new african butterfly fish bullied reply ASAP

Question
QUESTION: hey karin, i bought a african butterfly fish for $20. I did all the acclimation stuff and put my new fish into my tank. The tank lights were off, then suddenly my opaline gourami starts to attack it's tail, my african butterfly fish was frightened and started to swim away. It stopped. It was feeding time so i got some floating sticks, small ones and put it near my african butterfly fish, but it didn't touch it, but then mollies, my opaline gourami, and my two rosy barbs started to attack it's butterfly wings, and below it, their was no damaged, but i can tell my new fish got stressed out, i don't want it to die or get sick. I covered the top, sides and half of the middle part of the tank with a towel, it darkened the tank, and i knew the fish would have a very hard time to find my african butterfly fish because it was brown. What should i do, when i rang the fish shop, they said to turn off the lights(which i already did), and that my fish were checking it out, because it was new, that was when my opaline gourami attacked it, not when the other fish did, what should i do, please help!!!!!!!!!!

ANSWER: Hi Luke,
Sorry to hear that.
When a new fish is added to an aquarium, the resident fish often do pick and nibble at the newcomer. Investigating it. Sometimes its just curiosity, sometimes its territorial-related.

Unfortunately there is not much you can do besides wait it out and hope your other fish get use to the new one. If he seems too stressed however, it may be best to remove him or keep him in a temporary tank. Make sure to give him plenty of cover in the form of floating plants (they can be plastic) in the main tank. Sometimes it takes fish a little while to get use to a new one. Especially since butterfly fish have such unique looking fins. Sometimes feeding established fish helps distract them.

I hope everything works out OK!
Karen~


---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Hey Karen, everythings going okay i guess, but the opaline gourami, rosy barbs,bala shark(forgot to add that he was bullying my african butterfly fish too), mollies are still attacking it, the opaline gourami killed my dwarf gourami, thats why i worry about my opaline gourami trying to kill my african butterfly fish, okay i found out something quite interesting, the rosy barbs,mollies and my balashark attack my african butterfly fish when i feed my fish, maybe they think my new fish is a flake, my mollies attack my african butterfly only a little, so does my opaline gourami when i don't feed them, but now my african butterfly fish knows when my opaline gourami wants to attack it, also i having feed problems, i got some samples and a big packet of hikari top feeding carnivorous fish food sticks, my african butterfly fish only ate one, he dislikes them he/she hardly touches them anymore, it just touches it then turns away, but it loved the live moths i feed it,the dead spider i found, it stilled looked alive and the big fly i caught, it never accepts a bug that looks dry and old. How do i know if my african butterfly fish is really stressed and how do i get it to like my hikari top feeding carnivorous fish food sticks.

Answer
Hi!!
I'm pretty sure your other fish are seeing the butterfly fish's unique fins as possible morsels of food. Fish tend to be very curious especially if something looks out of the ordinary to them. They should get used to it. The Opaline gourami likely killed the poor dwarf gourami because Gouramis tend to be very territorial towards each-other. And the Opaline may consider the Butterfly fish to be in 'his' territory. The fighting may continue or the gourami may give up and accept the butterfly fish eventually. But please keep a close eye on him for any severe injuries or if he seems stressed.

African Butterfly fish can be difficult to feed sometimes. They can be picky eaters and often will only accept frozen foods that resemble live foods such as Bloodworms, Mysis shrimp, Brine shrimp, as well as crickets you can get at your local petshop. Some petstores now have crickets in a canned version or even a freeze-dried version you may want to look for. You can feed him bugs, but please make sure your yard and/or house hasn't had any chemicals or bug poisons used around the area. If you aren't sure, its best not to risk feeding the bugs from your yard to your butterfly fish.

Eventually Butterfly fish can learn to accept flakes and pellets. But patience is needed. It takes them lots of time.

Make sure to keep your aquarium well-covered because these fish are great jumpers.

Best wishes,
Karen~