apistogramma cacatuoides biotope

[Mr. Friendly]

hello everyone! I've been out of aquariums for close onto 10 years, but have thought about starting up a tank for some apistogramma cacatuoides, as they fascinated me then and still do today. my previous tank was a planted 20gal with 2 male Bolivian ram's, a smattering of neon tetra's and a couple of small pleco and two catfish...their name eludes my memory at the moment.

anyhow, it wasn't a biotope and I really would like to get as close to that when I restart, but I have a couple of concerns.

a) to keep their sanity, there should be at least three in a tank. I haven't the slightest interest in breeding, so I don't really want any females in there, but don't know how small a tank I can get away with to house 3 males. I live in a small bachelor pad, so I don't have the room for some of the bigger options out there.

b) also need to know what other fish I can include, that would live with these guys in the wild...same thing for the plant life. I have a lot to learn...media for the bottom, what filtration is best, heater (I've had a heater go wild on me and cook a tank once. I never want that to happen again!) etc.

of course, being given the answers up front is cool, but I'm not afraid to read and decide for myself, so if there is good reference material I can/should read, please, point me in the right direction!

I'm eager to learn, so thank you up front for your patience and assistance!

 

[Mr. Friendly]

I may be blind...but I don't see an 'edit' button to add more to my original post, so here goes another. I've just read the information here: http://www.seriouslyfish.com/species/Apistogramma-cacatuoides

it's essentially answered everything above about the type of environment I need to replicate, so I just need to find out more about how big a tank I need for the fish. it gives measurements in that article, but only two are provided...what two are they? depth, width or height? it's also gives a bit of a contradiction in saying what tank size is good for the caca's, and then says that the red pencilfish is a good dither fish, which happens to need a much larger tank. *shakes head*

anyhow...I know answers will come in time!

 

[lastOne]

Having 3 males in the tank will force 2 of them to lose color and pretend they are females.

As for tank size... the bigger you can fit/afford the better.

 

[davidjp1982]

Although you may not be interested in breeding I think if you are going to have 3 then 1 male and 2 females will make for a happier mix and enjoyable behaviour to watch.

 

[davidjp1982]

I would suggest a 15 gallon if you only want 3 fish with sand substrate and a filter with low flow. Plants wise I would go for easy care plants such as frog bit and water wisteria maybe bacopa, low maintainence plants that don't need co2.

 

[davidjp1982]

Also regarding tank dimensions a "long and low" tank is better than cube or tall tank as they will generally stick to the bottom and the larger surface area helps with oxygenation

 

[Mr. Friendly]

thank you for the answers. I'm thinking of getting Fluval's 45gal bow tank. I live in a very small bachelor pad, but I think I can give up the space for that.

 

[Mike Wise]

You should be fine with a 45 bowfront. As for biotope? If you buy the commercially available red/orange strains, then their natural biotope will be one with sand bottom and flowerpot caves!

 

[Mr. Friendly]

LOL, so true! I'm not sure what strain of caca's I can get locally yet.