Apisto borelli

[Ij7760]

Setting up a four foot tank with plenty of caves and bog wood and rocks do you think it possible to keep two males with maybe three to five females..the only other fish in the tank will be a group of dither fish.

 

[anewbie]

Setting up a four foot tank with plenty of caves and bog wood and rocks do you think it possible to keep two males with maybe three to five females..the only other fish in the tank will be a group of dither fish.

Borelli yes - maybe even 3 males. There are several people who keep colony if borelli in smaller aquarium such as @Samala who can probably give you some first hand tips. Here thread is here:

Borellii Colony

A little update from my fish room on the Borellii colony I started about year ago. This is a US 40gal (roughly 120x30x40cm) with a handful of Nannostomus beckfordi and originally one pair of Borellii. My last good count is closer to 15 Borellii (one pair, one young adult male that I'm...

www.apistogramma.com

 

[Mike Wise]

I personally wouldn't try it, but try it and let us know how it works for you. My (conservative) view is a 1ft/30cm diameter territory per apisto. This can be expanded or contracted depending on one's experience with apistos and the apisto species.

 

[Ij7760]

So maybe one male and three females maybe ok…I do have experience with apistos I thought I may get away with two males in the tank but maybe not.
I have bred them before but all the young were eaten by other fish in the tank.(the tank was a planted tank a bit of a South American community tank)
do You know if cardinal tetras or rummy nose tetras would eat apisto fry.

 

[anewbie]

So maybe one male and three females maybe ok…I do have experience with apistos I thought I may get away with two males in the tank but maybe not.
I have bred them before but all the young were eaten by other fish in the tank.(the tank was a planted tank a bit of a South American community tank)
do You know if cardinal tetras or rummy nose tetras would eat apisto fry.

Yes both rummy and esp cardinals will go after frys. Pencil fishes seem to be the recommended dither; though I've had luck with ember tetra and kubotai rasbora. People say ember will eat frys - i had luck with ember and a. pucallpaensis though i suppose they might have eaten a few frys after mom stopped protecting them.

 

[MacZ]

You know if cardinal tetras or rummy nose tetras would eat apisto fry.

In my experience the only fry safe tetras are small species like Tucanoichthys. That size category should be ok. But there's no guarantee.

 

[Mike Wise]

Cardinals and Rummys are both well known fry predators. Coming from blackwater habitats, where few insect larvae and crustaceans can readily survive, both species have become adept at predating on any small organism. If you watch them feed in a tank, they do the same with a school of fry. An apisto female just can't compete. She will drive one off and the rest of the tetras will take advantage of her absence.