Apistogramma for community tanks?

[Neil Groves]

Hey guys....

i'm new to this forum and indeed keeping Apistogramma....

My question is can I keep these little fish in a community tank and still expect them to breed and raise their young?
Primarily I just love the bright colours of these little fish and will enjoy just sitting watching their antics but I also
hear they can breed in the aquarium but my concern was the other community fish would eat the eggs/fry, that being the case I would set up a tank just for them which brings me to stocking levels, my immediate thought is to use a 45g corner tank or a 55g standard aquarium with 2 females and 4-6 males, can I add more than that? my first purchase will be Apistogramma Agassizii for red/orange colours and Apistogramma Pulchra for blues....

Can someone please give me an idea for what I need, can I keep these two types of fish in the same tank and maybe a third one down the road?

thankyou

Neil.

 

[Neil Groves]

Oh and suggestions for tankmates please if that is possible?

can I keep a single pair in a 12g cube?

Neil.

 

[Mike Wise]

My stock answer (some here call it my mantra): A community tank is not a breeding tank.

That being said, yes you can keep apistos in a properly decorated community aquarium with well delineated territorial boundaries for each cichlid. Yes, they will breed and (at least try to) raise fry in a community tank. Success depends on the other fish in the community. In a typical community of fishes you'll be lucky to raise more than 3-6 fry from a spawn. If you restrict your community to only species that are not predatory on eggs/fry, then your community tank becomes a breeding tank. The number of specimens really depends on the aquarium size, how it is decorated, and the apisto species. Personally, I would choose a ratio of 1 male / 2-3 females for most species.