Possible African Butterfly Fish Breeding Dance/Ritual

[Jack CO]

I had just fed them so I figured the initial biting I was seeing was the food aggression nipping and chasing that one of them does, but I realized that both fish were biting each other, which never happens. As it progressed it appeared to become a mating ritual. I am further convinced that this is what it is because it is between a male and female butterfly.

 

Edited July 5 by Jack CO
Embedding video instead of having it as a link

[mountaintoppufferkeeper]

On 7/5/2023 at 1:45 PM, Jack CO said:

I had just fed them so I figured the initial biting I was seeing was the food aggression nipping and chasing that one of them does, but I realized that both fish were biting each other, which never happens. As it progressed it appeared to become a mating ritual. I am further convinced that this is what it is because it is between a male and female butterfly.

 

Congrats @Jack CO this research on them from the Journal of Applied Sciences and Environmental Management 23 (7), 1273-1277, 2019 is an interesting read. The fry could be a challenge to raise but who doesnt like a good challenge. 

Aspects of the Biology and culture of the butterfly fish, Pantodon buchholzi; A potential aquarium fish in Nigeria:  https://www.ajol.info/index.php/jasem/article/view/188759

[Jack CO]

On 7/6/2023 at 4:35 AM, mountaintoppufferkeeper said:

Congrats @Jack CO this research on them from the Journal of Applied Sciences and Environmental Management 23 (7), 1273-1277, 2019 is an interesting read. The fry could be a challenge to raise but who doesnt like a good challenge. 

Aspects of the Biology and culture of the butterfly fish, Pantodon buchholzi; A potential aquarium fish in Nigeria:  https://www.ajol.info/index.php/jasem/article/view/188759

From what I understand after reading that journal, my ABF were not breeding. According to the journal, the male will hold the female with his fins in order to internally fertilize, which I have not witnessed, although it possibly could have happened. I have also heard that the ABF have a very unique courting process, which is what I believe this to be. Thanks for finding that journal for me, definitely a good read. 

[mountaintoppufferkeeper]

Interesting. I wonder if that might be occuring at night.  I had a group which were casualties of a spring snow storm power outage up here.  I did get some interesting IR camera footage while they were enjoying life on the mountain. 

Im guessing at sime point there was spawning because this was non stop overnight and everynight with a mix of males and females in the group. 

 

 

And a few feeding

 

A few more in the below link. I do enjoy the scholar side of google from time to time. Lots of research and peer reviewed journal articles out there for many species. 

https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C6&q=Pantodon+buchholzi&btnG=

 

[Jack CO]

I have witnessed chasing similar to yours during the day, but based on my experience keeping them over the last few weeks it only occurs during feeding time, although I haven’t watched them at night. 
Just wondering what schooling fish you’ve kept with them successfully. I am planning on getting 6 or 7 Denison barbs to go with them, and possibly a school of Congo tetras. I’m still iffy on Congo tetras but I do think I want 2 ropefish because I love the look of them and they are commonly kept with ABF. I figure they’d do a good job of eating the occasional mealworm that sinks past the butterflies even though mine handfeed. 
I am still working on getting better surface coverage for them since my dwarf water lettuce has been dying back in my 60 gallon even though I just have 2 sponge filters on one end. I might try Frogbit to see if it fairs better, if not I’ll try to float a stem plant, like Brazilian pennywort, which I have growing well planted in their tank already. I figure it will reach the surface soon for some cover. I also just added a banana plant and a red tiger lotus, so hopefully those will send up lily pads soon. 

[mountaintoppufferkeeper]

I never did try them with schooling fish but 12+ congo tetras with them in a larger display tank were my plan for after I broke the code on breeding and rearing them. 

My temproary combination with them are visible in that night video.... Mud Fish: Phractolaemus ansorgii and baby dolphin morymid: Brevimyrus niger. Both of those groups were eventually moved to species tanks. I just try whatever I think is the most enjoyable fish combo for me and see what happens these days.

I have had pretty good results with frogbit and brazilian pennywort here. I use a light, "puffer contributions", and easy green to grow everything here. 

My pennywort becomes a 6" deep thick floating mat here. I just cut and transplant to different tanks or share it etc. if its too much. Ropefish could be a fun combination. I imagine they would also be fans of a floating mat of pennywort. 

Thats a pretty awesome tank already. looking forward to any updates. 

[Jack CO]

On 7/6/2023 at 9:27 PM, mountaintoppufferkeeper said:

Thats a pretty awesome tank already. looking forward to any updates. 

I’ll likely pick up one more bunch of Brazilian pennywort whenever it’s available at my lfs so I can get it floating. 
 

I actually just picked up a group of 4 hillstream loaches today while I was at petco buying more bugs for the ABF. I try to avoid buying fish from the big name stores because they usually aren’t very healthy, but the hillstreams were at a price I couldn’t refuse. They were $10 each and I got the 4 biggest ones, which are around 2 inches. I have them in a 10 gallon for quarantine, which is far too small for a group, but should be fine since it’s temporary. Three of them are the reticulated ones, which I know will do well in my butterfly tank even though it’s not high flow based on Cory’s experience. The 4th is one that I’ve never seen before, but I’m hoping will do just as well. I keep the ABF at 79 degrees, so they wont be in the 80s at least. I figure they’d do well as an algae eater for my already oddball tank, which I really like.

The 10 gallon acts as my fry tank, which is why the breeder nets are there. They’re just holding some Ricefish and goldfish fry currently, which I have a surplus of.

Here’s the picture of the loach I am unsure about. 
Edit: After doing some more research I’ve discovered that it’s a spotted hillstream loach. Sewellia sp. ‘spotted’

That’s about it for updates. I plan on getting more petricola catfish for the 60 gallon in the future since I could only get my hands on 3. Fish are pricey so I’ll be adding on pretty slowly, especially with quarantine also taking time. Thanks for the knowledge

Edited July 8 by Jack CO

[mountaintoppufferkeeper]

Those are nice loaches there. 

This is the about 6 inch deep mat that the coop pennywort  llikes to grows into in my tanks. This one is within my limia vitatta /  snail 40 breeder"ranch".  Its pretty much like that every 2 weeks. Great plant.

[Jack CO]

On 7/7/2023 at 7:24 PM, mountaintoppufferkeeper said:

This is the about 6 inch deep mat that the coop pennywort  llikes to grows into in my tanks. This one is within my limia vitatta /  snail 40 breeder"ranch".  Its pretty much like that every 2 weeks. Great plant.

That would work perfect for good surface coverage until my banana plant and tiger lotus reach the surface. I’ll definitely keep a lookout for more available at my lfs, or possibly water sprite since I know that floats well also.