Aquarium's shoal of fish get a little help with their hunting skills

A shoal of Archer fish at a Sussex aquarium are being given target practice for their spitting skills.

Staff at the Blue Reef Aquarium in Hastings set up a fake fly mobile above their tank to help them hone their natural hunting instinct.

In the wild Archer fish fire a jet of water out of their mouths to help capture flies on overhanging branches.



Daniel Davies, from Blue Reef, said he thought they were getting a bit rusty because they were fed on dried food.

He added: "Before we put the fake flies in they were taking the occasional pot shot at overhanging leaves and other objects around their display but you could see their hearts weren't really in it.

"It was then we decided to take the experiment one stage further by devising the fake fly mobile and now it's in place they're really going for it."