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A.Cac w/ CRS and Amano Shrimp

T

Tainted Glory

Guest
Alright so I'm slowly building up a 20g planted. First, some info on the tank...

It's a standard 20g long...30"x12"x12"

Filtration: Aquaclear 50 with 2 sponges
Heating: Jager 100w
Lighting: Coralife 30" 65w 6700k
Substrate: 30lbs Eco Complete

I'm waiting on the lights to finally get the tank together. The tank is going to be densely planted with a fair amount of driftwood to break up the line of sight. Anyway, I want a pair of Apistos, part that Cac. variety. Aside from these, I want to keep a decent amount of shrimp, cherry reds and amano shrimp in particular. Will I run into any problems?
 

fishgeek

New Member
Messages
980
Location
london uk
cherry shrimp will prefer neutral to alkaline water , the cacatoides wont mind this

shrimps will generally be more sensitive to nitrates and heavy metals than the cacatoides , so keep the water in good nick

cacatoides will also like the fact that cherry shrimp fit nicely into there mouths
amano's are generally a little larger and as not so colourful not seen quite so easyily

i would still try them as if the shrimp are full grown with lots of cover then the cacatoides are added they may not see them as food?

preferably set up a small tank just for the shrimp , cherries will breed very easily given clean water and enough food, if they are breeding for you then the occasional loss in the cacatoides tank wont be so devastating

baby cherry shrimp are not going to have a chanc in with any apisto's so certainly if kept together all the time numbers of shrimp will only reduce

amano's are not so easy to breed
andrew
 
T

Tainted Glory

Guest
fishgeek said:
cherry shrimp will prefer neutral to alkaline water , the cacatoides wont mind this

shrimps will generally be more sensitive to nitrates and heavy metals than the cacatoides , so keep the water in good nick

cacatoides will also like the fact that cherry shrimp fit nicely into there mouths
amano's are generally a little larger and as not so colourful not seen quite so easyily

i would still try them as if the shrimp are full grown with lots of cover then the cacatoides are added they may not see them as food?

preferably set up a small tank just for the shrimp , cherries will breed very easily given clean water and enough food, if they are breeding for you then the occasional loss in the cacatoides tank wont be so devastating

baby cherry shrimp are not going to have a chanc in with any apisto's so certainly if kept together all the time numbers of shrimp will only reduce

amano's are not so easy to breed
andrew

Thanks for the thorough response! The way I see things working out now, the Apistos are at least a month away. I'm hoping the dense planting and intricate hardscape will provide enough cover for the shrimp. Who knows, maybe I'll establish a stable population and could stand to lose a few shrimp here and there.
 

kingborris

New Member
5 Year Member
Messages
70
Location
London UK
lots of mosses will be essential if you want to have any hope of raising shrimplets with an apisto in the tank.
 

valice

New Member
5 Year Member
Messages
75
fishgeek said:
amano's are generally a little larger and as not so colourful not seen quite so easyily

As much as yamato shrimps are pretty big, your apisto will stalk them... Hover around them and peck at them whenever the opportunity arises...

As for your cherries (or you meant Crystal Red, CRS?) I have seen my Aga havin one in his mouth! :tongue:
 

algaefarmer

New Member
5 Year Member
Messages
17
Location
British Columbia, Canada
I added Amano/Yammato shrimp and Cherry Reds to two tanks, one with agassiziis and one with trifasciatas. In both tanks the cherries were decimated within a few days, they're just too small. I don't think they were actually being swallowed but they were getting torn up. The Amanos seem fine with either species (in fact, the female Amanos are larger than the trifasciatas), but occasionally get pecked at. I've had similar problems with pygmy Corydoras, so now I won't mix any bottom dwellers with my apistos any longer.

Aren't Crystal Reds really expensive? Why risk it?
 

cdawson

New Member
5 Year Member
Messages
271
Location
Vancouver,BC
Any kind of shrimp no matter how much cover, will be hunted down by any cichlids and eaten, regardless of their size. you will basically be wasting your money adding apistos and shrimp to the same tank.
 

kingborris

New Member
5 Year Member
Messages
70
Location
London UK
I had breeding A. borelli with amano shrimp for ages. They only time the apistos would bother the shrimp was when they strayed near to the spawning site / any fry
 
T

Tainted Glory

Guest
Just to keep you guys updated...

I kind of scrapped the idea of a full blown planted 20g setup. Rather, I'm going for low maintanence, easy plants. I've got Eco Complete in the tank as substrate with standard 30" AGA lighting. Plants I'm going to include: Java fern, various Anubias, Crypts, and some vals. There is going to be a fair amount of driftwood. I'm going to get a handful of Amano shrimp, a trio of otos, a trio of platys or swords, and a pair of A.Cac double reds. Sound kosher?
 

wickedglass

New Member
5 Year Member
Messages
17
I had a pair of cacatuoides in a planted 10 gallon tank with rocks in it and introduced 2 tropical freshwater shrimp. The next morning I came in and the two shrimp were torn apart and dead as doornails. Not only that, but my female cac was dead, too with part of a shrimp hanging out of her mouth ......
needless to say I've stayed away from shrimp since then. however, I know people successfully keeping them with their fish with no problems, but the Apistogramma afficionados I know don't and generally advise you not to.
Cacs may do fine in neutral to alkaline water, depending on the water they come from (ask the guy in the shop about the Ph of the tank there, but most apistos prefer quite acidic water (as low as 3.5 Ph) ... the questions is, do you want your apistos to be ok or great? Many fish will be able to tolerate water conditions not native to their habitat, but are they happy fish? Although in saying that, most available cacatuoides are tank bred strains, as the wild ones don't offer the same colour impact, and therefore may have been raised in other than natural water conditions for generations (again, it pays to inquire from your source what the Ph of the tank they're keeping the cacs in is).
Shrimp will need calcium and other minerals to grow their shells, which is quite in opposition to the waters where most apistos come from, ie low Ph, sometimes as low as undetectable hardness and hence extremely low on minerals. You may want to rethink the platys and swords, too, as their ideal water conditions also differ from apistos.
The otos are just right for an apisto tank, though ;)
 

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