Clouded Archers - Finally!!! Dream fish

[Kevin1962]

My 120 tall has been running for over 3 months and steady parameters for more than 2 months.
I fought the diatoms for a few weeks and have them well controlled with lighting, otos and couple of gobies.
Went to LFS to browse and low and behold they had a tank with 20 or so 2.5 inch clouded archers which are very rarely seen here.
So I have 4 beautiful examples of the fish I built the tank for. If these adapt well I'll most likely add 2 more.
I was as excited as a child on Christmas morning.

 

[MissNoodle]

Theyre such beautiful fish. Congrats getting them!

 

[AcuarioAmazonico]

Woohoo! Amazing. I have heard they are quite rare in the States and Canada.

nice job. Time to get some crickets and hold them above the water line on long tweasers

 

[Kevin1962]

Woohoo! Amazing. I have heard they are quite rare in the States and Canada.

nice job. Time to get some crickets and hold them above the water line on long tweasers

I have plans to build a 12" deep box on top of the tank with plants around the perimeter and unsuspecting insects feeding the needs of the archers.
For now I'm going to learn to care for these 4 maybe 6.
I suppose my 8 amano shrimp had better stay in the large anubius and out of harm's way. I'll try to catch the shrimp and put in a different tank, but...

 

[AcuarioAmazonico]

That sounds like an amazing set up. Please film it and share it with us

 

[Kevin1962]

That sounds like an amazing set up. Please film it and share it with us

I'll be happy to do so.
The pics I attached included a cloud of brine shrimp for the tetras and dwarf puffer. Production values can only go up.

 

[AcuarioAmazonico]

I thought they were air bubbles

 

[SaraCooper]

Me too, lol

 

[DoubleDutch]

Awesome. Don't those like a bit of salt in the water ?

 

[Kevin1962]

Not these.

 

[Redshark1]

Awesome. Don't those like a bit of salt in the water ?

You're thinking of me. I like a bit of salt on my chips!

Clouded archerfish, Toxotes blythii

 

[DoubleDutch]

You're thinking of me. I like a bit of salt on my chips!

Clouded archerfish, Toxotes blythii

Yeah mixed these fish up with a Redshark !

 

[saltwater60]

Cool. Congrats. Very neat fish.

 

[Kevin1962]

The archers have settled in nicely.
They're eating bloodworms and greedily devouring crickets.
I've seen some mild aggression from one; I may have to get 2 more to spread that out.

 

[saltwater60]

Awesome. I’d pick up 2 more if you can. They are awesome. Glad they are doing well for you!!

 

[MissNoodle]

I fell in love with these guys and never had the set up... but now that I have my nano up and running for some time now...

I got the last additions to it!

The colours are fantastic, and they're still not coloured up. In fact theyre fresh out of acclimation. I can't wait to see full colour

Microdevario kubotai, or kubotaI rasbora. Super tiny, stay 0.75". Tiny green shiny fish, I love them. Even if they are so small they need powdered food.

 

[Coradee]

Lovely little fish but very active & imo need space to swim, they used every inch of my 3 footer,
This is the best shot I ever managed to get of them as they never swam slow enough to focus!

 

[jake37]

But they are so small ? How do you find them in your 500 gallon tank ?

 

[Algonquin]

Congrats - they are lovely little fish. More pics soon please!!

 

[MissNoodle]

Lovely little fish but very active & imo need space to swim, they used every inch of my 3 footer,
This is the best shot I ever managed to get of them as they never swam slow enough to focus!

I find a trick to photographing such fish... prefocus your camera/phone on an object large and still enough within the same level pane they are swimming in... let them come into focus rather than chasing them for it.

I ordered just the 8, because they were fairly expensive for their size. They are in my 10g, with a couple sparkling gourami and some corydoras pygmaeus.

But they are so small ? How do you find them in your 500 gallon tank ?

I'm losing them in my 10, I couldnt imagine a huge tank

Congrats - they are lovely little fish. More pics soon please!!

Ill snap more tomorrow, had to get some sleep and heading to work now (midnights suck lol)

But for now, a photo of them acclimating in their bag, while one of my sparkling gourami was eyeing them for lunch. He took a couple swipes at the bag, though theyre too big for his mouth, so hoping that deters him lol



Another bag photo, with my hand, you can see how tiny these guys are


And lastly, their home. Just trimmed the anarcharis today and replanted the cut stems as they reached the top of the tank



I just worry about how they will adapt, FedEx let their box go very very cold. Will not be shopping FedEx again. Not to mention I paid for priority overnight and they arrived just 4 minutes to their cut off time. Despite the heat packs in the box, they were not kept warm and the guy handed me the box upside down.

