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Overview:

Floating close to the surface waiting for prey the African Butterfly fish is a lesson in grace. Its' long fins spread out it looks like an angel with her wings spread. Staying close to the surface your aquarium must be well covered as they will jump.

Quick stats: Listed tank sizes are the minimum Size: Up to 4" (10cm) Tank: 24 inches Strata: Top PH: 6.0 to 7.5 Hardness: Soft to medium. dH range: 2-10 Temperature: 73ºF to 86ºF (23-30°C) Classification. Order: Osteoglossiformes Suborder: Pantodonitidae Family: Pantodonitidae Genera: Buchholzi

photo courtesy of Aqualand pets plus

Butterflyfish

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From the Congo river basin to the Niger, in tropical West Africa. Occurring mostly in stagnant water, such as rain forest pools, with dense vegetation

The body is shaped like a boat with the top and bottom almost flat, so its profile almost seems rectangular. The sides are convex and the nostrils protrude like little tubes.
The most distinctive feature of the fish are its fins; the long Pectoral and ventral fins are extended like wings. The Dorsal is small rounded and set back on the body. Both the Anal and Caudal fins are elongated like flags. The Anal fin of the male is notched and the females is rounded. Their mouths are quite large

They are Drab, Grayish Green with a Brownish tinge. The rays of all the fins have alternate dark and pale rings, the Pectoral fins are Blackish with a White edge. A dark band runs from the top of the head through the eye area to the lower jaw.

Like a typical surface-hanging fish, the butterflyfish takes its food from the waters surface. Its large Pectoral fins can help it leap out of the water to catch flying insects. Pantodon should be kept in a tank of clear soft and acidic water, with a large surface area and not too deep. The plant material should be more sparse than in its home area, with little or no floating types. The Butterflyfish eats live foods of all kinds and larger specimens will take floating mealworms. They can also learn to accept many of the freeze dried food products now available.
They are very interesting, but due to their high price and specialized needs, the novice Aquarist should think carefully before buying one.

They have been bred in the home Aquaria. Lowering the water to only a couple of inches in depth for a few weeks and then refilling the tank with fresh soft acidic water and raising the temperature can stimulate spawning. Spawning is preceded by the male chasing the female and actually raising himself on top of her.
The eggs when laid are clear and after about ten hours turn very dark and float to the surface. The butterfly fish spawn over many days so the eggs should be removed with a spoon to a separate tank with identical water conditions. They hatch in about two days and the young are difficult to raise excepting only the smallest of live food.

Click to buy Butterflyfish From Live Aquaria

 

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From: Ron Date:1/26/2008 I have had 3 butterfly fish for about 2 yrs now. Very easy to care for and accept a wide range of water conditions. Peaceful fish until feeding time, then they attack the food and make one heck of splashing sound on the surface. They will eat flake food and freeze dried bloodworms. Recently I noticed the 2 smaller one doing a dance together like twirling around in a circle while they bite at each other. They even clamp down on each others fins and hang on, but don;t do any damage. Not sure but i think they are doing breeding dance. From: Hayley F Date:5/4/2007 We have one butterflyfish, appropriately named "Mothra", in our 30 gallon who is doing very well indeed. He's very active and enjoys patrolling the surface and playing in the filter outlet stream. Feeding is too easy, he will gather around your hand with the other fish and takes any food readily (very partial to tetra pro colour enhancing crisps and frozen worms/shrimp, while it's floating). We recently managed to get some live fruit flies, which he absolutely adored. He doesn't bother the other fish, as we were concerned that he might go for the marbled hatchetfish we keep, but they like hanging out under his dangly pelvic fins and he ignores them. A very interesting looking fish, ours has quite lovely mottled markings actually, with quite rich browns compared to some specimens. The price wasn't too bad either, 6.50 pounds sterling I believe. (About 13-14 dollars as far as I'm aware.) From: Bill Date:1/8/2007 I have three African butterfly fish in my 46 bow front. It is heavily planted with a fair amount of water sprite that has floated to the top from my two other plants. They seem to enjoy the cover and hang out more in the open instead of in a corner or behind the filter. All three eat a diet of "Wardly totally tropical" as well as a mixture of HUFA enriched brine shrimp and mysis. As far as I have found there are no problems with them in groups unless you have all males. However large females can be aggressive too. I am hoping to breed them soon. From: James Date:10/11/2006 A cool fish to have. Not expensive. and not aggressive grow about 5". great edition to a 20 gallon tank. Tank should be kept at normal tropical temp & pH about 72-82 degrees pH level 6.5-7.0. They don't only eat dead food. Live is good as well and cool to watch them eat. Best live food are crickets small in size to prevent choking. I recommend 2 to a tank any more and they all clump together in the corner of the tank. they do need room too you know. From: Will Date:1/25/2004 I have recently purchased this fish very cheaply. Only about 7 dollars! very shy, it doesn't like me to look at it. It eats freeze-dried blood worms and nothing else that I've tried. It seems to enjoy my 30 gal tank, and either hangs around my heater or in the top of my tall grass. Average tropical ph of about 7.0, and around 82 degrees. Not a good fish for the inexperienced. I've been in the hobby about 4 or 5 years and just started purchasing rarer fish. Good luck if you ever get one! oh ya, it might not accept freeze-dried food! From: William Date:7/19/2003 I recently purchased A butterfly fish and I am enjoying the fish. I mainly feed the freeze dried plankton and it enjoys it. The pH is around 6.8 and the temperature is around 76. It is a really a very pretty fish really laid back. From: Rich Date:01/08/2002 I cannot understand why this species is so expensive here in the USA, I bought one in England and was only a few pounds ( around 10-12 dollars) , They aren't really that attractive, I guess their appeal is because they're different, They are quite inactive, you never really know if its floating on the top because its dead, Unless you have particular interest in this fish, I wouldn't recommend one to your aquarium, there are far far more interesting and prettier fish out there, at a fraction of the cost From: Christy Date:01/26/2002 Hello, I have recently purchased this fish for my 55 gal. I really like this fish, it will eat right out of my hand, and does swim through my tank quite often. I don't think it's ugly... I think it is a very interesting addition to our community tank, may even go and get another one... only cost me like $8.00 so I don't feel that is too expensive. CLICK HERE FOR MORE COMMENTS

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