New Fish!!!!

[Texas1203]

I finally have fish in my 75 gallon!!! It’s been a really long setup that began in December of last year. Here they are….. one African Butterfly Fish and Two rope fish. I only have pics of one rope fish, the other is still hiding in my castle decoration. Any suggestions for names is welcome!

 

[Magnus_Bane]

I would definitely recommend adding in like 6-7 more butterfly's to the tank as they are a schooling fish and having only one will cause it to be constantly stressed. I would also try to add in more floating plants for em to hide under as they are top water predators and like having cover to hunt from.

 

[Kelly_Aquatics]

Nice fish! I always wanted a butterfly fish!

 

[Magnus_Bane]

Nice fish! I always wanted a butterfly fish!

They are honestly really great fish to keep. They're very peaceful, beautiful and wonderful fish to feed live food. When I had mine they used to jump out of the water and body slam moths to death before eating em lol. That and if ya love arowanna's but don't have the space for one, these smaller relatives are a fantastic substitute. Personally I think they look the best when ya have em in a pond setting just due to being able to see why they are called butterfly's.

 

[Texas1203]

I had no idea they were a schooling fish. All the research I did on these fish said nothing about them schooling. I know butterfly chiclids like to school, but wanted to stay away from them since they can be aggressive toward other fish (and I have two ropes, gentle giants). I will look into buying at least one butterfly fish on my next trip to buy fish.
I am looking at filling the middle of the tank with schooling fish… just not sure which yet?! Was thinking angels or gouramis…. But I will need to rethink my stocking if I add another butterfly, don’t want to be overstocked.
The two ropes have been inside a decoration, I did put bloodworms (frozen) in the tank yesterday. Woke up this morning to suck out the left overs and there did not seem to be many leftovers on the substrate. I am assuming the ropes came out last night and ate them. I an hoping since I really haven’t seen them.

 

[Texas1203]

They are honestly really great fish to keep. They're very peaceful, beautiful and wonderful fish to feed live food. When I had mine they used to jump out of the water and body slam moths to death before eating em lol. That and if ya love arowanna's but don't have the space for one, these smaller relatives are a fantastic substitute. Personally I think they look the best when ya have em in a pond setting just due to being able to see why they are called butterfly's.

Nice fish! I always wanted a butterfly fish!
[/QUOT
Since you have had these fish before what did you feed them?
I dropped a house fly in there yesterday and he gobbled it up! I will be buying crickets tomorrow, but I am wondering what else besides crickets will they eat? I am thinking of dropping one live cricket and one freeze dried to get the abf to ear freeze dried. Not sure if this will work…any feeding tips you can provide would be appreciated.

 

[Deadeye]

I’ve read that they will eat just about anything, even taking to prepared foods. Not sure if this is true though.
As for mid dwelling fish, you can look into some peaceful African cichlids like kribs.
Or some type of killi.

 

[gaisller]

I’ve read that they will eat just about anything, even taking to prepared foods. Not sure if this is true though.

I've kept one few years ago. Was really hard to make it accept pellets. I spend some months training it to eat something else than ants and cockroachs.

 

[Texas1203]

I've kept one few years ago. Was really hard to make it accept pellets. I spend some months training it to eat something else than ants and cockroachs.

I am probably just a little paranoid, but they seem to be breathing heavily. Like they open their mouths and their gill area inflates big. Is this normal behavior?
I have tested water this morning. 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, ~40ppm nitrates (which i know is a bit high, but currently our city is on a boil water notice, so I’m iffy about doing large wc). I did do a somewhat of a water change when I put them in tank. Removed maybe 20% water to float bags. I did attempt to acclimate by using a turkey baster to put water in bag while it floated. I may just be a bit worried. I’m pretty sure they ate lastnight because I dropped blood worms in and this morning there wasn’t much for me to suck out. I also caught one eating this morning, he was taking pretty good size mouthfuls. But I’m still not sure about the breathing?

Hopefully you can offer some advice since you’ve had them before.

 

[gaisller]

I am probably just a little paranoid, but they seem to be breathing heavily. Like they open their mouths and their gill area inflates big. Is this normal behavior?
I have tested water this morning. 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, ~40ppm nitrates (which i know is a bit high, but currently our city is on a boil water notice, so I’m iffy about doing large wc). I did do a somewhat of a water change when I put them in tank. Removed maybe 20% water to float bags. I did attempt to acclimate by using a turkey baster to put water in bag while it floated. I may just be a bit worried. I’m pretty sure they ate lastnight because I dropped blood worms in and this morning there wasn’t much for me to suck out. I also caught one eating this morning, he was taking pretty good size mouthfuls. But I’m still not sure about the breathing?

Hopefully you can offer some advice since you’ve had them before.

I think it's ok. They have a pretty big mouth so a lot of oxigen could enter at once.

Back in those days my tank had a ictio infestation so I increased my water temp a little warmer and ABF doesn't liked too much. The temp stayed around 28-29°C for just one day.