If male Anableps are only interested in eating and mating, females seem to have just one thing on their minds - eating. In nature they often inhabit the brackish waters in the estuaries of rivers along the coasts of northern South America and eastern Central America, so they probably live on a diet mainly of insects, worms, crustaceans, and plankton. In our tanks they appear to be constantly hungry and, if not given an ample quanitity of protein-rich foods, they usually develop spinal deforamties and show poor growth.

                               Taking the brine shrimp straight from the baster                           Spoon feeding

Ours have always loved freeze-dried plankton, thawed, frozen brine shrimp, live wingless fruit flies and our homemade concoction of fish, clams, beef heart, shrimp and veggies (Baby vitamins are stirred in just before feeding). With patience they can even be trained to take food from a turkey baster or a spoon. There's very little that they won't eat and, although floating food is desirable, if the tank isn't too deep they will paddle down and scavenge from the bottom as well.

A female looking for leftovers

Baby Anableps can even be fed by hand and will nibble shrimp from your fingers

Babies will also dive for food                Like their parents, babies enjoy a place to rest near the surface
but they aren't as efficient as
their parents

Bably "bleps" are large enough to eat almost all the same things as their parents. Sometimes we left them in the tank with adults and they survived but, although the adults don't deliberately harm the babies, they don't provide any parental care either. We usually set up the young with their own tank so they didn't have to compete so strenuously for food. It was great fun to observe them carefully and even to "spoil" them with tasty bits like brine shrimp nauplii.

With good care and feeding Anableps grow fast and produce lots and lots of waste (ammonia)

All of this feeding meant lots of cleaning and water changes to avoid any build-up of ammonia. The ideal tank temperature for Anableps seems to be 86 F (30 C), although some hobbysists keep them a bit cooler. Just keep in mind that they come from an area where the water temperature is consistently warm. Warm brackish water and ammonia make a deadly combination. In addition to good filtration and frequent water changes, we highly recommend that some ammonia-absorbing compound or resin be used. It can be as simple as adding it to a small box filter which can be set bubbling away in a corner of the tank, but don't forget to renew it at least once a month.

To provide hard, alkaline water with good filtration in these shallow
35 gallon tanks we often used undergravel filters, plus power heads
under a substrate of crushed coral.

A split clay pot covered by layers of slate or flat rock ws used
to make a resting area just below the water's surface.

When setting up an Anableps tank we always tried to keep a few things in mind. 1) Because of where they swim, surface is more important to them than depth. 2) They seem to like to lie about in very shallow water where they can rest while still keeping the water flowing over their gills. 3) Although in nature Anableps often swim some distance into the mouths of rivers and estuaries, they can't survive and stay healthy for very long in completely fresh water. 4) They often spend time right out in the ocean so in addition to being salty, their water should be somewhat hard and alkaline. 5) Finally, they're natural-born long-jumpers so a secure glass cover is a practical necessity.

About 1 heaping tablespoon of a good grade of marine salt was added for
each gallon of water to get the tank started. This was later varied with water
changes and cut about half with cheaper, coarse, non-iodized salt.

If you keep Anableps, make sure that the tnak lid is quarter-inch glass or else weighed down with something. They are easily startled by any sudden movement or sometimes even a light coming on and many Anableps has met a sad end on a cold, hard, fish room floor. We always keep a low-wattage light on, (we call it the moon), in our fish room at night.

A heater was adjusted to 30 C, some substrate from a healthy, established
tank was added and the whole thing was left to age for a few weeks.

Anableps seem to be colour sensitive. Pat  had a tourquoise housecoat that inspired fireworks-like panic in a tank of Anableps. We assumed it must have meant "big predatory bird" in their lanugage!

Be prepared for surprises. Anableps are aware of the "out-of-tank" environment and may react strongly to the presence of strangers. This happens whe you want a visitor to see them.

When seriously frightened, Anableps usually tuck themselves into a corner or sit on the bottom of the tank. Theymay also turn quite dark, almost black. This colour, if it persists, can also be an indicator of poor health. They are also susceptible to bacterial skin infections which are hard to cure. Antibiotics may work, but prevention (excellent water quality), is always far better.

With luck we've had some that have lived 4 to 5 years and brought us joy.

Anableps - Part 1 - Eyes explained
Anableps Part 2 - Mating explained
Anableps Part 3 - Babies