African Butterfly fish question

[penguinfish]

Hi! I was wondering...how big is the mouth of the African Butterfly fish(Pantodon buchholzi)? Can it fit a medium sized neon (2-2.5cm) into it's mouth?
I'm talking maybe a 5cm long butterfly. If this fish is suitable, I'm planning to purchase it.
Will it affect any surface dwelling fish such as the Hatchet fish? (2-2.5cm)

 

[Ghostshrimp55]

Once upon a time I wanted to get this fish because it looks so cool. But I researched it a little bit and it gets to be in the neighborhood of 4 inches long and prefers live food.............including small fish. I think that, once it gets bigger, it will make snacks out of your neons. It may even be able to do that now.

 

[ksimmo1]

The neon would easily fit in its mouth...however all the Butterfly fish that I've owned never ventured far from the surface, in fact mine only ate floating food, as soon as the food beagn to sink they lost intrest. So as long as your neon(s) are middle to bottom dwellers it might not be that big of a problem, but I never took that chance.

If you do decide to keep one make sure the top of your tank is completly sealed, because they are big jumpers and can get out of the smallest spaces. That is the main reason I don't keep them anymore.

 

[Ghostshrimp55]

Hatchets occupy the same niche as the butterfly. If they're small enough, they're food. If they're bigger guys...........I don't know. Like I said, I never got the butterfly because it is a fish-eater. Like most predatory fish, if it even has a chance of fitting in its mouth, it's dinner.

 

[wwildcats04]

they are territorial i have read so they would kill the hatchets for sure, I bet the neons would be fine... if you were to feed them frozen food that sank or something so they never really had to come up top

 

[jason55gal]

i had a butterfly once

my butter fly ate 2 of my suckerfish i cant recall the names but they we're about 2in long and the butter fly was about 12in long and they became snacks so did my live plants and he grew that big in about a year

 

[fish_breeder_05]

mine swallowed crickets whole. your neon would be gone sooner or later I say the butterfly is better though. A fun thing I did was go aroung the house in the summer and gently, so I didn't kill them, gater as much flys as I could get and put them all on the surface and wach him go crazy

 

[fish_breeder_05]

my butter fly ate 2 of my suckerfish i cant recall the names but they we're about 2in long and the butter fly was about 12in long and they became snacks so did my live plants and he grew that big in about a year

Its the cichlid kind you are talking about. these only reach about 5"

 

[ksimmo1]

mine swallowed crickets whole. your neon would be gone sooner or later I say the butterfly is better though. A fun thing I did was go aroung the house in the summer and gently, so I didn't kill them, gater as much flys as I could get and put them all on the surface and wach him go crazy

yeah, it was always fun to put the unlucky bug, that wandered into my apartment, into the tank.

 

[ashdavid]

my butter fly ate 2 of my suckerfish i cant recall the names but they we're about 2in long and the butter fly was about 12in long and they became snacks so did my live plants and he grew that big in about a year

I think you have your fish mixed up with something else, butterfly fish (Pantodon buchholzi )will generally only grow to about to about 4" or so inches. I have seen one as big as 6" but that is a rareity.

I would not put neons in with him if you are attached to them, they might be ok ,but I would think twice putting them in a tank with an ABF. A 4" fish will be able to eat a long slender 2 1/2" fish quite easily.