African Butterfly fish compatability

[Retuks]

i want to put one in my 125 with my oscar and jack dempsey. both are friendly to surface dwellers that are bigger than 2"

i keep hearing that they are finicky and easily get sick.
so my question is, would it be ok in the same water parameters you keep SA cichlids in? like, hawaiian tap water without flouride/chlorine/ PH on the hard end (mildly)?

i never add water softener and i wouldn't because i have hardwater fish.

 

[trojan09]

they dont easily get sick. well that my opinion. they are beutiful fish and i want another one.

 

[snyder810]

yea they don't easily get sick, a pretty tough fish actually. with that said i dont think adding them to an oscar tank would end with the best results

 

[Retuks]

yea they don't easily get sick, a pretty tough fish actually. with that said i dont think adding them to an oscar tank would end with the best results

well, i guess i could re-run my 30 long and put him in there, right?
my main concern is water chemistry because i always hear on fish forums that they are demanding fish and usually die.

 

[stewnew]

how would one fair in an african cichlid tank?

 

[Delhezi B]

I have had 6 african butterflys over the years and none of them ever died to sickness. or the wrong ph. And I have pretty hard water. Ushally around 7.5 to 8 in ph. Sadly they to jump out of tanks very often. it seem's no matter how small the gap in the lid they find a way through it. Good luck though there very cool fish and lots of fun But dont get 2 get one or 3 or more. floating plans help to calm there tempers too. In my experince they don't like surface dwelling fish. Best of luck.

Delhezi B

 

[Retuks]

thanks.

i just miss my silver aro a bit so im looking for a replacement that can realistically be permanently housed in 3-6 feet of water.

 

[Delhezi B]

thanks.

i just miss my silver aro a bit so im looking for a replacement that can realistically be permanently housed in 3-6 feet of water.

Welcome butterfly's are very similar to aro's they even jump for crickets.
But they dont like small aro's I had my big 4 incher kill a 4.5 inch black arowana.

 

[SimonL]

They are demanding because they often go in tanks with inappropriate tankmates. Big cichlids like Oscars and JDs will end up eating them or stressing them to death. Best off with smaller fish...

If you're looking for a replacement surface fish I like big archerfish. Oscars and JDs will handle a bunch of aquarium salt and archers like hard water.

 

[Retuks]

Archer fish are illegal here.

Everyone who said their ABFs died usually had these as their main species with not much else in the tank, so the aggression would be my own issue.

My dempseys a mouse. oscar chases him once every week or so on occasion but they sleep leaning against eachother. dempsey eats like a pig and has a much nastier dentition that an oscar can ever hope to have. while my oscars done eating after maybe 2 crickets and a couple pellets. dempsey looks pregnant and doesn't wanna stop so i feed MUCH less than i used to when the oscar used to gorge.