Will this work with an African butterfly fish?

I have a 36 gallon tank, and i think I will add a angelfish, and 3 platy


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I wouldn't. ABF have giant jaws, easily big enough to take a bite out of a platy. Along with that, platies would likely be too active in the upper area of the tank for the ABF's comfort.
Angelfish need larger tanks, and are a social fish.
You could have this fish with strictly bottom dwelling fish (like large cories) or a fish that mostly sticks to the bottom, like a dwarf cichlid. (Microgeophagus or the smaller apistogramma) Provided that your water is soft enough for these fish, of course.

I concur with above. The platy and angelfish will not work here. Substrate level fish are about the only options with the African Butterfly fish.

I assume you have just the one...it would be OK to get a second of the opposite gender. A male/female pair would interact periodically, which can be interesting for a fish that otherwise rarely moves, being an ambush predator. Make sure you have lots of floating plants; this fish does not appreciate open spaces at all. When you see them hovering in the corner of the store tanks, it is for a very good reason. Given some floating plants to hide in, and a pair, they will be much less stressed.

Discerning male/female is fairly easy. The anal fin is deeply notched in males, but rounded in females. The photos below show a female and male.

Byron.

Thanks


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