Marble Hatchet

The Marble Hatchet is among the more popular species of fish thanks to its unique shape. Like other Hatchetfish, Carnegiella strigata has a slender body with a deep belly and pectoral fins set high on the body. But the Marble Hatchet also boasts a subtle rainbow of colors that dresses its stunningly shiny brown body. The Marble Hatchet also has an upturned mouth characteristic of true surface feeders.

Native to the rivers of South America, the Marble Hatchet prefers a heavily planted aquarium. It also requires a few floating plants, beneath which the Marble Hatchet can hide. Active schoolers, this member of the Gasteropelecidae family does best when kept in groups of six or more. But since the Marble Hatchet will jump out of the water, an aquarium hood is necessary to help keep the Marble Hatchet safe and contained. In addition, the Marble Hatchet requires excellent water quality.

The Marble Hatchet breeds in soft water (about 5°), and a low pH (about 6.0). A diet of fresh mosquito larvae and fruit flies may trigger spawning and the depositing of eggs on floating plants. The eggs hatch within 36 hours and the fry should be fed a quality live food such as brine shrimp.

A carnivore, the Marble Hatchet will eat floating foods such as freeze-dried bloodworms and tubifex, high quality flake food, mosquito larvae, small flies, and some other meaty live or frozen foods.