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I am not 100% sure about these species, but they do live "nearby" if not together with Ap. borellii..
- Hyphessobrycon elachys.. a tiny tetra, 2-3cm. (Paraguay river drainage in Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay.)
- Corydoras hastatus.. if I am correctly informed they actually do join together with the H. elachys ..disquised as "tetras"??. (Found in the Amazon basin in Brazil and Rio Paraguay basin in Brazil, Bolivia and Argentina.)
- Otothyropsis piribebuy... a small catfish..very nice and effective in eating some algae. (Río Piribebuy and río Aguaray, rio Paraguay basin in Paraguay.)
My LFS(Local Fish Store) keep the elachys+hastatus together with a couple of Ap.borellii "opal" in a small tank(40-50 liters) with no problems.. Have a look at them and you will see how similar they look in their black markings on the base of the caudal fin..
In my Apisto book "South American Dwarf Cichlids" by Hans J.Mayland and Dieter Bork , they mention some plants found with the borellii.. Mayland found Ap.borellii in "relatively shallow gullies whose waters was covered especially by Eichhorina azurea".
Other plants that "occasionally can be found in the lagoons" are Cyperus californicus, C. reflexus and Limnanthenum humboldtianum .
The borelli is one of the Apistos that seem to live in/tolerate cooler water temperatures seasonally..
They also mention that.. " In many habitats of this species, a rich aquatic vegetation can be found - in the water and at its surface".
I hope you can use this info in your continued biotope research ..
I know about the difficulty to get the hastatus.. But.. they were recently availible on a German wholesale list.. (2weeks ago!!)
I believe these were wild specimens.. several "Cory"-breeders here became very excited!!!!
The elachys were also present on that list.. Probably caught together I guess!!??
Maybe you can order them from/via someone on this forum.. ????