have fallen in love with african butterfly fish

[JacopoFishy]

uh-oh...I'm in love.

African
Butterfly
Fish.

oh. my. goodness. stole my heart away.

so anyway, I'm pondering getting one. Have done a small amount of research so far, and I think he'd be a nice addition to my tank. However, seems to me it'd be a fine idea to ask you folks about any prior experiences with these beauties. anecdotes, advice, anything. thanx a bunch in advance.

 

[pica_nuttalli]

it can fit in the mouth of an ABF, he'll try to put it there. have you heard the term "gaping maw"?

 

[black angel]

i had one years ago, very pretty fish but a real predator. small fish arent safe.

 

[Fishy411]

it will eat yur oto's, tetras and possibly your mollies

 

[JacopoFishy]

oh dear.

well, he's going on my list for the future, that's for sure.
yea, come to think of it, he's probably eat Hyperion, my oto, and my neon.
someday...

 

[Fishy411]

yeah pica nuttalis description is pretty accurate. All mouth.

 

[Final Dynazty]

their jumpers. they always jump from tanks to tanks where i work such a hassel.

 

[Dwarfs]

Mine has never jumped, then again mine has been old since I got it a year ago It shouldn't eat your otos (Unless they like venturing close to the surface), but any of the smaller livebearers or tetras would be an easy meal

ABFs are great, they have amazing accuracy when lunging at their prey (Fish, insects, dry food), My butterfly has never missed his target, ever

 

[andywg]

I bought 4. One was a jumper who I had to rescue three times from the sump and eventually managed to excape the tank completely while I was at work. The other three seem happy enough to just stay in water.

They are fantastic to watch eating, though mine seem to prefer flakes to most other foods

 

[SirMinion]

Ah ABF. fantastic fish.

Like mini arowanas in frilly knickers.

 

[Paul_MTS]

Ah ABF. fantastic fish.

Like mini arowanas in frilly knickers.

lol

if you feed them crickets and have the lid open whilst the hunt them down you can actually hear the crunch of when they eat the cricket mine eat what ever else the tank is eating they will mainly get the bloodworm then every now and then they will get some mealworm or crickets.

 

[Fruitbat]

I'm new to this forum but not new to Pantodon buchholzi, the African Butterfly Fish. Here's a link to a profile that I wrote on this fish for another forum that I frequent. You might find the information useful as you make your decision.

http/www.aquariumadvice.com/viewtopic.php?t=45290

-Joe

 

[SirMinion]

Hey Fruitbat! Now that you've joined this forum I hope you're not going to vanish from a certain other one!

A word to the wise, the Mods here don't like people linking to other forums, even when just trying to help.

 

[Johnny V]

Not to say that they don't, but my ABF never ate any of the small fish I kept him with. My ottos, neons (my BGK ate them real quick), and toughies were all left alone by him. He ate only crickets and flake food. I thought mine never jumped out either until one day I left the lid partially open and he jumped out to his untimely demise .

 

[Dwarfs]

It varies on the fish, my ABF has never missed a chance to eat another fish (He took out a serpae tetra a few weeks ago)

Some might not like live fish, or maybe yours was just small (Mine is 4" excluding tail, and is pretty girthy )