Tropical Fish Forums

[Nate&Meg]

Hi

We have a 29gal community tank with a paddletail newt a shrimp a few snails sunset pladies, blue pouder gouramis and some killies. Not sure what kind but they are green and yellow.
We just recently purchased three African Butterfly fish and put them in a 5gal tank. We really want to put them in the community Tank but the Killies seem like they are surface dwellers too? So we are not sure if we should put them together or not?

Any sugestions?

[number6]

The ABF will eat the killies.
They will not survive in a 5g tank so you will need to sort out this situation somehow.

Anything that will fit in a killies or a butterfly fish mouth, eventually does.
HTH
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"Just don't look in my fish room honey... it's just better for all of us. "

[nonamethefish]

Yeah...either the butterfly fish will eat the killies or if that does not happen the killies may harass the butterfly fish.

Also, the paddle tailed newt isn't exactly suited for a tropical tank...as it prefers cooler temperatures. They can catch fish also.
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10 gallon planted single species tank
10 gallon tank
plus all kinds of smaller containers

[Nate&Meg]

thanks for responding. actually our newt is very unusual, he's not agressive what so ever, he isn't even agressive enough to eat his own food before all the other fish come to eat it!
anyways so you think the butterfly fish would eat the killies? aren't they pretty fast though? also, should we be getting floating plants for the butterfly fish to hide in?
well thanks for the advice!

[The_Big_Sleep]

Butterfly fish are tricky, speed may help a fish survive for longer with one but anything that a butterfly fish can fit in its mouth will be eaten eventually. The other thing with these fish is that while they will "pick on" fish smaller than they are, they are quite delicate and any aggression towards them can and will usually do them harm. Butterflies do like a lot of floating plant cover, although a good amount of open surface to hunt on is needed also. And as said, a 5 gallon is way way too small for three butterfly fish, you'll need at least a 20 gallon-long, bigger if possible, by the time they're fully grown.
All that said, butterflies are probably in my top 3 favorite aquarium fish ever, and they're wonderful to keep successfully. Good luck!

[Nate&Meg]

Thanks for the info Big_Sleep.
We put one Butterfly in our big tank (29g) yesterday and everyone seemed to be just fine. So we put the other 2 in today. I hope it works out. I am not really worried about the Killies to much I guess because they are almost the same size as the butterflys and they seem to leave eachother alone except for a little curiosity. And I don't think the Butterfly fish will get to much bigger. They are almost 8-9cm right now. Unless they get much bigger then that?
ALso, what would be the best thing to feed them. They seem to be eating flakes and frozen blood worms just fine. But I we keep it just like that?

[The_Big_Sleep]

Mine eats dried tubifex worms, frozen blood worms, and occasionally ReptoMin floating turtle pellets just for some variety. They really love live food though, such as crickets or moths. When I want to give him a treat, I turn off the filter for a few minutes and put a live cricket on the surface. It's intense, watching him use his hunting skills to find the cricket (following the ripples it makes, hence turning off the filter so the water is calm). He'll slowly circle the cricket, and then faster than the eye can see he'll snap it up. I never get tired of watching my little beauty hunt

[leslie ferguson]

They love crickets and flys. They will get bigger then that. Also make sure you don't have any opening in the top of the tank the size of there body. Because these guys can fly. I had one that jumped out whie I was feeding him and flew for over a foot and about 6 to 8 inches above the tank
They ate my two dino's that where almost 1 1/2 inches long in one bite. I have had mine for around 6 months and anything that getts close to him and that can fix in his mouth is LUNCH! The dinos he ate even at the size they where. was a simple thing to eat. So I'd whatch your killie closly.
Also remenber the ABF is a stolker killer. It my look like he's just pasing by when he's more then likly sizing them up to see if they will make a good lunch. Mine eats anything that gets to close. He is a KILLER AND I MEAN A KILLING MEACHINE!!!!!!! He dosn't so any mercie at all either.
So whatch them closly.
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[The_Big_Sleep]

Leslie is right, for the most part they will eat anything they are capable of eating. I'd just like to say for the record though that mine, while purging my tank of almost all of the guppies (housing them together was a beginner mistake that I take full responsibility for ), he did strangely enough leave three alive and well that he shows no signs of hungering for. It's weird really, I don't know what they have going for them that the others didn't but my ABF won't touch them, and he even will swim up to them occasionally and take a bite of whatever they happen to be eating. I don't understand it, but I'm not going to question it as long as it's working
So best of luck, hopefully your ABF will have a the same soft spot for your killies that mine has for these guppies

[Daniel]

From the way you described those killies tehy sound like a golden wonder. Those guys can be little monsters themselves, and get almost as big as a ABF. Had one eat up two smaller killies, looked like he a had a big blue and red cigar sticking out of his mouth.
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