29g stocking question

[enso]

Hello all!

I'm not new to aquariums but I am little new to apistogramma so just looking for some advice regarding stocking a medium planted 29g tank with the following stock:

11 beckford pencilfish
4-5 otocinclus (hard to count them)
1 female apisto borellii
1 male dicrossus filamentosus

I'd like to add to a pair of apistogramma to the tank but I know I might need to do some shuffling with the borellii and dicrossus already in there. Ideally I'd prefer to add a pair of borellii to the tank (making a trio of them), but I'm a little worried that it'd be overcrowded with the dicrossus already in there. I'm also open to the idea of moving the borellii to a different tank and getting a brand new pair (probably cacatuoides). Are these feasible plans or should I simply not bother? My final option would be to add more dicrossus to the tank, but unfortunately my LFS only sells them in pairs so I'd end up with two males and a female (not to mention mine is fully grown and the ones in the store are still pretty young) so I doubt I'll be going down that path. Any advice is appreciated, thanks!

 

[Mike Wise]

I'd try the extra A. borellii. A trio should be fine in a 29H and I doubt that there will be too much aggression between the checkerboard and the apistos. Both species are fairly mellow dwarf cichlids. Your bigger problem will be between the apistos (especially the females). The original female will already have established a territory and not appreciate 'invaders'.

 

[enso]

Thanks for the reply! I will look to add the borellii then and be on the lookout for any aggression by the existing female. Thanks again!

I'd try the extra A. borellii. A trio should be fine in a 29H and I doubt that there will be too much aggression between the checkerboard and the apistos. Both species are fairly mellow dwarf cichlids. Your bigger problem will be between the apistos (especially the females). The original female will already have established a territory and not appreciate 'invaders'.