Has Any One Ever Had An African Butterfly Fish? I Need All The Info I

[karin15]

well I orderd an 4 inch long african butterflyfish and it will come to pet store in around a week, i'm plaining to put it into a well filterd 20 gallon tank with 2 quarter sized angle fish, a blue paradise fish and 2 wondergold killifish, 4 corrys on the bottomlayer.
this tank is a well set up tank with lots of realy nice tall live plants including amazon sord plants and pants that grow on drift wood, the water acidity is about 7.3 i think, i heard that they are very tallernt of watter acidity and are not aggesive (by the pet store owner) is this true? and any info or advise or experience would be very much apreciated

I guess there not a very common fish

 

[pica_nuttalli]

they're more common in some places than in others.

ABF are not very aggressive at all and like to spend most of their time just floating at the water's surface. However, they are at the same time very predatory and will try to eat any smaller fish that swim past their mouths. I would be concerned that your angels and your killifish are small enough to be eaten. A 4-inch ABF has a surprisingly large mouth!

 

[karin15]

they're more common in some places than in others.

ABF are not very aggressive at all and like to spend most of their time just floating at the water's surface. However, they are at the same time very predatory and will try to eat any smaller fish that swim past their mouths. I would be concerned that your angels and your killifish are small enough to be eaten. A 4-inch ABF has a surprisingly large mouth!

my angle fish is about the same size as my paradise fish ( 2-3 inches long) non of my fish swim near the top layer besides my killifish, however there realy realy fast and they stay away from all the other fish.

so then it would't be a good idea to introduce this fish into my well established tank? I asume if I keep him well fed the chances of him going after my other fish would be reduced, however if he can eat all the fish in my tank ( all of which are 2-4 inches in length.) i can still cancel my order, he dosent send in the order for 3 days.

thanks for the info- Karin

 

[*Diego*]

We have a butterfly, he's about 4 inches long now. The hardest part is feeding them. We were feeding ours mealworms, but recently he's balked on that, so now we buy Neon tetras, put in about 10, and within a week they are gone. He's the only fish in there, so he's eating them...

Good luck, they are pretty
Have a LOT of plant cover at the top of the tank! They need it.

 

[pica_nuttalli]

if your angels are 2-3" long, then they aren't quarter-sized anymore

have a look at the ABF profile in the Fish Index; that can give you more information that I can.

 

[karin15]

if your angels are 2-3" long, then they aren't quarter-sized anymore

have a look at the ABF profile in the Fish Index; that can give you more information that I can.

hmm interesting, because i mesured all my fishys today and all of them are around 2 inches long, by the way this is in a 25 gallon, another option that i'm considering is buying a 42-55 gallon tank set up and haveing an amezon tank with a discus and put my butterfly fish in there, what do you think? dont discus like softer watter as well?

 

[Creature Seeker]

We have a butterfly, he's about 4 inches long now. The hardest part is feeding them. We were feeding ours mealworms, but recently he's balked on that, so now we buy Neon tetras, put in about 10, and within a week they are gone. He's the only fish in there, so he's eating them...

Good luck, they are pretty
Have a LOT of plant cover at the top of the tank! They need it.

Don't really agree with that method of feeding at all.

I have 4 and they wouldn't eat much at first but now they eat flake, dried blood worms, and most things that float.

I have cherry barbs in the tank and don't have any problem with them being eaten.

...

 

[Gankutsuou]

I feed betta pellets for my African butterfly fish and flake for the glow-lite

But recently it reversed, and my glow-lite zooms up and gets the betta pellets to quick, and the flake lingers up and the African Butterfly eats that.

 

[karin15]

We have a butterfly, he's about 4 inches long now. The hardest part is feeding them. We were feeding ours mealworms, but recently he's balked on that, so now we buy Neon tetras, put in about 10, and within a week they are gone. He's the only fish in there, so he's eating them...

Good luck, they are pretty
Have a LOT of plant cover at the top of the tank! They need it.

Don't really agree with that method of feeding at all.

I have 4 and they wouldn't eat much at first but now they eat flake, dried blood worms, and most things that float.

I have cherry barbs in the tank and don't have any problem with them being eaten.

...

realy? but wouldnt the cherry barbs be so fast that he could't get them? remember this is a 20 gallon tank were talking about.

also another option is to buy a 45 gallon tank and put him with a discus, there too big to eat and don't they like soft watter too?

it would be great if i could just have him in my 25 gallon comunity tank without loseing any fish because my tank is set up realy nicely as it is.

 

[pica_nuttalli]

if the ABF is actually 4", then your fish are a little small. male guppies (and possibly the killies, as i'm not familiar with that common name) will continue to be in danger, but female guppies and everything else should grow to a safe size relatively quickly. so its really up to you whether you want to risk it or not.


(quarter-sized angels are so named because when the seller holds a quarter up to them, their entire body is hidden. since a quarter is significantly smaller than 2" in diameter, your angels aren't "quarter-sized" anymore!)

 

[Gankutsuou]

wouldn't 45 be kinda small unless it was a 45 breeder?

 

[karin15]

wouldn't 45 be kinda small unless it was a 45 breeder?

I bought an all glass 55 gallon hagen tank today(long tank about 5 feet), i plan to put my new abf and a large (8 inch) elepant nose, as well as the rest of my fish, also i noticed that the fish arnt swiming up at the verry top layer now that ive moved them into the larger tank, perhaps this might just work out.\

if the ABF is actually 4", then your fish are a little small. male guppies (and possibly the killies, as i'm not familiar with that common name) will continue to be in danger, but female guppies and everything else should grow to a safe size relatively quickly. so its really up to you whether you want to risk it or not.


(quarter-sized angels are so named because when the seller holds a quarter up to them, their entire body is hidden. since a quarter is significantly smaller than 2" in diameter, your angels aren't "quarter-sized" anymore!)

there bodys are coverd by a quarter just not there tail and fins, ye your probably right, ive had them for 2 mounths now so there much bigger than when i purchesed them, i realy wana put some interesting fish into my tank, it looks a little emty having my 20 gallon stock in my 5 foot tank