Agassizi with macmasteri, a bad idea?

[danbb]

I'm thinking to keep two pairs, one agassizi and one macmasteri in 100 l tank. I don't have a empty tank for the second, the only solution for them to be alone is a 25 l tank, wich is very little.
Can this setup work fine?
Is about this tank (this is how it looks now):

 

[regani]

100L is maybe on the small side for a pair each. The two species are different enough that they may tolerate each other but the males may still try to claim the whole tank for themselves. Once a female has eggs or fry you will have additional aggression.
To make it work you will have to have some visual barriers in the middle so that no fish can see the whole tank and claim it as his/hers. You will also need some cover with caves along the opposite sides of the tank for territories. I would also include some structures (branches and plants) in the upper parts of the tank where fish that loose are on the loosing side of an argument can hide for a while.

 

[Mike Wise]

Regani, well put!

 

[danbb]

I will try to do anything to make it work. The bad news for the next arrivals (macmasteri pair) is that the agassizi female has just spawned a day ago so I expect extra agression from them.

 

[regani]

You can add a few pieces of floating pipe as additional safe spots for the first couple of weeks until things settle down.
What they can't see they don't chase or try to kill...

 

[danbb]

I don't have floating pipe but I'll try with more surface plants. Thanks.

 

[Mike Wise]

Harassed fish can't really hide in floating plants. A floating pipe is basically a cave in a different territory. It should be only a temporary refuge until you can remove the fish to another tank.

 

[danbb]

Today I will receive the macmasteri pair and hope for the best between them and agassizi pair. If is necessary I'll try to find some floating pipe. Thanks.

 

[danbb]

Too much aggression from agassizi, so I remove them and left the macmasteri pair. I have not remove the agassizi and redecorate the tank before reintroduce the pairs, but keeping the pairs separately seems to be the best option.

 

[jumpmaster]

What are your tank measurements? If you want to keep several species of apistos you will need a large enough tank to accommodate several territories.

It is also important to have lots of hiding spots and breaks in the line of sight

 

[danbb]

The tank is small: 80 length, 27 on the sizes/32 in the middle width, 40 high (cm). I have removed some of the wood, so now it looks like in the picture above (plus some vallisneria americana), there are some hiding places but just didn't work with both species.

 

[jumpmaster]

First of all, it is a beautiful tank. I think that your particular set up won't work with several species. Whilst you have hiding spaces, there is not enough breaks in the line if sight. As for size, I would say it is on the small side to house several species, especially once they start breeding

 

[danbb]

Thanks. I guessed that the chances are very small considering the size and configuration of the tank, but I said to try.

 

[danbb]

I found some pipe, I made it to float and... really works. The macmasteri female is chased a lot from my crazy male and today I saw the female resting in one of the pipes. To make her life easier, I'll add some more drift wood.

 

[regani]

Extra driftwood and plants to provide more cover are always good for any apisto tank.
Glad to see that it works out for you.

 

[danbb]

Done.