Description: As a carnivore, common hatchetfish is not picky about food. Give them good foods to make them live longer. Here are tips on how to choose a good common hatchetfish feed.
Despite their small size, Gasteropelecus sternicla (commonly known as common hatchetfish) are carnivores. As a carnivore, they will need protein that can be found in meaty foods.
However, it is a good thing that common hatchetfish are not picky. You can give any common hatchetfish feed to them, whether it is flake food, dried food, frozen food, or living food. However, good foods for fish equals longer life, so you need the best food available. Read till the end to know how to choose a good feed for the common hatchetfish.
• Live and frozen food for common hatchetfish
Fish are easily stressed when they are faced with a new environment and foods. Therefore, it is important to give them similar foods as domestic fish in an aquarium. Back in their natural habitat, insects are the primary diet of common hatchetfish. It counts 99% of their diet, and the majority of insects are terrestrial.
Therefore, live foods make the perfect common hatchetfish feed. This is not only because of familiarity but also nutrition. Live food is good for common hatchetfish because they have fast metabolism thanks to their small body. When you have common hatchetfish feed in your aquarium, live food should be the fish's priority food.
Best living common hatchetfish feed are brine shrimp, fruit flies, blood worms, and tubifex. An adult common hatchetfish loves tiny cricket or pin-head cricket, so make sure to get them some. Common hatchetfish' taste for frozen foods is the same as the live food one, so they like frozen brine shrimp, blood worms, black worms, and daphnia (common water fleas).
• Dried food for common hatchetfish
You can also give common hatchetfish dried food. The best dried food for common hatchetfish is flakes because you can break it into smaller pieces. Its light mass will also make it able to float above the water surface for a long time. Besides, you can give it pellets, but make sure to buy the ones that do not sink rapidly. Do not use sinking wafers and hefty sticks as common hatchetfish feed.
Common hatchetfish is a surface dweller. It means hatchetfish only eats food that is given above the water surface. They will not eat food that is sinking more than 1 inches below the surface. That's why it is important to know how fast a dry food will sink. As for the nutrient of the dried food, pick the high-quality one.
As mentioned before, common hatchetfish are carnivores that require protein. Thus, while choosing flakes for common hatchetfish feed, pick high protein flakes. You can pick the one with color enchantment too if you want your common hatchetfish' to have the best color. However, at first common hathetfish might refuse to eat the dried foods that you provide. If this happens, mix the dried food with small fruit flies so that they can get used to it over time.
• Tips for feeding common hatchetfish
Because common hatchetfish has a fast metabolism, you must feed them several times a day. However, they can be glutton about it and take other hatchetfish's food. To get around this, you need to give the food not all in one but separate it into two parts on different aquarium sides. It's recommended to turn off all filtration and aeration during the feed, as it can make the common hatchetfish feed to sink quicker.
Common hatchetfish might be just a tiny carnivore, but it still needs proper nutrient from common hatchetfish feed. Hopefully, our tips on choosing a good feed for common hatchetfish can help your common hatchetfish live longer.
References.
Common Hatchetfish, Silver Hatchetfish, Gasteropelecus sternicla, River Hatchetfish (animal-world.com)
Surface Dweller: Common Hatchetfish | Tropical Fish Hobbyist Magazine (tfhmagazine.com)