I was wondering if anyone else has a friendly Butti. I got mine about 5 years ago and he was mean as hell. I had to put him in his own tank, any fish he was with would be a goner. A couple of years later I picked up a 150 gal and put all my fish in it, including the Butti. I had no problems at all. He has been in the tank with 5 clown loaches and a few mbunas ever since and hasn't shown any aggression. He is about 10-12" now. Is this normal?
Friendly Butti
- Thread starter tothna
- Start date
You added them all at once?
I know one of the tricks for aggressive cohabs is to add all the fish at once so no territories exist to be defended. Maybe that's why.
I know one of the tricks for aggressive cohabs is to add all the fish at once so no territories exist to be defended. Maybe that's why.
When I first did it I put him in with a couple smaller JDs and about 6 Mbunas. I figured it was a bad idea but it worked out ok. The JDs died after about a year or two, they looked tattered so he probably killed them. At some point I added the clowns and other than a random Mbuna dying here and there over the course of about four years, things have been pretty peaceful.
I think the adding all at once thing works well. I've got a 7" Butti in with a breeding pair of Jags. They were all added at the same time. The Butti out grew the Jags for about 3 months, then the Jags caught up. They mouth at each other and flare fins, but no serious attacks yet.
I found that if they don't percieve other fish as a threat or food then aggressive fish usually are just satisfied w/ the random chase. If they are of similiar size then multiple fish cant mount a full scale attack w/o another intervineing so it creates a standoff situation.
i dont think your butti is nice as much as he has no competition or rival, no other fish that he feels is a threat.
Beautiful fish, the one we used to have didn't tolerate any other fish. He was a very large male and even killed several large synodontis species even though there were many hiding spots. He lived in a 55 by himself. He even used to bite my husband's arm when he did gravel vacs. He was extremely nasty but very cool and interactive.