125g stocking

[aarhud]

Hello,

With proper aquascaping, how many males and female A. Atahualpa sounds like a reasonable number in a 125g (72"x18")?

Edit:

I am growing out some fry from my Atahualpa trio and thought it would be interesting to see a large tank of apistogramma. My idea for providing caves is to use clay pot shards to create a kind of artificial leaf litter.

 

[henkh]

I have no experience with Atahualpa, but i had a group of 25 Gossei in a 160 gallon tank with no problems at all. After splitting the group, i kept about 10 Gossei in a 75 gallon tank. At this moment i keep for example 7 Amapa in a 150 gallon tank. This last group consists of 6 females and 1 male. The group had originally 3 males, but 2 males died after heavy fighting. Remark: the last tank was not heavily planted and not very much wood. The other tanks all had much wood and plants. So my experience is a large group in a large tank is possible, but heavily planted and much wood, hiding places.

 

[Mike Wise]

A. atahualpa is one of the more aggressive apisto species. Not only that, but they tend to form breeding pairs like A. nijsseni and A. panduro. Did both females of your trio breed simultaneously with your male? How large was the breeding tank for the trio? A 125 could house 2 - 8 pairs. It really depends on how densely planted the tank is and how the the tank is set up with visual boundaries, etc. Personally 2 or at most 3 pairs would be about right. Any more than that you will either have mayhem or a tank so choked with plants that you won't be able to see the fish.

 

[Algae Beater]

i keep a group of 6 A. Barlowi in a 75 gallon heavily planted. 2 males and 4 females. there are two separate and distinct islands of rock and decor. all is well and has been for about 6 months

 

[aarhud]

Yes, both females have had fry at the same time. The male has even broke up fusses between them.

Mike wise, what would be a better species to try?

 

[Mike Wise]

That is hard to answer. It depends on your preference. Do you want many specimens to live together? Probably the ideal species is the tiny, ugly A. wapisana. I once had 14 adult specimens in a mostly bare 20L with no problems - and they spawned in it. A. uaupesi is a species that is known to form schools and migrate together at times. They become territorial when conditions are good for breed, however. A. borellii isn't especially territorial, same for some of the resticulosa-complex species. My suggestion is decide on the species you really like, research its needs, and keep them in conditions that won't cause stress.

 

[aarhud]

Wow, I think A. wapisana is one of the coolest Apisto species I have seen yet. I think its interesting that the courting behaviors are reversed and the males are actually smaller. Now since you have made me want these fish, whats the chances of me being able to find them? Although, I may not keep these in a 125g lol.

 

[Mike Wise]

In the 35+ years that I've been keeping apistos, I have seen this species for sale only 2 times: 1984 and 1997. My guess is that your chance of finding it in a pet store are little to almost none. Sorry.

 

[aarhud]

I have a couple of importers that are local, but if I told them to look out is the chances of them being able to get them in still low?

Some fish are rare because of catching/importing issues, some are rare because there is simply no interest in them. Is this species rare because of the latter reason?

 

[Mike Wise]

This species is rare in the hobby for both reasons. It occurs in Brazil where fish are becoming harder to export. The fish are tiny. Shipping is a problem; most die. Finally, it is not attractive looking and has nothing fancy to attract the typical fish hobbyist.

 

[aarhud]

Thank you Mike. I will keep searching for something a little more mellow than the Atahualpa. One female just killed the other so I am down to a pair now. I want to find a species that shows good parental care, but has less aggression amongst each other.

Thanks for all your help,
Aaron