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???
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OP
OP
AI info, so take it with a grain of salt
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Good info. A deep dive has suggested strigata don't eat their fry at any great percentage, in the right set up. So that contradicts the AI. There's little on myersi. I'll treat them like pencils, and see. I don't have room for serious spawns, but a dozen fry becoming adults per year would be interesting to see. I enjoyed watching angels get their shape, so watching hatchets grow would be cool.
I picked up a few frogbit for these guys a few weeks ago, and they already form lumps of roots that are hard to pull apart easily. They're tied in knots, which may help. If it doesn't, such is life.
Between posts, I went out, and measured a piece of driftwood to cross the tank front to back. I sawed it, and jammed it in. It solved the bouncy water for the myersi, as the agitated water is blocked at the surface. It's going to lead to fruit fly escapes, but they deserve a chance. The myersi have now moved to the open water along the edge of the new piece of waterlogged wood.
It doesn't take many fruit flies to feed a pygmy hatchet. The marbled ones eat more. But I see a lot of wingless flies settling in and going about their days in the frogbit and on the duckweed. In my Epiplatys huberi killie tank, the flies last about 10 minutes, maximum.
I picked up a few frogbit for these guys a few weeks ago, and they already form lumps of roots that are hard to pull apart easily. They're tied in knots, which may help. If it doesn't, such is life.
Between posts, I went out, and measured a piece of driftwood to cross the tank front to back. I sawed it, and jammed it in. It solved the bouncy water for the myersi, as the agitated water is blocked at the surface. It's going to lead to fruit fly escapes, but they deserve a chance. The myersi have now moved to the open water along the edge of the new piece of waterlogged wood.
It doesn't take many fruit flies to feed a pygmy hatchet. The marbled ones eat more. But I see a lot of wingless flies settling in and going about their days in the frogbit and on the duckweed. In my Epiplatys huberi killie tank, the flies last about 10 minutes, maximum.
Flies last about 10 seconds with my lineatus . I’m thinking about trying crickets since my latest crop is now a year old and getting big . I like any fish that eats wingless fruit flies since the flies are so easy to culture .
Here's Innes on the subject. The species in question is C. strigata but I assume it applies to all hatchets, certainly to those in the same genus.
"One breeder reports several large spawnings. These took place at a temperature of 83 to 87 degrees. Courtship of the male consisted in circling the female and dashing closely past her. The pair did much leaping out of the water, but the actual spawning took place in a side-to-side, tail-to-tail position, the small transparent eggs being scattered among floating plants such as Riccia."
"One breeder reports several large spawnings. These took place at a temperature of 83 to 87 degrees. Courtship of the male consisted in circling the female and dashing closely past her. The pair did much leaping out of the water, but the actual spawning took place in a side-to-side, tail-to-tail position, the small transparent eggs being scattered among floating plants such as Riccia."
For those who may not know the clever reference here, the Neon Tetra was named Hyphessobrycon innesi, after Wm. T. Innes, and the fella doing the naming was ichthyologist George S. Myers, after whom the above-referenced hatchetfish, Carnegiella myersi, is named. Dr. Myers also was the editor of Innes's iconic Exotic Aquarium Fishes, which I quoted in my last post, after Innes retired and served in that capacity for the final two editions.
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I'm so confused - i see the word hatchet but i don't see any hatchet fishes. I have these lovely hatchet fishes known as Gasteropelecus maculatus along with a few smaller marbles and silvers but i looked really close at your picture (which was actually quite good and should be in an aquarium contest) but i can't find any g. maculatus or c. strigata or c. myersi or well any species at all. I can't ven find t. stellatus.
What am i missing ?
I see i am an idiot - i see a bunch of hatches on the right side - c. strigata. I really like my g. maculatus.
What am i missing ?
I see i am an idiot - i see a bunch of hatches on the right side - c. strigata. I really like my g. maculatus.
Waldo. I looked and looked and suddenly I saw two in the photo. It was like those old puzzles that were supposed to test our powers of observation. Three remained out of sight for me.
As you were typing your response i had already edited my post and even saved it alas your response failed to capture the update
OP
OP
click on the picture hit the + magnify, an they just pop out...
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