Blub

This is my hatchet care guide - I'm finding myself using it quite a bit with people hoping to get them, so I thought it would be easier just to post it here and provide a link!

Hatchets are schooling fishes, they need to be kept in groups of at least 6. They have a reputation for being difficult to keep alive because of attempts to keep them in smaller numbers. I personally keep them in groups of at least 8 though, since these fish can show some pretty bad consequences when stressed (I've tried keeping them is small numbers and they are plain difficult!). But remember: you can mix the species of hatchetfish and they will all school together!
You see those little 'wings' on the top of their body? Hatchetfish are the only actively flying fish in the world, they use those 'wings' the propel them through the air, whereas Flying fish only jump and glide. A hatchet can 'fly' several meters away from the danger when stressed. Of course, the increased stress caused by small numbers mean water change time can be tricky. As far as I know, only species from the Carnegiella genus (Marbled, Marthae silver, Pygmy and Dwarf) can jump several meters, although others are good jumpers. For this reason, a tight cover is an absolute MUST!

These fish are easily outcompeted (Platys are peaceful but outcompete them at feeding time!) and I ave lost many hatchets due to malnutrition. They need a carnivorous diet and will not take food from anywhere but the very surface. For this reason, I recommend you feed them carnivorous flake food, and Tetra fresh delcia. Fresh Delcia is really useful when feeding hatchets because you feed it from the very surface. Tiger barbs are bad tankmates because they will outcompete their delicate friends. I find small fishes like Neons and Cherry barbs are good tankmates for hatchets.

I find Marbled hatchets to be less hardy than silvers. I cannot tell you how hardy Marthae silvers tend to be, because I have had mine for only a small amount of time.

A big hazard to your hatchets in a filter! Their bodies are only a few millimeters thick, and they can easily be sucked into your filter to need a grizzly end. I have lost almost an entire school of hatchets to a filter before! So, the answer is to get a special guard for the filter. I find plastic mesh to work well, and cable ties are good to make them tight. Fit this sort of guard to ALL your filters in hatchet containing tanks! They are also useful to prevent small fish being sucked.

There is much debate about the adult size of hatchets. Want to hear my advice? Treat all the common ones as 2". Their bodys are only several millimeters thick, so even if the marbled hatchet does get 8cm (I actually read that in a few places) long it is still a tiny bio load producer.

I find that hatchets LOVE floating plants, Hornwort is an absolutely GREAT plant to have in a hatchet aquarium.

A little word about disease: Marbled hatchets are said to be prone to Ick, but I have not heard of this in other species. This may be another thing arising from the stress of being kept in small numbers, but I am not entirly sure because there is a great lack of info on these amazing fishes!

Happy HatchetKeeping!

Cody

good job hatchetheaven. marbles are my personal favorite

Gamer

Well done! This is just what I needed to read atm.

Gamer

FYI. My serpaes are becoming little nibblers. I am about to remove them and entirely replant my tank. When I do replant it (very very densely this time with floating hornwort), I want to add at least 10 hatchetfish probably silver and marble. I just need to figure out how to safeguard my new filter. I'll consider the plastic mesh don't want to lose any of them. My only question has to do with their hardiness...if I can't find 8-10 at my lfs's and decide to order from liveaquaria.com, would they all likely survive the bag ride over night and not be too stressed when they arrive? They'll be housed with two young angels, cories and eventually another catfish. Not sure what kind yet. I hesistate to get a small pictus with a big wide mouth.

Blub

Some brands actually make guards made for their filters, you might be able to go that way.

All fish get stressed in bag rides - from a reputable dealer like DFS I don't think there should eb a big problem with shipping.

A BN would be a nice cat to have with that lot! Just watch the angels at feeding time. They can be aggresive feeders, so putting the food in 2 locations of the tank at feeding time (sprikle a bit on the left corner, a bit on the right corner) and turn off the filter until the food is eaten so if the angels are difficult wit hthe hatchets it will be easier for them to get food.

Gamer

I'll look for a special made guard if I can't find one, I'll make my own for sure.

I forgot to mention this but I have BN's. I don't have albino ones though so could get me one of them!

I noticed this about angels during feeding time and am clueless how hatchets are when they feed as I never had any before. I usually just sprinkle enough for everyone in one corner but I suppose I'll have to divide it into both corners when my new fishies get here.

Blub

Hatchets aren't real piggy fish, they and when they find a piece they eat it then find another piece. They just won't take anything that is not floating on the surface.

Gamer

Good to know and I can't wait to get them. Just so you know, I got some loop and hook cable tie and plastic mesh ready for them. I'm so glad I had this to read first.

Fish Addict

you could probably use those cheap thin socks that they have at some places for trying on shoes or something of that sort... i use something like that sometimes for my wc's...