Banded Archer Fish - Saltwater Acclimated and pre-quarantined
$99.99
Sale price
$99.99
Regular price
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Banded Archer Fish - Saltwater Acclimated and pre-quarantined
$99.99
Sale price
$99.99
Regular price
Banded Archerfish (Toxotes jaculatrix)
Experience one of nature's most incredible evolutionary marvels right in your own home with the fascinating Banded Archerfish. Globally celebrated for its unmatched hunting precision, this highly intelligent, surface-dwelling fish possesses the unique ability to shoot down land-based insects by spitting a powerful, high-velocity stream of water up to five feet into the air. Featuring a sleek, aerodynamic silver body marked by striking vertical black bands, a group of Archerfish brings unbeatable interaction, kinetic energy, and a true conversational showpiece to specialized aquariums.
Why It Stands Out
- Interactive Hydro-Sniper: Watching them calculate angles, correct for light refraction, and blast food down from overhanging branches is an unmatched hobby experience.
- Highly Intelligent & Active: Deeply aware of their surroundings, they quickly learn to recognize their keepers and will eagerly track movement outside the glass.
- Paludarium Perfection: The ultimate choice for open-top tanks, aquaterrarrums, or mangrove paludariums where their natural surface-hunting behavior can take center stage.
Quick Care & Aquarium Parameters
While incredibly hardy and long-lived, Archerfish have specific environmental setup requirements. Because they are elite jumpers and high-pressure water spitters, a tight-fitting screen or canopy is mandatory.
- Care Level: Moderate (due to specific feeding and water requirements).
- Minimum Tank Size: 55 Gallons for juveniles; 90+ Gallons for a small group of mature adults.
- Water Type: Brackish Preferred. While juveniles tolerate freshwater, adults thrive long-term and display best coloration in brackish conditions (Specific Gravity: 1.005–1.012). Ours have acclimated to full saltwater at a specific gravity of 1.025.
- Tank Setup: Lower the water level by 4–6 inches to create air space at the top. Decorate with heavy driftwood branches extending above the water surface to encourage natural hunting behaviors.
- Water Parameters: Temperature: 75–82 °F | pH: 7.5–8.2 | Hardness: 12–25 dGH.
- Diet & Nutrition: Surface carnivore. They rarely eat food that falls to the aquarium floor. Feed them floating freeze-dried crickets, mealworms, flightless fruit flies, floating pellets, and frozen mysis shrimp.