Malta Aquarist Society

I know some fishkeepers like to indulge in something rather different then keeping the usual livebearer or some common tetra or cichlid. We would like to hear your opinions and experiences with oddball fish that are not so commonly seen in LFS. I do not have such fish.... except one species..... and one genus of all that matters.... the african butterfly fish......Pantodon Buchholzi.

martin

 It's a really weird fish.   Can you tell us more about it Martin ? I mean does it harass the other fish , what tankmates would be ideal with it , from your experience? 

 For sure not small fish as it has a big mouth and they will fit their mouth nicely!

 How  is this little beauty doing Martin ?

 I think i have a male and 2 females of the african butterfly fish. Thank God all 3 are now eating dry food as it was difficult in the beginning as they only ate live food. I will post some pics in due course.

martin

I think that you could give them some mealworms. For sure they will like them.

How do you tell the sexes apart Martin? I once read that you can check their anal fin, but I forgot the difference between them.

Hi friends, these are some mobile photos from my oddball tank.

very nice fish keep it up.

Thanks Charles, i'm glad that you like my fish, They has a lot more to grow.

Nice M. asiaticus Ivan. 

It can grow up to 36" and as they grow they loose their characteristic hifin.  Try to maintain temperatures lower than 26 deg. C.

 Nice specimens Ivan. Yes I agree with John as I had mine but did not survive in upper 28 deg temperatures and eventually died. Keep in touch friend.

martin

Thanks friends, for the advice infact i had two and the other one died on the first year that i owned it, his tank is on the floor so it has the lowest temperature from the whole fishroom but you know it's still around 30 degrees. Because the room is upstairs, my hope is that i will do a pond so hopefully for next summer i can put it in it.

Can i ask if it appriciate the currents in the water or not please? it looks doing very well with the oddballs in his tank and most of the time it looks playing around but i'm not sure about if it's ok for it, there is a bit of strong current in the tank.

 Some cool current is beneficial sunce they live in the rivers with rapid water current.  A pond will be a great idea; your peaceful Wimple carp and goldfish would make a great combination.

Thanks Johnf for your kwick answer, Yes that's another reason why i have the pond in my mind because about two weeks ago i bought six georgeus ranchu and i have intensions to breed them so if i will be raising their fry on summer i won't keep them inside especially if the temperatures goes up and up. I'm trying to do two or three diy ponds hopefully.

Thanks & regards.

I'm not a great fan of Oddballs, but you've got some interesting species & that Myxocyprinus asiaticus looks great.