Water Depth for Butterflies

[Sakura]

Does anyone know the best water depth for raising young butterflies and for keeping adult butterflies?

[joe]

I would think that is a two part answer. First, when raising these fish, I beilieve that they should be kept in very shallow water, similar to the way top view ranchus and tosakins are raised. In fact I have noticed that a lot of butter flys that I have been seeing as of late have tails very similar to tosakins in order to create such a tail, i would imagine you would not the fish to swim very much or have too much water current. Once the fish is a year old, you can raise the water level some what but I would not go over six inches with very low water circulation

[Ranchufan16]

Don(Nygold)

I would love your opinion on this as you breed/raise these kind of fish. I have my butterflys in a 110 gallon tub 2 feet deep and they are fine, active and show no sign of the tail "failing". What depth do you keep your butterflys at? I can definitely see the benefits of shallower water in fear that the tail might collapse, but would like a breeders in put on this.:exact:

thanks!

[nygold]

Don(Nygold)

I would love your opinion on this as you breed/raise these kind of fish. I have my butterflys in a 110 gallon tub 2 feet deep and they are fine, active and show no sign of the tail "failing". What depth do you keep your butterflys at? I can definitely see the benefits of shallower water in fear that the tail might collapse, but would like a breeders in put on this.:exact:

thanks!


I never did anything special as far as water depth goes.
When I bred them I looked for the right tail and such and just kept moving them to bigger tanks as they grew. I had them as shallow as 8" and as deep as 2' and didn't see any difference in the tail development.
My adult butters that I'm breeding from started out as tiny 1" fish that were grown out in a 150 indoor pond that was about 20" deep. The tails came out just fine. They grow pretty fast their a fun fish to have.

[Cincy Ranchu]

Mine are all about 18", I think space is the most important feature.

[bigbettadan]

You could also use plastic collanders floating in your tubs. I am using them for tosakins and so far it seems to work well.

Dan

[Ranchufan16]

You could also use plastic collanders floating in your tubs. I am using them for tosakins and so far it seems to work well.

Dan

I have actually thought about doing this with mine but then I see them swimming all over the tub and think..well they seem ok in the deeper water so I just let it go. So far I have not seen any negative affect on the finnage of the fish. deeper belly perhaps..or that could just be me feeding:)

[joe]

my original post about keeping them in shallow water conditions is based on my experience with imported chinese fish especially those fish with the extreme finnage and very round bodies. These fish tend to be larger between 4-6 inches in length. I too have had smaller butterfly fish with their squared off tails that were as vigorous as a single tailed goldfish. I am curious as to know your source of fish and size. I personally believe that the fish we are breeding over here are more vigorous , may be it has to do it with the fact that they are not subjected to shipping and quarantine and other conditions beyond our control. I would really like your opinions on this matter. than you

[Sakura]

Thanks for all the informative replies!