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Carnegiella strigata good ditter fish?

chris1805

Active Member
5 Year Member
Messages
333
Location
Odijk, the Netherlands
Hey guys!,

I am thinking about buying around 5-10 of these lovely fish. Sadly i have no experience at all with these and i heard they are kinda jumpy. Does anyone have some experience with them and is it correct that they go along very well with apistogrammas?

The size of the tank is 120L
60cm wide 40cm dept and 60cm high (juwel lido 120)

The current fish are:

1 pair of Apistogramma Agassizii
1 Micro Ramirezi male
2 little angels about 4-5cm
8 neon tetra's
7 Hemigrammus erythrozonus

Water parameters

Ph 6.7
Kh 1-2
I can add a picture of the tank when you guys think it's necessary :)

Thanks in advantage!!
 

dw1305

Well-Known Member
5 Year Member
Messages
2,755
Location
Wiltshire UK
Hi all,
They are good dithers, but there are certain proviso's. They need good water quality, I found mine wait in open water (usually just off the filter flow and presumably in an eddy) 95% of the time, but if there is tank disturbance they scatter under the Amazon Frogbit.

A tank cover is essential, and they benefit from "floating insect" live food. Vestigial winged fruit fly (the smaller Drosophila melanogaster) are ideal. I've also fed mine Sciarid flies and Aphids without any problem. The food they really like is live Mosquito larvae (and pupae), but they will eat earthworm flake etc.

I found mine mainly fed from the surface, but they would wait in the flow of water flowing in when I do water changes to pick off any Daphnia (I use rain-water, and my water butts have Daphnia in them), and they even eat Grindal worms from very near to the surface.

When you feed them mosquito larvae, you have to be careful they are likely to jump out, and also if they attempt to spawn, when the pair makes a high speed "dash" along the tank, often ending with a leap.

You can sex them from above, the females are wider. I conditioned them on Mosquito larvae, which seem to condition nearly all fish pretty successfully. I never got any fry from mine, possibly because they didn't spawn in a smaller breeding tank.

cheers Darrel
 

chris1805

Active Member
5 Year Member
Messages
333
Location
Odijk, the Netherlands
Ah thanks a lot Darrel!
I have tank cover and a lot of floaters in there so that should be all fine :)
let's just hope they won't jump out during water changes. I am not planning on breeding them or anything which i heard is also really hard.
 

chris1805

Active Member
5 Year Member
Messages
333
Location
Odijk, the Netherlands
Today i bought 10 of them.
They look great and they ate very well, the only thing i find rather strange is that i see them swimming pretty close to the bottum of the tank, instead of on the surface. Any idea what could be the problem, maybe the current is to strong or something?
 

Mike Wise

Moderator
Staff member
5 Year Member
Messages
11,201
Location
Denver, Colorado, U.S.A.
Marble Hatchetfish have the striped pattern because in Nature they live in vegetation/brush where the pattern is used as camouflage. If you don't have a lot of plants/brush near the top of your aquarium, the fish will move lower where it occurs. Most other Hatchets have a silver body with almost no pattern because they remain near the air/water interface, where the silver color acts as camouflage.
 

chris1805

Active Member
5 Year Member
Messages
333
Location
Odijk, the Netherlands
Ah thanks mike. I don't have much vegetation on the top yet. Guess i will have to wait until the valisineria has grown a bit more and same for the hydrocotyle
 

ErtyJr

Active Member
Messages
245
Location
Philadelphia, PA
Marble Hatchetfish have the striped pattern because in Nature they live in vegetation/brush where the pattern is used as camouflage. If you don't have a lot of plants/brush near the top of your aquarium, the fish will move lower where it occurs. Most other Hatchets have a silver body with almost no pattern because they remain near the air/water interface, where the silver color acts as camouflage.

I also wanted to just add in that each individual fish has its own preferences and personalities as well, and I have used hatchets as dither for a while and they are no different.

I have one common hatchet named ******* who likes to sit dead center middle of the tank by himself. Halfway to the bottom and halfway left/right. Any other hatchet comes near him he attacks them. I have 2 silver hatchets that sit 3/4 of the way to the top under my red root floaters (floating plant) off by themself. I have 1 marble who likes to sit inside the red root floaters, and the rest of my hatchets school at the top of the tank by the spray bar.

It's funny, they all have their own preferences and do whatever it is they like.
 

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