I took longer to acclimate them because they were so very cold, it felt like ice water.

 

[jake37]

Nice tank. As for fed-ex I find all the delivery agencies depend upon your local area; though I've been very happy with usps.
-
btw nice looking tank - is that a new setup or has it been setup for years ?

 

[FinalFins]

best of luck with them for you

 

[coralbandit]

Pretty cold to be shipping fish even down south here ?
I ship all year ..Not this week..
Made the call this am ..3 f in NY for the second or third day ..
Sounds like you got them just in time .. NICE !

 

[MissNoodle]

Pretty cold to be shipping fish even down south here ?
I ship all year ..Not this week..
Made the call this am ..3 f in NY for the second or third day ..
Sounds like you got them just in time .. NICE !

Ive ordered multiple times from the same company, never a heating issue. They pack them double bagged, heat packs on each side inside a thick styrofoam box. Any previous time ive ordered, even in winter their water has actually been warmer than my tank water. Even my last order that got delayed a day due to a bad region wide snowstorm!
Normally I just go with Canada Post 1 Day because its the cheapest available, but never had issues.

Each time I order FedEx they give me issues lol

Nice tank. As for fed-ex I find all the delivery agencies depend upon your local area; though I've been very happy with usps.
-
btw nice looking tank - is that a new setup or has it been setup for years ?

Eh iffy. It was our original tank, about a year old. But its been gutted and changed a few times.

 

[coralbandit]

Each time I order FedEx they give me issues lol

I don't use Fed ex at all for my own reasons .
On holding the box upside down ; you can't fix stupid..
I figure [not to be mean at all ] that even a postal worker knows to keep the label up ?

 

[FinalFins]

On holding the box upside down ; you can't fix stupid

I almost fainted reading this, so, so so true.

 

[jake37]

To be honest I wouldn't be that upset if the box is held upside down. I've seen enough of these shipping places toss boxes across the room. Yes it would be nice if they read the label and noticed it had live fishes but I wouldn't count on it. Having said that the fishes I mail order (a few from ebay and a couple from folks here) have all done better than lfs fishes. That's not to say that my doa from lfs is high but i've had enough problems that it is annoying - at least the infection rate has been low (the lfs here is pretty nice store but they dont' quarantine fishes before selling them - if the fish is something known to be fragile I will buy it but wait a week to pick it up (they do allow that)); The only thing I hate about email fishes is the cost of shipping There are a couple of ebay folks selling the fishes for almost no cost on shipping and I was skeptical but their (well the one dealer I tried) fishes were absolutely lovely. I had one out of 8 die (it developed a bowel issue about 4 weeks after purchase)).

 

[MissNoodle]

I don't use Fed ex at all for my own reasons .
On holding the box upside down ; you can't fix stupid..
I figure [not to be mean at all ] that even a postal worker knows to keep the label up ?

He shook the box too, I had to bite my tongue. Hands it to me by shoving it through my door. I was watching out my window because my last time ordering through fedex they left my package under my 2'x1' foot mat outside my door. So I didnt wanna risk them doing that with live animals. Darn dude shook the box, every which way as if it were a box of rocks.



The seller makes the labels very obvious.

To be honest I wouldn't be that upset if the box is held upside down. I've seen enough of these shipping places toss boxes across the room. Yes it would be nice if they read the label and noticed it had live fishes but I wouldn't count on it. Having said that the fishes I mail order (a few from ebay and a couple from folks here) have all done better than lfs fishes. That's not to say that my doa from lfs is high but i've had enough problems that it is annoying - at least the infection rate has been low (the lfs here is pretty nice store but they dont' quarantine fishes before selling them - if the fish is something known to be fragile I will buy it but wait a week to pick it up (they do allow that)); The only thing I hate about email fishes is the cost of shipping There are a couple of ebay folks selling the fishes for almost no cost on shipping and I was skeptical but their (well the one dealer I tried) fishes were absolutely lovely. I had one out of 8 die (it developed a bowel issue about 4 weeks after purchase)).

Ive ordered from this same store multiple times and have had amazing results. No DOA, all very hardy healthy fish.



Ill be gutted if they keel over. They just came back into stock a week ago, now are completely out of stock once again. They're very hard to get.

 

[MissNoodle]

They've coloured up fantastically.



They have just a touch of sass with each other too. Its so adorable. Some nipped fins but those will grow back. Good hearty eaters too. Not fussy one bit (my black neon tetras were very fussy at first).

