The Butterfly Fish (Pantodon buchholzi)

Don’t confuse the Butterfly Fish (Pantodon buchholzi) with the similarly named Butterflyfishes. The former is an enigmatic creature native to the swamps of Central Africa while the latter is a colorful family found abundantly on coral reefs. Aside from their easily confused common names, the two could hardly be more different and are only very distantly related to one another.

Pantodon is a truly bizarre fish that is quite literally unlike anything else, with just a single species comprising its unique taxonomic family. It belongs to one of the most ancient groups of living fishes, the Osteoglossiformes, whose other members include the Arowanas, the gigantic Arapaima of South America, the Elephantfishes and Freshwater Whalefishes and the Featherfin Knifefish. While these disparate groups might not seem to have all that much in common at first glance, what they all share is an unusually bony surface to their tongue.

With a maximum size under 5 inches, the Butterfly Fish is certainly one of the easiest and more recommendable of the “bony tongues” to keep in a home aquarium. The species is highly adapted for living just beneath the water’s surface, perpetually awaiting some hapless insect to fall within reach. Fortunately, live insects are not required to feed this fish in captivity, as it will accept a wide range of frozen and dry foods. And due note that its large mouth makes it a threat to smaller, slower-moving tankmates, such as many tetras, rasboras, barbs and danios.

This fish is an avid jumper and absolutely requires a secure lid, but, in other respects, is quite simple to keep. The only major concern is to avoid housing it with tankmates who might be inclined to nibble upon its elaborate finnage. It can even be kept in small groups provided that there is enough surface area to spread them out, though expect some amount of minor quarreling. Males are identifiable from females for having a convex anal fin (vs. straight in the females), but captive breeding is not terribly common. As an oddball addition to a home aquarium, it’s hard to beat Pantodon for its sheer novelty.