African Butterfly? Need Info!

love4aquatic

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Ok i am not sure if this is the right area to post this but i need some info on african butterflies. (they seem odd to me)

i am thinking about getting one.

how big do they get? do you need to keep them in schools? any special requirements?


thanks! :good:
 
how big do they get?
About 10 cm in length.
do you need to keep them in schools?
No; they're mildly territorial, and while best kept in pairs, singletons are fine.
any special requirements?
Numerous. They are finicky feeders that only take food within a specific "kill zone" around their heads, basically 90 degree arcs in front of each eye. They prefer live food, can be easily trained to take frozen food, and only eventually accept flake. Don't buy these fish expecting them to take flake, pellets or freeze-dried foods immediately: do that and the fish WILL starve to death. Good foods including small insects, particularly wingless fruit flies or very small crickets, both available from pet shops catering to reptile and amphibian keepers. Water chemistry isn't critical but very hard water should be avoided. Butterflyfish are not hardy and should not be kept in immature or overstocked aquaria. Water quality should be excellent at all times, though they are not fond of very strong water currents; ensure that each butterflyfish has a shady, relatively calm corner in the tank where it can lurk. They are easily bullied by nippy fish, so do not keep with serpae tetras, tiger barbs, black widows or any of the usual suspects. Allow about a square foot (30 x 30 cm) for each specimen otherwise fighting is likely to occur. They are predatory and will eat very small fish, up to about the size of zebra danios. Notorious jumpers! Keep the tank securely covered.

Cheers, Neale
 
Do these fish have a controllable swim bladder in the normal sense? Reason I ask is because they never seem to leave the surface.

I have to say like the look of these but I think I would plump for Hatchets myself.
 
What do you mean by a "controllable" swim bladder? They're relatively primitive fish closely related to arowanas. So they're members of a group called the physostomous fish that control the amount of air in their swim bladders by either gulping air (if they need to inflate the swim bladder) or burping (if they need to remove air from the swim bladder). This contrasts with the more advanced physoclistous (such as cichlids) that are able to add or remove gas from their swim bladders using a modified system of blood vessels around the swim bladder. This is why cichlid fry don't need to rush to the surface to inflate their swim bladders after their have hatched, whereas baby minnows and catfish do, and will not develop properly if the water is so deep they can't make this journey.

Like most fish, they're neutrally bouyant -- i.e., they neither float nor sink -- they just happen to prefer to stay close to the surface of the water because that's where their prey is. Wild fish feed almost entirely on aquatic insect larvae and aerial insects that have fallen onto the water. They jump up out of the water at times, certainly to escape from aquatic predators, and possibly also to catch insects flying above the water's surface.

Cheers, Neale

Do these fish have a controllable swim bladder in the normal sense? Reason I ask is because they never seem to leave the surface.
 
What do you mean by a "controllable" swim bladder? They're relatively primitive fish closely related to arowanas. So they're members of a group called the physostomous fish that control the amount of air in their swim bladders by either gulping air (if they need to inflate the swim bladder) or burping (if they need to remove air from the swim bladder). This contrasts with the more advanced physoclistous (such as cichlids) that are able to add or remove gas from their swim bladders using a modified system of blood vessels around the swim bladder. This is why cichlid fry don't need to rush to the surface to inflate their swim bladders after their have hatched, whereas baby minnows and catfish do, and will not develop properly if the water is so deep they can't make this journey.

Like most fish, they're neutrally bouyant -- i.e., they neither float nor sink -- they just happen to prefer to stay close to the surface of the water because that's where their prey is. Wild fish feed almost entirely on aquatic insect larvae and aerial insects that have fallen onto the water. They jump up out of the water at times, certainly to escape from aquatic predators, and possibly also to catch insects flying above the water's surface.

Cheers, Neale

Do these fish have a controllable swim bladder in the normal sense? Reason I ask is because they never seem to leave the surface.


can they be kept with female bettas? will they eat them? do they EVER swim deeper in the water? thanks!
 
Im pretty sure im not as scientific in my terms as some of the other people, but I recently got a african butterfly fish myself and is an amazing addition to my tank. I get two large floating plants that doesnt take up too much room in the tank and the butterfly fish absolutly loves them. His diet is tricky though. I tried frozen krill at first, but no go... I then tried flake foods... no go... I then tried crickets/mealworms and he absolutly loves them :). He isnt a problem to my otherfish as he is a surface fish and loves the tank room to swim around in. I would recommend a longer tank than a taller tank as they like the room to swim around (I have a tall and long tank and he only sticks near the surface unless his food sinks are he feels stressed which he will go under the floating plant which is about half way from the bottom of the tank). Mine is about 3 inches now, and the maximum growing size is around 4 inches. Mine isnt in a school, but doesnt mind because they are very friendly (atleast mine is) and will make friends with others in the tank that arent to aggresive (For example, I have a polypterus senagallus it hangs out with at the top and they will swim together/sleep on and with each other and just generally swim around together). When I first put him in, the other fish would look at him and get close, which I was worried that it would stress him out, but once they got use to him they left him alone.

Anyways, I hope my random blurp of info could help you in the slightest way :p.
 

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