All 8 are still kicking and look good. So far so good.

 

[Algonquin]

They look lovely, thanks for posting more pics! You don't see these guys very often.

MissNoodle did you buy these from Angelfins by chance? I ordered some fish from them a while back, (all good) and they were delivered by Canada Post. Clearly labelled LIVE FISH, the Canada Post lady was carrying the box like it was made of glass . She had even draped a knitted blanket over it from her van. She was so nervous when she handed it to me - she said she'd never delivered live fish before! It was nice to see that she was extra careful with it. I guess it's just the luck of the draw, who ends up handling the package.

 

[MissNoodle]

They look lovely, thanks for posting more pics! You don't see these guys very often.

MissNoodle did you buy these from Angelfins by chance? I ordered some fish from them a while back, (all good) and they were delivered by Canada Post. Clearly labelled LIVE FISH, the Canada Post lady was carrying the box like it was made of glass . She had even draped a knitted blanket over it from her van. She was so nervous when she handed it to me - she said she'd never delivered live fish before! It was nice to see that she was extra careful with it. I guess it's just the luck of the draw, who ends up handling the package.

Yes I did! I love Angel Fins, my kuhlis and sparkling gourami are from them as well. Ive not been disappointed at all. I can't get any of these fish locally lol

Normally I do Canada Post for shipping and never a problem with them. The water has always been warm even in the winter.
FedEx was several bucks cheaper this time, so I went with that... but never again. Lol Canada Post seems a bit better with care.

 

[MissNoodle]

Really bright! Also super tiny, compared to the sparkling gourami

 

[jinjerJOSH22]

Really bright! Also super tiny, compared to the sparkling gourami

View attachment 655565View attachment 655567

I've seen s of these online but i've never been that impressed, seeing yours makes me want them!

 

[MissNoodle]

I'm gonna say these guys are very nippy so far. They put my danios and skirt tetras to shame hahaha hoping it settles down as they get used to the environment. Its to each other mostly though, so assuming its like most nippy schoolers where a changed environment makes them establish a pecking order all over again.

But its an excuse to get more plants, right???

But for their tiny size they pack some attitude. I like it, nice contrast to the other tenants who are mellow.

Theyre very good eaters. Same size as the mysis shrimp but they down it like nothing. Otherwise fed bug bites micropellets powdered. Theyre tiny pigs.

Also, not shy. They dart away with sudden movements but come flying right back to the front of the tank. They catch on quick that I mean food lol.

 

[Algonquin]

Also, not shy. They dart away with sudden movements but come flying right back to the front of the tank. They catch on quick that I mean food lol.

If you could post a little video of feeding time, that would be awesome!!!

 

[jake37]

Do they school or do they spread out like cardinals and serape (oddly all the tetras I have spread out and refuse to school - I have white fine rosy, serpae, glowlight, and cardinals).

 

[MissNoodle]

If you could post a little video of feeding time, that would be awesome!!!

I got one uploading fed with bug bites... but not as enthusiastic as their first morning feeding lol ill feed mysis shrimp tomorrow morning and take another video

Do they school or do they spread out like cardinals and serape (oddly all the tetras I have spread out and refuse to school - I have white fine rosy, serpae, glowlight, and cardinals).

A bit of a mix.
Actually, its good they aren't aways together. Schooling fish spread out and chill when theyre comfortable. I find they only school tight if spooked or disturbed. None of my "schoolers" school tight. Always spread out. Not my skirt tetras, cherry barbs, danios, or my black neons. Nor these guys as they get comfy.

A video though I posted earlier on my nano journal, you can see how these tiny guys spread out.

 

[MissNoodle]

Algonquin

Fed the powdered pellets, they dart around for it, but grab a few too big for them stubbornly

 

[Dawn Michele]

Congratulations!!! They are pretty!!!

 

[Algonquin]

Thanks for posting that MissNoodle! ahhh the beautiful chaos of feeding time They sure have coloured up nicely.

Any idea on if they'll breed easily?

 

[MissNoodle]

Thanks for posting that MissNoodle! ahhh the beautiful chaos of feeding time They sure have coloured up nicely.

Any idea on if they'll breed easily?

From what ive read, they can breed pretty easy. Like most though, they eat their eggs and young, so id have to set up a spawning tank to get survivors. Its always an option later in.

 

[MissNoodle]

Feeding mysis shrimp yesterday

 

[Bazza82]

What a great looking tank.
I’m also in love with kubotaI rasbora. I’m looking to get these and mix them with chilli Rasboras.
Any recommendations on which fish to have as tank mates and which fish have you got in your aquarium?