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Hatchetfish are a carnivorous fish which means that they love eating protein rich meaty foods. They enjoy a variety of different sources of meaty protein which makes them easy to feed in the home aquarium.
Hatchetfish can be fed with live/dried/frozen meaty protein. So small insects, their larvae and eggs will all be welcome. This means that you can, for example, feed baby brine shrimp, micro worms and Daphnia to your Hatchetfish. They will also accept protein rich flake food and protein rich small pellets even if these contain a small amount of vegetable matter.
There are a lot more foods you can offer to your Hatchetfish. But its important to feed them foods that are high in protein as the bulk of their diet.
So let’s take a closer look at which foods you can feed to your Hatchetfish
Tip: Hatchetfish feed at the top of the tank. They rarely go deeper into the tank for food. So feed them foods that are capable of floating at the water’s surface for some time to allow them to get enough food before it sinks.
Live, Dried And Frozen Protein Foods For Hatchetfish
The Hatchetfish’s native habitat is in mainly in South and Central America but they can be found in other geographically related areas. In their native environment they mainly feed on small insects, worms, larvae etc that swim/float near the surface of the water.
Live, dried and frozen protein foods for your Hatchetfish are readily available at Pet Stores, Aquatic Dealers and Online. Hatchetfish do well on a varied diet. So varying the way they get their protein is a good idea.
Here’s Some Of The Protein Foods That You Can Feed To Your Hatchetfish
- Micro Worms including Banana Worms
- Blackworms
- Blood Worms (Amazon link)
- Tubifex Worms
- Mosquito Larvae
- Daphnia (Amazon link)
- Brine Shrimp (Amazon link)
- Brine Shrimp Eggs
- Fruit Flies
Some insects, worms and crustaceans are sold as live food but most can also be bought dried or frozen. If, like me, you’re a little squeamish about feeding, or chopping up live foods, you can go for the frozen or dried options. For example, dried Blood Worms are easy to crunch down and because they’re dried I feel less squeamish about doing it.
Tip: Dried protein foods, dried Blood Worms for example, float for quite a while before becoming saturated and sink. So dried foods can be a good option for feeding Hatchetfish.
Both Fluval And Hikari (Amazon links) do a range of protein rich foods/insect foods that are dried and easy to break down to feed to your fish. They’re worth taking a look at. In particular the slow sinking pellet and flake foods.
DIY Live Food Cultures
If you’re happy to feed your Hatchetfish with live foods you might want to culture your own supply. Growing your own live cultures is easy to do. And growing your own culture will give you a constant supply of fresh live protein food for your fish.
For example, there are different types of Brine Shrimp Hatcheries (Amazon link) available for you to try.
But if you would like to culture your own Micro and/or Banana Worms the YouTube Video link below is helpful and interesting. In the video Cory from Aquarium Co-Op shows you how easy it is to make live cultures and to keep them going indefinitely.
Flake Food And Pellets For Hatchetfish
Both flake food and food pellets generally contain a combination of both protein and vegetable derivatives. They also usually contain added vitamins and minerals. This is because most good quality flake and pellet foods are designed to supply a complete nutritional food source for aquarium fish.
So when you’re choosing a flake or pellet food for your Hatchetfish it’s important to choose a good quality one that contains a range of beneficial nutrients.
You also need to make sure that there is a high percentage of protein in them.
Meaty protein is the thing that your Hatchetfish are looking for. Which means that any flake or pellet foods you feed to them will need to be high in protein. If there’s too much vegetable matter in the ingredients they are likely to reject them. Not only will you have wasted your money, your fish will go hungry.
The Best Way To Feed Your Hatchetfish
As I mentioned in the Tip: box earlier Hatchetfish feed at the top of the tank. So whatever food you feed them needs to float for a while.
But what if your Hatchetfish are part of a community tank with other fish and/or bottom feeders that feed at different levels?
Below is a general guide to feeding your Hatchetfish community tank.
How to make sure that your Hatchetfish get enough food in a community tank
- First feed the bottom feeders. Whether you usually just drop fast sinking pellets etc into the tank, or you put them in a feeding dish, the heavier sinking food should be added to the tank before feeding anyone else.
- Second come the foods for mid-tank, or ‘anywhere in the water column’ feeders.
- Third are the top feeders such as your Hatchetfish. This is because while the other tank inhabitants are feeding your Hatchetfish have the opportunity to get a good meal before it sinks.
Tip: Most tank inhabitants in a community tank will eat the food you put in as it enters their feeding zone. So don’t be surprised if they all have a nibble on any of the food that’s put into the tank. No matter what order you add it in.
Do Hatchetfish Eat Vegetables/Algae?
Hatchetfish are primarily carnivores which means that vegetables, vegetation and algae are not their foods of choice. They will however eat flake/pellet foods that contain a small amount of vegetable matter as long as it’s high in protein. This means that they’re unlikely to eat any vegetables that you put into the tank for their more omnivorous or herbivore tankmates.
It also means that Hatchetfish won’t eat your aquarium plants. Even though they appreciate some floating plants that they can use for cover.
How Often And How Much Should I Feed My Hatchetfish?
Feed your Hatchetfish at least twice a day. Only feed what they can eat in about 2 minutes before it sinks. Try not to overfeed them because they won’t eat the food that sinks into the tank. Which means you could end up polluting your aquarium with uneaten food. This is even more important in a Hatchetfish only tank because there won’t be any other tank inhabitants to eat the leftover food.
Do Hatchetfish Eat Their Own Eggs And Fry (Babies)?
Hatchetfish are not known to eat their own eggs. However, they will eat their fry as soon as they hatch. It’s one of the reasons why breeding Hatchetfish can be difficult.
What Do Hatchetfish Fry (Babies) Eat?
Hatchetfish fry will eat the same foods as the adults. But you need to breakdown the food into tiny particles for them to manage. This means doing some crushing/powdering of dried foods and/or chopping or mincing of live or defrosted frozen foods. And just like the adults, Hatchetfish fry are mainly top feeders.
Whatever you decide to feed to your Hatchetfish and their fry make sure the food floats and is small enough for them to manage.