A. Panduro setup question

[Sallywally]

Hi, I am new to posting here, but not new to the world of fishkeeping or aquatic forums. I've had tanks with many types of fish over the past 15 years, but have never tried cichlids of any sort. I have become obsessed with the dwarf cichlids! I've been reading here for several months now and bought my first dwarf cichlids (a pair of blue rams) a few months ago.
Today I picked up a pair of A. Panduro's. They are great looking fish and I am quite taken with them
Right now I have them in quarentine. My initial plan was to put them in a 29 gallon tank that is heavily planted with lots of driftwood, rocks, caves etc. It's current inhabitants are some rosy barbs and 5 botia striata (zebra loaches). Will this setup work? My main concern was the botia striata's curiosity and propensity to stick their noses in every nook and crany in the tank. Will this be a potential problem?
Thanks for any help, and for such a great site.

 

[Sallywally]

anyone have any suggestions on this?

 

[Apistt_ed]

...

I wouldn't see any potential problems at all with your setup except behavior during breeding. Are your new fish young ones? The only problem I'd see or potential ones that may occur is that just around & during spawning, A. Panduro can be a bit aggressive but with your tank space, it shouldn't be a problem too big. In that situation, I'd say the panduros are pretty hardy and can definitely defend themselves against most tankmates, and surely enough your botia and barbs. Make sure there are enough hiding spots and whatever aggression there might be between the inhabitants shouldn't be too severe. hope this has helped. good luck... they are great fish!


john

 

[Sallywally]

Thank you so much for your kind reply.
The fish are young ones from a breeder not too far from here, according to the LFS. I have a lot of rock work, driftwood, live plants and some caves made from terra cotta pots in there. I will go ahead and give it a try once quarentine is up. These little fish are fascinating. I would love to try and get fry, but I know my pH isn't low enough and at the moment I don't have time to try and set up to do RO water, etc. I do see that in the future though, as these dwarf's have really taken my fancy.
My next project I hope to do is a 37 gallon tank of perhaps a couple of apisto species. The tank is sitting here empty, just begging to be set back up
I'll just keep reading and studying for my next choices.