Butterflyfish

[fishbguy]

i have a 16 gallon tank with no fish in it. i ws told be other sites that they need a min. tank size of 30 gallons but your site says 10-15 gallons. who is right? i only want one. is it possible to house one in a 16 gallon? also, what are some other african species of fish that i con house with it. perferably bottom dwellers. thanks
Andrew

 

[QuotheRaven]

What are the tank specs... as a shallow and long tank would be preferred, then a 15 gallon high tank. IMO the butterfly fish is fine in a 15 gallon long tank with perhaps some cories to get the food the butterfly doesn't eat.

 

[Creature Seeker]

What are the tank specs... as a shallow and long tank would be preferred, then a 15 gallon high tank. IMO the butterfly fish is fine in a 15 gallon long tank with perhaps some cories to get the food the butterfly doesn't eat.

Not too shallow though as I feel with butterflies there should be a clear division between the middle and top dwellng fish.

...

 

[Tommo]

Be carefull of what you choose as tankmates as butterflyfish will eat anything that fits in their gaping mouths and do sometimes descend from the surface

 

[fishbguy]

i am not sure of the dimensions as of now. measured it once before so i can try to find a place to put the tank but i have lost the paper. it is pretty tall tho. it looks to have a little bit more top surface area than a 15 gallon. the tank is in the attic right now. can i put a small school, maybe three, of congo tetras in with it? i believe that they will be too big for the butterfly fish but i could be wrong. if not congo's, then what do you think about head and tail light tetras?
Andrew

 

[severum boy]

The butterfly will be fine, the amount they swim around is so tiny and their aggresion (in my opinion) is too overated. The tank should be fine as long as its not a really deep tank.
As for tank mates, anything over a few inches and chunky in the body will be ok, but I woudent recomed Congos; though they woudent be eaten, they need larger tanks.

 

[ghost_shrimp]

I kept a school of 5 Congo's with an African Butterfly in a 40 gallon breeder tank. The Congo's started to nip at the fins of the African Butterfly so I had to take them back to the LFS.