Apisto + Loricariidae ?

[SteinG]

Does anyone know of any apisto specie that lives in natural habitat with any catfish from the Loricariidae family?

I am to dedicate my tank to one apisto, and would love to also keep a couple of catfish if I find any that live in the small creeks with any apisto. No fish in the tank yet.
From what I have found out, f.ex certain agassizii types live together with L-232, L-146, L-205.

 

[dw1305]

L numbers

Hi all,
Stein, have a look on "Planet Catfish" for the Loricariids you are interested in, you can find which watershed they come from in the "Cat-elog".

However a lot of Loricariids come from areas of higher flow in the big white/clear water rivers, where Apistogrammas are usually absent.

I keep Otocinclus with my fish, and others keep Parotocinclus. I've also kept small Panaque species (L002), without any problem.

I also think Ancistrus claro (LDA 08) and Apistogramma trifasciata, inconspicua, borrelli etc. would be a good "biotope" mix, and if I stop wasting my money paying the mortgage, feeding the children, putting petrol in the car etc. I'm going to try this is in a bigger tank.

cheers Darrel

 

[Apistomaster]

The planetcatfish site has selective search functions that allow you to select to show which catfish come from a particular river system, size range and temperature ranges which can narrow your appropriate choices down.

I keep and breed a variety of SA Dwarf Cichlids and Callichthyidae, Loricaridae and Ancistrini catfish but size and temperature are my most important criteria. I like them to be small and warmth loving although my Sturisoma do get rather long, they aren't very massive.
I don't worry much about whether or not they come from the same places as long as they are otherwise compatible. I guess I do try to keep my Amazonian fish together and those from the Orinoco drainage together but not absolutely.
All my Plecos are small species of Hypancistrus or Peckoltia which reach about 3-1/2 inches maximum TL except my L333 which are about 4 inches. I also raise Royal Farlowella, Sturisoma aureum. My L134 Leopard Frog plecos are my most productive but I also get a few broods of L260 Queen Arabesque Plecos fairly regularly. I do not combine any of the catfish and Dwarf Cichlids when I am attempting to spawn either. The catfish will eat Dwarf Cichlid eggs and the Dwarf Cichlids are likely to kill newly free swimming Catfish.

 

[SteinG]

Thanks for the info.
I ended up on Borellii and Rineloricaria Parva. They can be found in the same side lakes to Rio Paraguay, so they like the same water (temp, ph and so on)
And these whiptail cat fishes don't fight about the same caves (as with many other loricariidaes) that I have made for the Borellii, so I think it will be a good combination.
The Borellii is in the tank now (just 2-3cm yet), 1 male and 3 females. It's a 260 L tank, so they have lots of space. Haven't got the Parva yet, no rush.
I hope it can work out to breed both in this tank (if nature wants it that way We'll see.

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,
Sounds really good, are you going to keep any "dithers"? we had thread on tetras from the Rio Paraguay basin, but I can't remember which they were, other than Aphyocharax rathbuni (lovely, but not very suitable).

I think Hemiloricaria parva breeds in caves?

cheers Darrel

 

[SteinG]

Parva breeds in hollow roots and trees (in other words, long and tight "caves"..preferably twice the length of the fish as I have heard..). So I am making either all natural ones out of root, or just covering up a plastic tube or similar... The grown up parvas are also too long to get inside the small caves I have for my borelliis. So I hope and believe this setup will work, so I can keep both species.

I have thought about dithers, but I think I am going to skip those to increase the chances of eggs and newly hatched borelliis to survive in the tank I guess I have to take them out anyway though... I have a small tank ready for any youngsters if I'll need that.
Dithers would put a nice final tough to the visual aspect of the tank, but that's not a priority. Any info/pics on people who keep borelliis and a spesific tetra from rio paraguay basin would be interesting to see though.

 

[dw1305]

Tetras

Hi Stein,
I successfully keep a tetra from the Rio Paraquay basin (Hyphessobrycon herbertaxelrodi - Black neon tetra) with Apistogramma cacatuoides, and I've successfully kept tetras, adults and fry from several generations together in the same 65l tank. I like very complex, weedy tanks with lots of caves and bog wood.

I'm also not sure whether A. borelli and H. herbertaxelrodi occur together in the wild?

My only experience of keeping A. borelli was a pair in a very small tank dithered with cherry shrimps, not very biotope but a successful combination.

cheers Darrel