Photo: Amada44, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Common hatchetfish
Gasteropelecus sternicla
4 cm
Adult size
140 L
Minimum volume
6
Minimum group
5 years
Lifespan
Water parameters
Understand these values- Genus
- Gasteropelecus
- Diet
- carnivore
- Social life
- shoal
In the wild
Overview
Its genus name means “hatchet belly”, and sternicla refers to its very rounded chest. Like other hatchetfish, it can leap out of the water and glide for several metres, to catch flying insects or escape a predator.
- Scientific name
- Gasteropelecus sternicla (Linnaeus, 1758)
- Classification
- Characiformes › Gasteropelecidae
- IUCN Red List
- Least concern (LC)
Natural habitat
Peruvian and middle Amazon, the Guianas and Venezuela; reported from the Paraguay basin
Observations (GBIF) and localities Native countries Rivers and lakes
It lives in slow forest streams, tributaries and marshes, especially where floating vegetation is abundant.
Behaviour
Very peaceful but nervous and shy, it is outcompeted at feeding time by boisterous species. Keep it with small fish living at other levels (tetras, dwarf cichlids, Corydoras). It only settles in a group of at least six. It mainly eats insects at the surface: live or frozen prey. A covered aquarium is essential.
Sources:FishBase Seriously Fish GBIF · Base map: Natural Earth