English
Italiano31 Oct PANTODON BUCHHOLZI – African Butterfly fish – facts info
Name and famiy:
Pantodon Buchholzi, african butterfly fish, or Borboleta africana, comes from Pantodontidae’s family and it’s present in lake and quiet river of Africa : Nigeria, Ciad, Camerun, Ogowe River, Congo and Zambesi.
Feature and beaviour:
The Pantodon Buchholzi has an elongated shape with a compressed body, more flat on the back and head, ventrally vented to the pelvic fins, the mouth is large, with many teeth, the lower jaw is prominent and facing upward. The eyes are structured in such a way that they can see up, but also lower at the same time. The dorsal fin is short and very backward on the back, but the pectoral fins are very large, similar to wings, which generally hold well open and which have the function of pushing upwards outside the surface of the water to fly on the fly insects on their head, also contribute to camouflaging the fish, making it look like a dead leaf floating on the surface. The pelvic fins have very elongated and filamentous rays, the caudal fin is long and with elongated rays. The color of the livery is brown on the back and sides, with silver reflections, and spots and streaks of violet color, and silvery yellow on the belly. The fins are vivid or brown purple, dotted with small brown violet spots, which form transverse strips on the pectoral fins. Butterflyfish is a predatory fish and potentially aggressive, but being a “twilight” animal is actually inactive when it does not eat, and during the hours of light it will tend to stay between the floating plants. His life expectancy in optimum conditions is about 5 10 years.
Fishes’s coexistance:
Butterflyfish in nature inhabits calm and acidic waters, lakes and marshes. It is generally found among the aquatic vegetation. The aquarium that will have to accommodate it must therefore be of a size not less than 90/100 cm of length and around 80/100 liters, must be privileged with a large surface vegetation and low lighting, it is advisable to use closed tanks for it because can jump out. The Pantodon Buchholzi despite being used by many aquariums for its particular appearance, it is not suitable for all the tanks, both for its size and its character, it is a predator that will eat all the smaller fish that will succeed in swallow. For this reason, we do not recommend living with neon, guppy and other small fish. In addition to this, it is important to note its wide fins so it is not advisable to match it with barbus and others “fins-eaters”. The species that can live with butterflyfish are those that will occupy different spaces such as Corydoras, Phenacogrammus, Ctenopoma, Nanochromis Parilus, or Pelvicachromis.
Sexul dimorphism and breeding:
The Pantodon Buchholzi is an ovary species: infact it puts eggs in open waters and there is no parental care, after 3/4 days you will have to remove the newborns to prevent them being eaten. Males and females are very similar, the only element that distinguishes them is the posterior rib of the anal fin, straight in females, convex in males.
Feeding and manteinance:
African butterflyfish is predominantly carnivore, predatory insectivorous, so it will eat flies and insects, which also catches large jumps out of the water, or with small molluscs or fish. In the aquarium we can provide frozen food or insects such as flies, spider mites, or artemia. With great patience they can also be used to eating dry food in flakes, but floating on the surface, everything that goes deep will not be eaten.
Price:
5/10 euros for subject.