Got Some New Fish!

[Repeat]

I found my first lfs where i live! We went all out and bought a freshwater lionfish, ob peacock cichlid(hybrid i believe), a venustus cichlid, and a butteryfly fish!
Anyone have any experience with any of these?

 

[Truck]

yes, dont keep butterfly fish on community tanks.

 

[Repeat]

Oh why not?

 

[Truck]

did you research this fish before buying iT? they will eat anything that can fit in their mouths

 

[lokkochaa]

Is it an African Butterfly fish? The brown ones?

Yeah i agree if it is they have AMAZINGLY big mouths, but generally live on the surface so should be ok, just dont keep it with tetras or the likes, well they are boring anyways!!

 

[Davo86]

did you research this fish before buying iT? they will eat anything that can fit in their mouths

Lol i think the butterfly fish is going to be the least of his worries,

What tankmates do this collection have?

The Lionfish is actually a Brackish or even Marine species that won't last long in freshwater, not to mention they are ambush predators which will consume any smaller fish,
The venustus is a failry aggressive african cichlid that should only be kept with other suitable african cichlids,
The Peacock isn't as aggressive but is still not suited to a community setup

 

[Colin_T]

African butterflyfish (Pantodon bucholzi) come from soft acid water and hang around the surface under floating plants. They eat small insect and fish. They also jump so a cover is required to prevent them escaping and drying out on the floor.

OB Peacock (Aulonocara sp) are from Lake Malawi in Africa and come from hard alkaline water. They grow to about 5 inches and are nice fish.

Haplochromis (Cyrtocara) venustus comes from one of the lakes in Africa and again need hard alkaline water. They grow to about 8-10inches and will pick on small fish but aren't really badly aggressive.

No idea what a freshwater lionfish is but it could be a bullrout. These come from northern Australia, New Guinea and Asia and grow to about 10inches. They don't do much other than sit there waiting for something to swim past, then pow they swallow it. They occur in hard alkaline water that often contains salt (brackish). They have venom sacks at the base of each spine and it hurts like hell if you get stung. If you do get stung by them immerse the stung area in hot water and leave it there for at least 30 minutes.

 

[Repeat]

The lionfish is not with these guys its in a different tank. My cichlid tank is : yellow lab, ob peacock, 2 parrots(hybrid), venustus, Butterfly and a featherfin catfish. There is nothing that can fit inside his lizard like mouth
All of these guys have been together in the same tank at the pet store for roughly 3 weeks.

 

[drobbyb]

OB Peacock (Aulonocara sp) are from Lake Malawi in Africa and come from hard alkaline water. They grow to about 5 inches and are nice fish.

Actually OB peacocks aren't a naturally occuring species. These hybrid fish are quite beautiful when they are mature (most hybrids aren't very pretty.)

 

[Repeat]

Yeah the ob is gorgeous, he has nice colors and the brightest tint out of the other 20 fish that were there

 

[Davo86]

The lionfish is not with these guys its in a different tank.

still needs brackish conditions minimum they are a type of stonefish

My cichlid tank is : yellow lab, ob peacock, 2 parrots(hybrid), venustus, Butterfly and a featherfin catfish. There is nothing that can fit inside his lizard like mouth

good luck with this setup, , you have herbivores with omnivores and carnivors, the labs shouldn't have high protein diets as this will lead to things like malawi bloat which will kill them, aggression Will be a problem when they start to mature

All of these guys have been together in the same tank at the pet store for roughly 3 weeks.

that means Jack

 

[joshrm115]

wait do you have fresh and salt water mix??

 

[Colin_T]

OB Peacock (Aulonocara sp) are from Lake Malawi in Africa and come from hard alkaline water. They grow to about 5 inches and are nice fish.

Actually OB peacocks aren't a naturally occurring species. These hybrid fish are quite beautiful when they are mature (most hybrids aren't very pretty.)

Fine if you want to get picky then OB peacocks are a man made hybrid but their ancestors (Aulonocara sp) came from Lake Malawi and the OBs require the same water parameters as their wild ancestors, albeit they are more tolerant of varying water conditions.

 

[Ficious]

the lionfish is actualy a toadfish and is brackish. it lays on the bottom almost like a goby and ambushes prey. just fyi on that one

 

[andywg]

Wow, everyone is so certain on what the freshwater lionfish is and what it needs. I have seen all sorts of things referred to as FW lionfish. Some of them are fully FW fish from the amazon, others are indeed brackish to marine. Without a pic all the above are just guessing at what the lfs/wholesaler/importer has decided to call a lionfish (at least Colin recognised it could be something other than his hunch).