▷ Butterfly Fish | Pantodon buchholzi | All information and details

Data sheet butterfly fish

German name:
butterfly fish

Scientific name:
Pantodon buchholzi

Origin:
West Africa

Size:
Body length up to 15 cm

Aquarium

Length:
Length from 80 cm width

Contents:
from 100 liters

water values

Temperature:
20°- 26° C

pH:
6.5 – 7.0

GH:
2° – 10° dH

Behave

Area:
lower and middle range

Lining:
Omnivores, live food such as Tubifex, flies, crickets, black mosquito larvae, frozen food, dry food possible

Behave:
territorial, aggressive

Number:
in pairs or as a group of at least 5 animals

Difficulty level:
Beginner

Toniher, Pantodon buchholzi, CC BY-SA 3.0

keeping butterfly fish

Pantodon buchholzi Source: Image on Wikimedia Commons License: CC Attr. SA 3.0 Author: Toniher

Butterfly fish, Pantodon buchholzi, should be kept in pairs. 2 butterfly fish need at least a tank measuring 100 x 40 x 50 centimeters. There must be no strong surface current. There should be shelter near the surface. The animals like warm temperatures. Some indications are from 25° to 28°, others from 27 to 30° C.

The water should be soft to medium hard. The total hardness should be below 10 dGH. The pH should be around 6.5. Addition of peat makes sense.

Food for butterfly fish

Butterfly fish need live food. Tubifex, flies, house crickets and crickets are eaten. Some animals also eat flake food.

Butterfly fish don’t go by the size of their prey. Anything they catch will be attacked.

This is why butterfly fish also eat guppies. Guppies sleep on the surface and are preyed at night. Sometimes the tails are bitten off and the guppies cut in half.

Big, fat moths are also very popular as food. The wings must be properly wetted to prevent the moths from rising from the water surface. After some time of suspicious observation, the butterfly fish then snaps at lightning speed.

They eat moths that are almost as big as the butterfly fish. In the case of very large moths, the wings on the right and left stick out of the mouth for quite a while.
A moth is a nutritious meal. Flies, on the other hand, are a small snack. 2 to 3 fat moths per week are sufficient as food.
Alternatively, you can buy wax moths at the pet store.

Breeding of butterfly fish

The breeding temperature is 25 to 28° C. Plenty of feeding with approach food is necessary for the breeding animals, e.g. B. with insects.

According to a breeding report, 2 males and 5 females were kept in the garden in a larger tank with low water levels. In the summer the vat stood outside. A flat plastic tub measuring 150 by 200 centimeters was used. The water level was 40 centimeters. The tank was positioned in such a way that it received the full morning sun, but was at least half shaded from midday. To prevent the pantodons from jumping out, the edge was protected with a 1 meter high net.

The tub was planted with various water lilies and stem plants.

The water was circulated with a large Eheim internal filter at 1200 l/hour.

At night, the temperature was kept at at least 23°C with 2 rod heaters, each with 250 watts. During the day the temperature often rose to 28°C and above.

Insects were attracted with a plant lamp for 2 hours in the evening. The pantodons literally jumped for crane flies, butterflies and small dragonflies.

Water parameters at the beginning:

Water parameters after spawning:

The water changes were caused by rain. Only when they reached a certain size were the young fed with Cyclops from the garden pond and finally with young guppies. Around 30 young animals could be raised in this way before they were sold.

Because butterfly fish spawn below the surface of the water, the floating eggs can also be skimmed off and placed in breeding tanks. The young stay on the surface. They are fed Artemia or Cyclopsnauplii. So that enough feed comes close to the surface, a slight water movement through an air vent is important. For the same reason, the water level in the rearing tank must be low.