African Butterfly Fish

[reeeedfish]

Calling all African Butterfly Fish keepers! I have just gotten some crickets for my bearded dragon and I was wondering if my Butterfly Fish would enjoy them. They are live and rather small. My Butterfly fish is 3 inches long and eats anything! Also My Butterfly fish has gotten much paler since I bought him. It's just the top though. Mabye it's because my gravel is the lightest color tan ever! Please Advise!

 

[three-fingers]

Go for it, they love crickets, as do most fish that can fit them in their mouths .

Try to gut load the crickets with fish flake before feeding them if you intend to use them as food frequently.

 

[nmonks]

I agree with three-fingers that gut-loaded crickets make an excellent addition to the diet of your African butterfly. That said, if they are too large, they will likely be ignored, or worse, will be swallowed and then spat out, dead, where they decay in the water, messing up water quality. So start off with small crickets, and take care to remove any uneaten food.

Colour will change with mood and environment. As with most fish, if kept in a brightly lit tank without floating plants (or some other source of shade) their colours will become paler. A light-coloured substrate will have the same effect. African butterflies are happiest in shady tanks with lots of floating Indian fern and a dark, ideally black, substrate. The addition of blackwater extract to the water will help, too.

Cheers, Neale

 

[reeeedfish]

Hey, Thanks guys. But do you know how to get only ONE cricket out at a time?

 

[0x0000ff]

put them in the fridge before feeding, they will go to sleep so you can pick through them without them all escaping.

 

[reeeedfish]

Thanks everyone, I'll try refridgerating them.

 

[always4lora]

i found they kept escaping the tank! although my butterfly and bichir did love them when they managed to catch them