Largescale Archerfish (Toxotes chatareus) Care Guide
Toxotes chatareus is an archerfish that spits water to knock down prey, tolerating fresh and brackish water and reaching up to about 40 cm.
Compiled by Aquairi from published sources · Published · Updated
Overview
Toxotes chatareus, the largescale or seven-spot archerfish, is a fish of the family Toxotidae known for spitting streams of water to knock terrestrial prey into the water. It has a silvery body with a series of dark blotches along the dorsal side and tolerates pure freshwater better than some of its relatives.
Taxonomy
- Family: Toxotidae
- Genus: Toxotes
- Scientific name: Toxotes chatareus
- Common synonym: Common Archerfish
Habitat
The species ranges from India and Myanmar through Indonesia and New Guinea to northern Australia, and up the Mekong into Thailand and Laos. Its main habitat is brackish mangrove swamps, but it also occurs in freshwater rivers and streams, favouring shaded areas with overhanging vegetation.
Tank requirements
- Minimum tank volume: 500 L
- Temperature: 24-28 °C (75-82 °F)
- pH: 7-8.5
- GH: 10-30 °dGH
- Group size: keep in groups of 4 or more
- Lifespan: 6-10 years
- Water type: brackish
Diet
Wikipedia describes the species as omnivorous, taking insects, crustaceans, fish, plant matter and zooplankton, with the diet shifting through life and by location. In the aquarium it readily takes insects and meaty foods at the surface and is fed once daily.
Behavior
Archerfish use precise visual cognition and pattern recognition to spit water and hit prey at distances of up to about 150 cm. They can also leap to seize prey directly from overhanging surfaces.
Compatibility
It is a semi-aggressive, surface-oriented schooling fish best kept in groups. Suitable tankmates include monos and datnoids of similar size; small fish that fit in the mouth should be avoided.
Breeding
Spawning occurs in the wet season; females release large numbers of buoyant eggs (reported in the tens of thousands), with no parental care.
Conservation status
IUCN Red List: Least Concern, although habitat loss and fishing pressure are noted as future risks.
Largescale Archerfish (Toxotes chatareus) Breeding Guide
Overview
Toxotes chatareus is a large archerfish that ranges from India and Myanmar through Indonesia and New Guinea to northern Australia. It tolerates both brackish mangrove swamps and freshwater rivers. Despite its popularity as a display fish, it is not a home-breeding species: spawning involves open-water scattering of huge numbers of buoyant eggs that depend on conditions not reproducible in a tank.
Sexing
External sexing is unreliable. Reported maturity sizes are about 19 cm for females and 18 cm for males, with fish becoming reproductively active at around 24 months of age.
Spawning Behavior & Trigger
Spawning occurs in shallow, muddy lagoons in both brackish and fresh water during the wet season. Females release roughly 20,000 to 150,000 buoyant eggs, each about 0.4 mm in diameter. The eggs are scattered into open water and float; there is no nest and no documented parental care.
Egg & Fry Care
Because eggs are buoyant and dispersed across open lagoon water, larvae develop without parental involvement. Replicating the volume, water movement and salinity transition this strategy requires is impractical in aquaria, which is the central reason the species is not bred at home.
Common Challenges
The combination of a large open-water scatter-spawning strategy, very high egg numbers, brackish-to-marine spawning conditions and the adult size of this predator places successful captive reproduction beyond the home aquarium. The species is best regarded as a display fish rather than a breeding project.