Fish

The African Butterfly fish makes excellent community fishes and are great additions to your reef tank. They are graceful swimmers and its bird-like finnage could add so much fascination and ornamental quality to your aquatic display. Tankmates for this fish should be chosen carefully though, as the African Butterfly fish can be a predator and would prey on smaller fishes. They can be relatively peaceful if kept with similar-sized or larger fishes.

This fish feed mostly on surface insects like moth, spiders and flies but will also feed on smaller fish food like flakes, frozen or freeze-dried crickets and worms. However, with its reasonably sized mouth, fishes under 2 inches can be considered food by the African Butterfly fish and are out of the question in selecting tankmates for them.

Known as carnivorous hunters, the African Butterfly fish are known to best tolerate being in a tank with their own species, or better yet alone. Though generally, they can really be a good community fish. There are many other factors to be considered in choosing co-inhabitants for your African Butterfly fish. As surface dwellers, they will often not tolerate other surface-dwelling fishes. They see them as competition for food and would tend to be aggressive towards them. However, they can stay peaceful with mid-dwelling and bottom-dwelling fishes. With its shy personality, the African Butterfly fish would even often ignore them. It is important for tank keepers to learn more about the kind of fish they wish to add in their African Butterfly fish tank to make sure they would get along. Such helpful information can be obtained from the fish store keepers and even online.

Its long trailing finnage could appear tempting to fin nipping species and should not be kept on the same tank. A few recommended tankmates for your African Butterfly fish are Congo Tetras, Elephant Nose fish, Synodontis Catfish, African Knifefish, Ctenopoma species and some other African species. Oddball fish, Plecos, and larger Scavenger fishes make suitable tankmates as well. If you keep an African Butterfly fish in a tank with Mudskippers, Minnows and Cherry Barbs, they would get along just fine.

Knowing a little bit about your fish and their suitable tankmates is always helpful to keep your reef showcase peaceful. The African Butterfly fish is a beautiful fish to keep, and is sure important to have a little knowledge on it if you intend to keep one. The exotic appearance of this fish easily makes it a favourite for many aquarium keepers. With its interesting personality and with the proper conditions, your African Butterfly fish could pretty much be a centrepiece in your aquatic display.

The African Butterfly fish (Pantodon Buchholzi) is an interestingly unique fish with wing-like patterned pectoral fins resembling that of a butterfly’s wings, which probably how it earned its common name from. This fish originates from the slow flowing rivers in the tropics of West Africa. It may be odd-looking with its boat-shaped body and rectangular appearance, but the African Butterfly fish is one of the most graceful swimmers you can ever have in your aquarium.

Most shades of African Butterfly fish are drab, grayish green with brownish tinge. Their fins would have an alternate dark and pale- colored rings and they are known to have a dark band running from the top of their crowns through the areas around their eyes extending to their lower jaws. Their seemingly large upturned mouth is designed to capture small prey along the water’s surface as this fish is known to be a predatory surface hunter. It would prey on worms, insects, live spiders, moths, and flies. Small crickets make great prey for them and smaller surface fish will be considered food by the African Butterfly fish.

Although possible, this specie is quite difficult to breed.  Peat filtration is required to be able to breed them and a tank with a large surface area as possible is needed since this species are egg-scaterrers. Spawning takes days and the its fry are even more difficult to raise and overly-sensitive to water quality changes. Your African Butterfly fishes has a lifespan of 5 years and with the right conditions, they could live even longer.

These surface dwellers are excellent jumpers and can actually glide short distances. If you are keeping an African Butterfly fish, having a tight-fitting cover for your tank is advised to prevent them from injuring themselves as they constantly jump out of the surface of the water. The tank set up for this species should have slow water movements to resemble its natural environment. With the right adjustments, water movements in your tank can be kept to a minimum to work best for your African Butterfly fishes and since these fishes will do best in slightly soft acidic water, it should be considered in maintaining your tank.

Relatively peaceful in the absence of smaller fishes, the African Butterfly fish can be great community fishes, and would be an interesting addition to your aquarium. It is a fascinating fish, and a very good recommendation to anyone who has a freshwater tank.