What Do African Butterfly Fish Eat?

[maisy12345]

Hi ,please coulod you tell me what african butterfly fish eat ,thanks in advice?

 

[tmiller]

It is mainly an insectivore in nature and a varied diet of live and frozen foods such as bloodworm, brine shrimp, prawn, small mealworms etc. suits it well. It obviously relishes live insects and will eagerly take any spiders or flies that you can catch. Most specimens will also accept flake, but this should not form the basis of the diet. The fish feed only from the surface, so make sure they are getting their share

This is sourced directly from here African Butterfly Fish

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

ABF have a reputation for being tricky feeders, but it could not be further from the truth in my experiences to date. Mine happily eat any floating dried foodstuffs I've offered them to date... Tetra Prima; Hikari Cichlid Gold "baby" floating pellets (although ABFs' trapdoor mouths could fir any size in, I've had one breeding pair keeper tell me the bigger female ate the smaller male whole!); Aquarian flaoting pellets; Doromin/Cichlid XL (broken into ~5mm lengths, for the benefit of other eaters of this than the ABF). I've not been able to do it for a while, but I used to have the trust of my ABF to pippette defrosted bloodworm onto their upper mouth from directly above. They are supposed to love live crickets, but somehow I've never got round to trying these so far.

One of the biggest factors if keeping ABF in communities is to not combine them with zippy fish and/or boisterous water surface feeders. In suitably sized tanks, Leopard Bushfish; Congo Tetras; Golden Wonder Killifish (in larger tanks so they can have some "space" when needed) all work well.

Random ABF facts: There are two genetically divergent populations in Africa that went slightly seperate ways something like 65 million years ago. They are semi-social fish, my two gave each other confidence, sadly I lost one after an unexpected appearance of baby Lionhead Cichlids last November. They have a basic air breathing organ, giving them an alternative oxygen source (just like Betta; Corydoras etc.).

 

[maisy12345]

Thanks both ,thats really helpful.

 

[tmiller]

ABF have a reputation for being tricky feeders, but it could not be further from the truth in my experiences to date. Mine happily eat any floating dried foodstuffs I've offered them to date... Tetra Prima; Hikari Cichlid Gold "baby" floating pellets (although ABFs' trapdoor mouths could fir any size in, I've had one breeding pair keeper tell me the bigger female ate the smaller male whole!); Aquarian flaoting pellets; Doromin/Cichlid XL (broken into ~5mm lengths, for the benefit of other eaters of this than the ABF). I've not been able to do it for a while, but I used to have the trust of my ABF to pippette defrosted bloodworm onto their upper mouth from directly above. They are supposed to love live crickets, but somehow I've never got round to trying these so far.

One of the biggest factors if keeping ABF in communities is to not combine them with zippy fish and/or boisterous water surface feeders. In suitably sized tanks, Leopard Bushfish; Congo Tetras; Golden Wonder Killifish (in larger tanks so they can have some "space" when needed) all work well.

Random ABF facts: There are two genetically divergent populations in Africa that went slightly seperate ways something like 65 million years ago. They are semi-social fish, my two gave each other confidence, sadly I lost one after an unexpected appearance of baby Lionhead Cichlids last November. They have a basic air breathing organ, giving them an alternative oxygen source (just like Betta; Corydoras etc.).

OMG!!! I knew I liked this site but I'm starting to love it, even addicted ... so many Well versed experienced handlers.
Great info on a cool fish