# African Butterfly Fish



## Ciddian (Mar 15, 2006)

I have loved these fish for so long and rarely ever took the time to set up a tank for them.

This is what i have..
20 gallon long tank, very short.
Screen top
mixed sandy bottom.. (some white silica, some riverbed sand)
Planning to have a low light tank.

I had a few questions.

How many butterflies could i house in this size tank?
What plants would you recommend? (already have duckweed and some other funky floating plant)
What kinda of bottom dwellers would do well?

Thanks for any help you guys can offer!


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## Cypher (Apr 15, 2006)

Hi Ciddian,

I love these fish too. They're soo cool too look at especially from 'above'. They look like dragons! Actually they also look very similar to Asian Arowanas and have some behavioral similarities too. I think I did read some where that they are distantly related to Arowanas - Im not too certain. Having them is like keeping the affordable version/ miniature version of an arrowana. 
I had 2 of them in a standard fully planted 60 gallon tank a while back. They're mostly a surface dweller by day, as in the wild they hope to pounce on some unsuspecitng insect hovering above the water. Even when you feed them, they will kind of "jump" out of the water even when feeding on flakes LOL! And they feed on everything too! Flakes, discus bits etc... I do have to warn you though that even though theyre primarily surface dwellers during the day, once the tank lights go off, you'll see them swim downwards and roam through the thank and THEY WILL eat any fish that will fit into their mouths LOL. You'd think fast fish would be no problem right? Well, aparently they have good night vision or something becuse even fast fish have to sleep and thats when the danios and tetras strart dissappearing.

Also, I have found that they are also territorial on the surface of the water. The two I had were about 3.5 to 4 inches long. For whatever reason, from day 2 the larger one always kept on harrassing and chasing the smaller one all over the surface of the tank. Then one day I came home and found the smaller one about 1 foot from the tank dead and shrivilled/ dried up. I figured it was literally chased out of the tank! Having said that, the larger one never tried to jump out of the tank afterwards. To this day I still dont know how it jumped out as I had a glass top to cover the tank fully. The only holes were for the intake and outtake of the filter pipes etc...but apparently it managed to squeeze through those in its jump. So, keep that tank well covered!

In my opinion, just keep 1 by itself in a 20 gallon or if you want more than one, make sure that they are both the same size! In regards to companion fish, really they get along with all other fish as long as the other fish can't fit in their mouths LOL. And their mouths can expand too! Seriously though I dont think theyd be able to eat a large sized bleeding heart or large silver dollar. By a large bleeding heart I mean one that is atleast 2.25 inches diameter - if not larger! But those small to medium sized cardinals are just midnight snaks for these guys.

All in all they are fun too keep and look at. Very graceful looking when viewed from above. Actually I'm thinking of getting 1 eventually for my terrarium and housing it with some large corys. Have fun!

J.



Ciddian said:


> I have loved these fish for so long and rarely ever took the time to set up a tank for them.
> 
> This is what i have..
> 20 gallon long tank, very short.
> ...


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## Ciddian (Mar 15, 2006)

ty so much for your advice! I will definatly remeber it.

I will just have internal filters and the tank has a screen top. Hopefully that will help stop any jumping 

I think i will only go for a pair. 1 male and 1 female.


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## Westender (Mar 24, 2006)

Not to be picky, but I don't think we're talking about Anomalochromis thomasi here, are we?  

Ciddian - shouldn't we have an oddball section?

Dominic


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## Ciddian (Mar 15, 2006)

Ooohhh no, not the cichlid  Very pretty thou!

What would the african butterfly fish fall under? Hmm...

I'll ask holo if he can add the section! ^^


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