Archerfish Species

The archerfish is a rather unique species of fish whose natural habitat happens to be the coastal parts of tropical Asia.



The unique feature of these fish is the fact that it is able to shoot down its prey with a stream of water droplets that are expelled from its highly specialized mouth. Their mouths possess a groove in the roof which expels a stream of water that is strong enough to knock some insects resting on low lying branches of over hanging trees into the water, where they are quickly devoured.



The archerfish’s body shape and pattern are also very interesting and are the primary reason that they are highly treasured as aquarium fish. Most archerfish are a typical silvery white color with any where between four and six vertical bands that appear to fade towards the end of the body.



Some of the younger fish may also have irregular patches that are yellow in color while the body is rather flat and elongated. The dorsal fin is also significantly far from the front of the fish and the fish’s appearance is very consistent from mouth to dorsal. The natural tendency of an archerfish is to be part of a school of about eight or more other archerfish. As a result, any fish expert will always tell to avoid housing archerfish in a tank of less than 55 gallons. The archerfish can be quite aggressive and it is not recommended that you keep one large archerfish in a tank with other, smaller species of fish.

Since the natural diet for archerfish is to consume live land based insects, the same is also applied to an aquarium setup. Feeding the fish dehydrated insects is your best bet for pet health care while you should also keep in mind the fact that the fish should not be fed any kind of food that has a tendency to sink to the bottom of he tank significantly fast as the fish will usually ignore the food once it is out of their line of sight. Some of the fish that get on well with the archerfish in an aquarium environment include knight gobies, scats, puffer fish, and monos and a number of other warm brackish water fish. It is also important to point out that while the fish can do perfectly fine in a tank that is full of water, they are best cared for in a tank that is only partially filled.