Apisto with Peacock Gudgeon?

[Rycraft]

So I had a bonded pair of A. Velifera. They were getting along great for months. The male was occasionally aggressive but nothing out of the ordinary. A few weeks ago that shifted and the female started suddenly harassing him like crazy. I thought maybe she was getting some revenge (I never saw any eggs) so I didn't think of it too much since he was quite larger than her. Long story short the next day after the dynamic changed I found him tucked behind some plants in a bad state. I tried to save him but was not able to.

So wondering what my options are here? A. Velifera is not common and I know that usually the female chooses the male so finding another male and then getting this female to accept it seems slim. I have read that Peacock Gudgeons can work with Apistogramma. Anyone have any experience with this? The female is a little over two inches and outside of the occasional flaring at the ember tetras she's very calm. I have two separate caves in the tank. As you can see from the attached pic there is a lot of plant cover and places to swim in and out of. Tank is 20 gallons

If anyone has other ideas for tank mates I would be interested to hear those as well. Or should I just have her enjoy her peace as the only larger fish in the tank?

Tank stocking: 1 female A. Velifera, 14 ember tetras, 4 otos, some Amanos and snails.

 

[Rycraft]

I should also add my LFS does get in A. Borelli quite often. Would mixing a male Borelli with the female Velifera work or is that asking for trouble?

 

[MacZ]

I think due to the footprint of your tank and the scape there is too little "real estate" for another bottom dweller. I'd just let the A. velifera live out it's life and only then replace it. Apistos rarely crack the 4 years, so that amount of patience would be no big deal.

I know a german fish youtuber that had the gudgeons together with A. borellii (I think, he had two very similar looking tanks...), but the tank had at least a footprint of 150x40cm, so no comparison to your 20 gallon.