Single Apistogramma in 10 gallon community tank

[prettydamndeads]

Hi everyone, I have a 10 gallon tank my dad and I made a while back. The dimensions are 24L 10H 10W. Its been through a lot of phases but now I currently have it set up as a South American blackwater tank; lots of leaf litter, lots of drift wood, really soft water (I use R/O), and lots of floating plants. It's currently stocked with 10 green neon tetras and 6 beckford's pencilfish. I was wondering if I could keep a single apistogramma in there as a centerpiece fish. Would this be fine or would it just end up in disaster? Thanks in advance for any insights.

 

[MacZ]

Knock yourself out, many of us do exactly this as a small display. Just make sure to take a relatively small species.

 

[anewbie]

A 10 is pretty small and i think there are only two species i would keep a single male and truth be told i'm not sure i'd put in a a. borelli the other species is pucallpaensis; borelli is a lot more in your face nice looking if you get a dark blue one with opal face - all the other species i can think of are too large - certianly avoid the following:
hongsloi, mac, winkefleck, cockatoo...
-
i guess a streamline fish might work like agasizzi but at least the solo male i had became very territorial. something like Uaupesi or one of the 6 or 7 related species might work simply because they are long but not too high bodied.

Still i think borelli is your best bet.

Also if you ever replace your pencil fish i'd go with one of the smaller species like n. marilynae or one of the small tetra like morse code.

Small story - i was trying to get some green neon tetra established in a 20 long; but they kept 'dying' and i didn't know why - i put in 5 and poof gone; then 5 more and poof they were gone; and 3 months later another 5 and same thing - then one day i took a flashlight out and shined it under the driftwood and there were 25 live green neon tetra. anyway i removed the backing from the tank and they stopped hiding but now i have too many green neon tetra

 

[MacZ]

A. mendezi or maybe A. elizabethae would work in my opinion. If it doesn't have to be an Apistogramma, you might find Dicrossus filamentosus interesting. If you find guaranteed females you could go with two, even. But I would assume that this not that easy, as they are rarely available sexed.

 

[anewbie]

A. mendezi or maybe A. elizabethae would work in my opinion. If it doesn't have to be an Apistogramma, you might find Dicrossus filamentosus interesting. If you find guaranteed females you could go with two, even. But I would assume that this not that easy, as they are rarely available sexed.

The problem with d. filamentosus is the same problem with german blue rams; warmer temps; though aren't german blue rams a bit smaller.

talking about temperature that is something to consider as all the species mentioned by myself have different temperature ranges with borelli being cooler and Uaupesi the warmest (ignoring gbr).

 

[MacZ]

The problem with d. filamentosus is the same problem with german blue rams; warmer temps; though aren't german blue rams a bit smaller.

D. filamentosus work just fine at the average 25°C.

 

[anewbie]

D. filamentosus work just fine at the average 25°C.

Are you sure every site i checked gives a range of 27c to 30c:

seriouslyfish has 27 to 30
tfh magazin has 26 to 28
a couple of other places had different ranges but none that low; however is 25c/77f is really suitable for them i might put a pair in an empty 29 i have as they are a lovely fish.

 

[MacZ]

I kept them at 25-27 depending on the weather.