I have 5 archers and have had them for 6 years (3 five spots and 2 seven spots. I keep them in an aquarium in winter...and in a goldfish pond in summer.

About the food, Crickets are the favorite. But the fish are fussy about the size, the little ones want smaller crickets. I have a plastic lily floating in the aquarium with a bloom. The crickets can climb on this, and the fish will shoot them off, esp if they climb up on the flower.

I got small crickets at the pet shop at first. Now that the fish are big I get crickets at a bait shop, much cheaper.

The next favorite food is frozen blood worms. It took about 3 tries to get them to eat the blood worms. Now the big ones eat the whole cube while it is still frozen. This does not seem to hurt them. I use a brand of worms that are fortified with vitimins. This seems to have made the fish "shine" more.

They also like frozen brine shrimp but I quit with them, there is a lot of waste that gets into the filter.

I have only one fish (a 5 spot) that will eat flake food. Flake is not good for them anyway as they need a high protein diet.

My fish are in 100% fresh water, I originally put them in a 3% salt solution and diluted it over a months time.

The 7 spots grow twice as fast as the 5 spots. My 7 spots are bigger than my hand now. The 5 spots seem a little smarter..they try new things first. The 5's were the first to start shooting. The fish learn from watching each other too.

They are passive to submissive with other fish, but they are also voratious preditors. If it moves and will fit in their mouths, they will eat it..small fish for example.

They are very high strung too. Water changes, vaccums and nets terrify them. You have to be careful, they will slam themselves in to the aquarium walls.

One funny thing, outside, mine shoot all kinds of bugs, ants on the walls, flies, moths etc, but they never bother honey bees.-Muds