Re hatchet fish - the only problems I've ever encountered with them are as follows:
1. They do not transport well, I keep a few very delicate fish and the hatchet fish make them look like John Shaft, seriously. I had a group of 12 from the wild, I managed to get them to my tanks safely and only lost two of them.
Great! Uh, not so....
I then watched as they dropped off day by day (literally) with no aggression, no attacks from other fish, nothing. For those wondering, I am quite aware and able to replicate the conditions needed to keep these fish alive, water parameters were spot on and in regards to ammo, "trite" and "trate" I don't even bother mentioning because I keep check on all of them - 0, 0, 5 if you really want to know. Other WC fish in the tank with them are still alive and kicking to this day, as well as two of the initial 12, so it wasn't my water by any means - the only answer I could find was in references over and over again about how many are lost during transport and it was astonishing. I spoke to the LFS and found out how many make it from their initial batch, that answered my question to a large extent - they arrive with many already dead or dying. it lead me to feel that these fish are one that really should not be transported, as much as I enjoy them and think they are a great addition, the numbers lost are just too high and this explains their huge cost (at least here in the UK).
2. The problem of them jumping is insignificant in comparison to getting them acclimatised safely IME. Of that initial group I have two left as healthy (now) adults, that's all, not one of the initial 12 was lost to jumping, fighting or being eaten. I actually took a couple of days off work just so that I could heavily monitor the tank to ensure there weren't aggression issues, as well as monitoring at night for a period. The only time I've had the two I have left jump are when I'm doing some aquascaping or tank maintenance with my arm in the tank - they get between your arm and the tank wall and just go completely nuts, jump out and flap on the floor. Stupid fish. Never lost any that way though, just pick them up, rinse them off (tank water) and put them back in.
If you could find some that have been in the LFS for quite some time already then chances are you'll be ok - the ones that didn't transport well have probably died off by this point and this leaves the stronger fish that will survive the short trip home just fine. I certainly wouldn't get them again unless they were tank raised (not convinced this is possible without hormoning them) or had been in for at least 2 weeks. Acclimate them well and keep an eye on them - the males do fight quite viciously if not given enough tank space or of you have a lot fo them and this can be bad news if they are in shock from the move.
Just thought you should know that about them from my experience.
Blair.
I do agree they stay on the surface. Thanks for the heads up, Eric.