150 gallon community tank set up and mostly going well.

[ancientaquarist]

Dear Neil and All- We'll it took quite a while to cycle my 150 community tank focused on dwarf cichlids. The water is now non-conductive,6.4 ph and 79F. I am having to wait at least a month to accumulate $$$ for the plants. I thought I would share the community with you all and get some helpful advice.
CICHLIDS
8 mature Laetacara curviceps
6 sub-mature L. dorsigerer
6 Cleitharcara maroni
2 mature Mikrogeophagus altispinosus
2 baby M. ramirezi (blue)
3 Turquoise baby Wattley discus; 2 high finned
3 Apistogramma agassizi (Red/Gold)
3 A. cockatuoides (double red-but they are orange)
3 A. agassizi (Double orange) - the male's a knockout
3 A. agassizi [Santarem] Do all these females recognize their species?
Do they recognize strains?
A bunch more coming from Neil including Pelvicachromis taeniatus.
1 pr. Nannacara anomala

NON-CICHLIDS
1 fem albino bristle nose cat fish
6 Corydoras panda
1 Indian algae eater
17 Pristella maxillaris
9 Cardinal tetras (golden)
7 Black neons
3 Moenkhausia pittieri
3 Copoeta oligolepis (Checkered Barbs)-the one inch male is mighty agressive
15 Glowlight Tetras
3 Hyphosennobrycon potosi potosi (rosey)
5 Blue tetras
3 Bloodfins
3 Silver Hatchets

Lot's of plants-many red, brown, copper and maroon. Feather rock (AKA lace rock), African bogwood. Have decided against the gouramies. That'll be another large tank.

The only live food available here is black worms. Frozen we have daphnia, brine shrimp nauplii, adultbrine, mysis shrimp, blood worms,
white and black mosquito larvae, red wrigglers (live), meal worms, krill,
etc. What should I feed? What should I not feed?

12 baby kribs made it in the community tank and the males are already over an inch-females much smaller. Wonderful markings more each day.
Been feeding them frozen baby brine and Fry Bites. They graze on the algae incessantly. How big should they be before I sell them to LFS and how much is fair?

I feel 16 again. So glad to be back in the hobby even ifit now demands a
king's ransom.
Michael Barclay

 

[Apistt_ed]

...

hello Michael,

Wow, sounds like s stunning setup! If I am not mistaken, you wanted to know if the female/male aggies would interbreed?... YES they will! Romer, the author of the Dwarf Cichlid atlas, has stated that there is problems in the fry being deformed and or many of them will not develope correctly if aggies from different regions are bred. Whether they can or can't distinguish between the different regions of and or morphs is questionable but they won't mind breeding with each other. Just something to keep in mind.

As far as feeding options, you can really feed them anything within your list of things, as long as they don't leave any. I have heard that mosquito larvae do create a problem with most apistogramma's digestive track though. (I am not 100% sure about this though, so I'll leave this to the experts.) I feed my fish Red Worms (earthworms cut into managable pieces), blackworms, brine shrimp (baby brine and grown) both live and frozen, cichlid flakes (bought in bulk), daphnia/cyclops, paste food, and freeze dried bloodworms. I have also noticed that my Rams also take algae sinking pellets that are made for plecos. As for meal worms, I think they are too large and the exterior case/shell on those things are too tough for fish and are more suitable for lizards and amphibians.
As for the kribs and selling them to the LFS, usually most shops will give you a percentage of what they will be sold at at normal prices. I know that at the larger store here in Milwaukee (Aquatics Unlimited) they give you 25% of what the fish will be sold at. I am not sure if this goes the same everywhere else but it never hurts to ask. The size at which you want to sell them is usually at sexable size, and I stress sexable. If they are sexable then they can probably be sold. Remember that the size at which fish should be sold is the size thatyou would buy them at. hope this helps.

 

[aspen]

i would not mix fish that i couldn't later id the variants and pull to breed. ie, 2 morphs of aggies, you might not get the right females for the males.

i like to fill a new tank with plants that are fast growing, then re-plant slowly with a nicer arrangement. a planted tank is never finished ime.

i have not had good luck with too many apistos and other dwarfs. there seems to be better mixes of fish, spec larger mellower fish mixed with smaller more agressive species.

sounds like a beauty tank though.

rick

 

[apistodave]

hey man they will interbreed but in that tank it dont matter I wouldnt worry they will get eaten!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!