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An appistogramma search

Alex18

New Member
5 Year Member
Messages
9
hi all, i was intersted in keeping apistogramma in with my discus. the temp is 29 celcius. And its quite a large tank so there wont be any fighting etc. I know of some people keeping rams but i was after something different. I can source pretty much anything.

So can anyone think of any that can be kept with them?

thanks for any and all ideas/surgestions.

Alex
 

peterK

Member
5 Year Member
Messages
460
Location
Poland
First, what do you mean by "quite a large tank"? How many other fish are in there? We have to know that, whithout it it's impossible to give any advice.
 

Alex18

New Member
5 Year Member
Messages
9
oh yeah sorry i forgot to add specifics. Its a 6 foot long by 3 foot tall by 2 foot wide tank. has around 13 discus, 1 angel, 6 clown loaches, 20+ corries. loads of bog wood for hiding places.

its well amture 5+years now and i love appistogramma and was thinking of having a very large colony of one type of appisto. i cna source them myself i was just after a suitable species.

Thanks in advance.

Alex
 

Hassles

New Member
5 Year Member
Messages
100
Location
Melbourne, Australia
oh yeah sorry i forgot to add specifics. Its a 6 foot long by 3 foot tall by 2 foot wide tank. has around 13 discus, 1 angel, 6 clown loaches, 20+ corries. loads of bog wood for hiding places.

its well amture 5+years now and i love appistogramma and was thinking of having a very large colony of one type of appisto. i cna source them myself i was just after a suitable species.

Thanks in advance.

Alex

well its sounds like your tank is over stocked already - just ask the discus people!!! Some Apistos will cope with your water temps while others will be less than happy. A large colony of Apistogramma ? Even in a six foot tank I doubt you'll safey maintain a large colony but... it would depend upon what you consider a large colony to be. A couple of trios or a couple of harems perhaps would work. Apistogramma gibbiceps however can generally be kept in quite dense social populations but you might be asking a bit much.

So you need an Apisto that will be happy in higher temps and ideally opt for a smaller bodied Apisto rathe than one of the larger bodied varients. hmm, I will be interested to see what advice you receive. take care
 

Alex18

New Member
5 Year Member
Messages
9
I know im not overstocked in turns of discus as i can easyily get 20 in ther. as its 10 gallons per adult discus and there over 230 gallons in there.

I have got other tanks with baby discus in. its a 30 galloon. is there any that will go in the temps of 29c?

Alex
 

Mike Wise

Moderator
Staff member
5 Year Member
Messages
11,202
Location
Denver, Colorado, U.S.A.
Discus and apistos are 2 different animals. Discus prefer to form schools except when breeding. Apistos have a more typical cichlid behavior. They tend to defend a territory at all times. I usually suggest each apisto have a 1x1ft/30x30cm bottom territory. Obviously other bottom dwellers' needs have to be considered, too.

As for the best apisto, most of the apistos from the lower and central Amazon and the Orinoco will handle these temperatures. They will age faster, however. I would think that the best would be members of the macmasteri-group. These come from less shaded waters and easily handle such temperature conditions in their natural habitat. Still, I would expect that any offspring you produce from them will be mostly males.
 

Alex18

New Member
5 Year Member
Messages
9
i wasunt trying to be rude sorry if it came out like that.

so whats my best bet in terms of my tank? having say 8???? 2 males the rest fe-males?

Alex
 

Mike Wise

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Staff member
5 Year Member
Messages
11,202
Location
Denver, Colorado, U.S.A.
i wasunt trying to be rude sorry if it came out like that.

Belive me, none was taken.

so whats my best bet in terms of my tank? having say 8???? 2 males the rest fe-males?

Alex

Well, if they were my tanks, I'd make the following suggestions:

Discus tank: leave it as it is. If you really need to add apistos then remove the loaches (I wouldn't!:biggrin:)

30 gallon: I'd decorate it heavily with wood, rocks and plants to form mini-territories, where there are few 'lines-of-sight' going through the tank. Then, 2 males and 4 females should work. If you still plan to grow out Discus in it (I'm assuming it will have optimum water quality), they should be OK as long as they stay away from the bottom.
 

Alex18

New Member
5 Year Member
Messages
9
Although i have 6 clown loaches in there, they stay around one place alot and never venture too far from this one clump of bogwood so there is over 3/4 of the tank free on the bottom and i never see the corries either..... i think there are around 20 in there but i havent seen them in a while so there could be more? or less? Or is it a case of the clowns will bother them too much?

If i built the wood up so it came to about 3/4 to the top at the back wall and around 3 - 4 maybe more foot accross and a foot into the middleground in the tank would they go in the clumps and be ok? or are they a only stay at the bottom of the tank kind of fish?

And yeah the little tank is a grow on tank. i have a few others free but i was looking to put them into the display tank. as im keeping the grow on's bare.

Alex
 

Mike Wise

Moderator
Staff member
5 Year Member
Messages
11,202
Location
Denver, Colorado, U.S.A.
Most apistos are bottom oriented only. If you find one more than 8"/20cm above the bottom it usually means that they have been driven off the bottom by more dominant fish.

I can see that you are trying your best to get some apistos in the existing tank. Maybe you should try it. All that might happen is that you break up the harmony of the community and lose some of the apistos. If you try it, let us know how everything turns out.
 

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