Apisto hongsloi Aggression? Temp? Bottom dwellers?

[riverbox]

Came across some hongsloi in my LFS and I'm instantly hooked.
Need to know all about them.
Currently my plan is to keep a group of 4-5 but I'm not sure how males will fare with each other. Another option is to pair them up with some bolivian rams.

Tank size hasn't been decided yet but they'll be temporarily stored in a 40 gallon and I'll be open to anything under 90 gallons for their next tank as it will be a planted community tank with them as the centerpiece.

However, I'm having trouble planning out the rest of the tank. I'm hearing mixed reports of temperature such as keeping them 80+ as thats the "natural temp" or around 75 to lengthen their lifespan. Because I want other fish that would thrive at their temperature, I have been at a roadblock in this regard. I think they only live in a restricted area in the wild so I'm not sure if there are schooling fish they are sympatric with.

Also, I'd assume I can't do bottom feeders. This is primarily a community tank and I have smaller tanks for rearing fry, but when they get their breeding aggression, I've read they will poke eyes out of cories so I don't think cories + apisto will be doable. Are there any bottom feeders that are doable?

 

[MacZ]

Don't do a group unless you have the room. Roughly 60cm diameter for a male territory, 30cm diameter for females, make sure it's structured fittingly.

I can confirm that a breeding female can and will chase away a male four times her size and every other fish that comes too close to her cave is also going to be attacked. When a female is not in breeding mode the tables turn and males tend to chase the females quite roughly. Due to an accident I lost my female and ultimately decided to keep the male alone. Tankmates are pencilfish and cardinal tetras. Interestingly while he leaves alone the cardinals, he does mock-attacks on the pencils when they are too low in the water column.
Generally no bottom dwellers with Apistos, it's not just that the cichlids attack them. When the bottomdwellers (be it catfish or loaches none of them understand the warning signs) enter the Apistos territory that also stresses out the Apisto. So it's a vicious cycle. I kept A. ortegai together with C. habrosus for a brief time, the situation was only solved when I rehomed the cories.

I keep mine between 24 and 26 °C with no problems. GH 2, KH 0, pH ~6, TDS ~40, EC ~90.

 

[anewbie]

Hongsloi are harem breeder - so you can keep several females with a male. In a 40B you might be able to establish 2 groups if the tank is well landscaped. My experience is a bit different than MacZ. I've had my hongsloi in a 29 for 1 year now. No deaths. I have 2 males and 2 females (at purchase time they were unsexed). The second male gets along though he does darken up a lot and spend time on top of the sponge fitler. The female when breeding will signal the male to stay away and he will back off - actual physical contact when I have watched has been minimal to non-existant with darting or signals enough of a warning. This is their tank; the picture are from back in april and things have been filling out nicely so it is a bit more densely planted.