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Anyone have any info on this fish or any experience with it?

Yes, I have one. He is now 17 years old and very large. Approximately 14-15 inches in length. He is housed alone in a 75 gallon tank where he has been for probably 10+ years. Not friendly to any other fish and he has been known to bite the hand that feeds him. He is my most favorite fish that I have ever kept in over 33 years being in the hobby.

Jim

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Water, taken in moderation, cannot hurt anybody. -- Mark Twain

mine was peaceful but i had my tank to close to my piranha tank n when he jumped he landed in the p tank n was gone b4 i could save him but they r a nice fish get large n become very aggressive

are u serious?

as the others have said, buttikoferi get big and aggressive and when they get bigger they have a proportionally huge mouth. I saw a pic of one once that I swear could have swallowed my fist.

also, let Brybenn's story be a lesson to all...keep your tanks covered, especially if you have pirhanas nearby. Sorry to hear about the loss Brybenn.

the tank was covered but i was doing a gravel vac n had the lid off to the side n he jumped out n they can really jump far

my shoal of piranhas not much can enter the water more then a few inches without being torn apart

where as my larger ones jsut sit there n think bout it for a few hours then eat it


but tilapia get very aggressive ive seen them try to swallow ping pong balls

What about keeping him with south americans?

What about keeping him with south americans?

You'd need a really big tank. One lfs in Indianapolis has a 300 gallon display tank. A while back they had a 12"+ buttikoferi, 12"+ albino oscar as well as several other large cichlids. The butti for some reason had a big problem with the oscar and relentlessly chased the poor oscar all over the tank.

Now, I know these cichlids had been brought in by people in the area who couldn't care for them anymore because they were so big or for whatever reason meaning the cichlids were thrown in together as adults. Growing them up together would probably lead to less problems but I still wouldn't even try in anything smaller than a 150 wide or 180.