was a short little kid, my mother had a tank that was kind of high up I'd look up at hatchets, her favourite fish, and really liked them. I decided it was time to let the nostalgia have a run, and got some. Around here, they are no longer easy to find. I get why she liked them.
I'm having more trouble getting the tank right for my pygmy hatchets (Carnagiella myersi). There, it's air filtered and the water moves differently. I find they bunch at the back. I think I'll attack that issue this morning.
None of my tanks would stand a chance in our photo contests, but quite a few are very carefully scaped. Not for visual effect though - they are thought through and arranged to make it easier for the fish in them to act naturally.
I have a possibly naive hope they'll breed. I know they are very tough to almost impossible to coax into traditional breeding, but with lots of space, no other upper level fish and massive root tangles in the tanks, I see no reason why there can't be even a little natural breeding. Their main diet right now is wingless fruit flies one day, freshly hatched artemia the next, and I'm hoping that like many of my more difficult killies, they will produce eggs on live food even if they won't on processed offerings (flake or pellet). The wingless fruit flies travel around across duckweed and frogbit, and the hatchets are very resourceful grazers. It's worth a try, even if it has low success possibilities.
OP
OP
my tank actually has 2 hang on back filters, and 2 power heads on under gravel lift tubes. and a long row of bubbles on the back side, but by thoughtful placement of aqua scape, and the massive amount of roots, the tank is fairly calm.... fish could find some current in this tank, eddies in the corners, but even with all that, there are still many calm areas...
I really know nothing about their breeding habits, only that they are listed as not bred in captivity... are they egg scatterers, or do they stick them among the surface vegetation, or make some sort of nest???
I really know nothing about their breeding habits, only that they are listed as not bred in captivity... are they egg scatterers, or do they stick them among the surface vegetation, or make some sort of nest???
Last edited:
OP
OP
AI info, so take it with a grain of salt
Last edited:
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