Advice on 75 gallon first time appistogramma owner

[briankolb243]

I have been researching apistogramma for awhile and want to have them as centerpiece fish in a heavily planted 75 gallon community tank. I have included pictures of the tank it has been running 10 months, things are stable so I don't test much these days. Typical parameters: ph 6.4-6ish and tds:70-100 I have crushed coral in the filter my water super soft. There is a giant cave I made out of plexiglass going behind the rocks under the hills it is pretty massive. I planned that for the apistos it has sand mostly covered by aqua soil unfortunately but cave is all sand with small apisto cave inside. I have three little caves around one in center one right and one in crypts. Stock is 35ish rummy nose tetras, 35 celestial pearl danios, 6 otocinclus, 100 plus neocardinia (I am aware of food potential I have shrimp tank if needed), and assasin and pest snails.

What I really was hoping for is advice on what direction to go with the appistos and if they would work in a tank like this. I really like the apistogramma agassizii species and was originally planning on having a breeding pair or harem of them but now thinking rummies and cpds will devastative babies. It is an ecosystem and nature is brutal they hunt ruthlessly so I am not super concerned about them getting eaten, my shrimp population has exploded they don't like cave much and there is a ton of small nooks to hide so maybe a few make it an I can fish out and raise. I have experience breeding the cpds and could also pull out and put in breed specific tank when want to breed and raise babies let nature do its thing when not ready. I have a 40 breeder and two 20 longs to deal with any issues that arise. I am just not sure if the harassment will stress the female as they care for their young a bit at first wouldn't feel good about that.

Other option I think would be male only tank but not sure how to go about that how many what breed or if my tank would work. The wet spot in Portland is my local go to and they have a good selection and online store pickup that updates often. Would I need to buy all males at same time for tank or could I take my time get one by one when I see a fish that I vibe with? Any advice would be much appreciated, I really love these fish and am super excited to get one but want to make sure I do it right so it is a good experience for all.

 

[briankolb243]

I forgot to add temps 76 F but can increase I'd needed.

 

[anewbie]

If male only you can find a species that works. As for parameters it depends on the species for apistogramma is a genus and there are many different species with different requirements. Whenever someone ask 'is this ok for apistogramma' i tell them they probably should go with borelli since they have a lack of background. Apistrogramma have some advantages as they are colourful, very flexible with regards to tank parameters (gh/kh/ph/tds/temp), and less aggressive than many species. They will work quite easily with your setup esp as male only. In a 75 that is not over populated you could easily keep 3 males with your scaping. If you want to breed them i would use a dedicated tank - the 20 long would be more than large enough for a male and 2 females with some dithers like ember tetra, kubotai rasbora or various species of pencil fishes.

 

[briankolb243]

If male only you can find a species that works. As for parameters it depends on the species for apistogramma is a genus and there are many different species with different requirements. Whenever someone ask 'is this ok for apistogramma' i tell them they probably should go with borelli since they have a lack of background. Apistrogramma have some advantages as they are colourful, very flexible with regards to tank parameters (gh/kh/ph/tds/temp), and less aggressive than many species. They will work quite easily with your setup esp as male only. In a 75 that is not over populated you could easily keep 3 males with your scaping. If you want to breed them i would use a dedicated tank - the 20 long would be more than large enough for a male and 2 females with some dithers like ember tetra, kubotai rasbora or various species of pencil fishes.

Thank you I appreciate the response, I think that sounds like a great plan, one thing I an wondering is should I get 3 at same time add together or introduce one at a time over longer time span?

 

[anewbie]

Thank you I appreciate the response, I think that sounds like a great plan, one thing I an wondering is should I get 3 at same time add together or introduce one at a time over longer time span?

My view is it is best to get 3 at the same time as later on they might establish territories and be less friendly to new commers. Btw in my paragraph I meant to write apistogramma borelli not apistogramma...

 

[briankolb243]

My view is it is best to get 3 at the same time as later on they might establish territories and be less friendly to new commers. Btw in my paragraph I meant to write apistogramma borelli not apistogramma...

Thank you so much that is really helpful!