Silver hatchetfish
| Silver hatchetfish | ||||||||||||
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Gasteropelecus sternicla |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Gasteropelecus sternicla | ||||||||||||
| ( Linnaeus , 1758) |
The silver hatchet fish ( Gasteropelecus sternicla ) belongs to the tetras and comes from the southern tributaries of the Amazon in Brazil , from Guyana and Suriname . There it lives in schools in small to medium-sized streams. It has the body shape typical of hatchetfish, but with up to 6.5 cm it is slightly larger than the marbled hatchetfish, which is popular as an aquarium fish . In terms of color, it is rather inconspicuous silver-gray. It feeds on insects that have fallen on the surface of the water.
Keeping in the aquarium
The silver hatchet fish should be kept in aquariums from 80 cm in length and a water temperature of 23 to 28 ° C. It makes the following demands on the water values: pH 6.0–7.0, hardness up to 15 ° dGh. A sufficient surface current should be ensured because the animals like to "stand" in the current on the surface of the water. In addition, the aquarium should be well covered as the silver hatchetfish are excellent jumpers. They should be fed with vinegar flies and other live food - but after getting used to them, they also take dry food.
literature
- Günther Sterba : The world's freshwater fish. 2nd Edition. Urania, Leipzig / Jena / Berlin 1990, ISBN 3-332-00109-4 .
- Hans A. Baensch , Rüdiger Riehl : Aquarien Atlas, Volume 1. Mergus Verlag, 1997, ISBN 3-88244-101-1 .
- Uwe Schliewen: Aquarium fish from A to Z. Gräfe and Unzer Verlag, 2005, ISBN 3-7742-5694-2 .
Web links
- Silver hatchetfish on Fishbase.org (English)