Hello all! My apartment only allows me to have 5 gallon tanks but does not restrict the number of such tanks I could have; thus, I was wondering if I could keep a lone apisto in a 5 gallon and move it in with its mate when I wanted to spawn it. To clarify...let's say I have two tanks, tank A and tank B. Tank A would have a male (probably A. borelli, my favorite apisto) and tank B would have a female of the same species. If I wanted to spawn them, I would move the male to the female's tank, wait for them to spawn, then remove the male back to his own tank. Would this work? Or would even a lone apisto be crammed for space in a 5 gallon?
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Apistos for a 5 gallon? (PLEASE read whole post)
- Thread starter Joshaeus
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- Denver, Colorado, U.S.A.
It really depends on how experienced with dwarf cichlids you are. A. borellii should be workable, as would one of the resticulosa-complex species like A. sp. Wangenflecken. The ideal pair for a 5 is A. wapisana, but it rarely comes into the hobby (and isn't that 'showy').
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- 11,217
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The problem is not tank maintenance and water quality, but more about recognizing dangerous cichlid behavior in apistos.
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- Germany, Kassel
I have done something similar. I had a 5 gallon aquarium with 35x20 cm bottom area and it only had the male Apistogramma cf. ortegai (Pebas). The female was in a bigger aquarium with her fry until they were 3-4 months old. After that, I separated the female from the fry and moved her to the 5 gallon too. The pair was already peaceful when they were together (except when fry started moving around outside the female would chase the male away and I had to remove him to this very 5 gallon tank), but I still kept an eye on the pair. The tank did not contain many decoration or any plants, only a cup filled with ADA Amazonia, a "pleco cave" for hiding and a coconut shell as the spawning cave. The pair didn't have any problems in this aquarium for around a month, after which the female laid eggs and I removed the male. The female did raise the fry in the 5 gallon for a few weeks and then I removed the fry to a bigger aquarium.
For this example, only problem with the small aquarium was the nitrate production rate after I started feeding artemia to the fry, so I made nearly 50% RO water changes every other day and didn't continue with this aquarium for raising the fry after maybe 4-6 weeks passed. I actually can't remember exactly how long it was that they stayed in 5 gallon with the mother because I had the temperature fixed at 23 celcius for the fry to be mostly females, so they grew quite slowly buy steady, it may have even been 8 weeks until they reached 8-10mm lenght.
But of course, I would recommend as big of an aquarium (or several aquariums) as possible for raising the fry in a healthy way (even though tank size is only one of the many main factors in fry growth and health).
But, beware. As Mike said, it is more about recognizing dangerous cichlid behavior in apistos. I once had a new pair of Apistogramma mendezi and put them together in a 7 gallon tank (40x25 cm bottom area). The female stayed hidden under the wood and plants nearly all the time and after 2-3 weeks passed, I saw the male chasing the female and a few bitten off parts on her tail and immediately removed the male. I kept the female alone in there. After she grew the tail into the normal condition and grew in size, I moved her to the males aquarium (a 12 gallon, 55x35 cm bottom area) and they did not have any harmful/stressful aggressive behavior towards each other ever again (no fry yet).
I also once had a pair of agassizii in a 20 gallon (70x35 bottom area) with an adequate amount of wood and caves as hiding places, but I was new to Apistos (around 4 years ago). I did not realize the aggression and the male bit off some of the females tail rays nearly from the flesh, which led to an open wound and she was infected with fungus (and probably also bacterial diseases etc.) and died in a horrible condition. The second female I put in after that did well and had fry with the very same male in the very same aquarium. If a male was this aggressive now, I wouldn't put a new female without changing the decoration and maybe removing the male from the aquarium (for the female to get used to the aquarium before having to deal with the male).
So, basically, pairs might live together or kill each other in a 5 gallon or 20 gallon. The size and decoration helps, but doesn't always prevent abuse and (accidental?) murder. You need to watch their behavior and health and separate the pair if there seems to be a dangerous behavior or health problems, body damage etc. There is no way to tell for sure if a pair will be compatible before you put them together (if there is a way/a few ways, I do not know it/them yet).
For this example, only problem with the small aquarium was the nitrate production rate after I started feeding artemia to the fry, so I made nearly 50% RO water changes every other day and didn't continue with this aquarium for raising the fry after maybe 4-6 weeks passed. I actually can't remember exactly how long it was that they stayed in 5 gallon with the mother because I had the temperature fixed at 23 celcius for the fry to be mostly females, so they grew quite slowly buy steady, it may have even been 8 weeks until they reached 8-10mm lenght.
But of course, I would recommend as big of an aquarium (or several aquariums) as possible for raising the fry in a healthy way (even though tank size is only one of the many main factors in fry growth and health).
But, beware. As Mike said, it is more about recognizing dangerous cichlid behavior in apistos. I once had a new pair of Apistogramma mendezi and put them together in a 7 gallon tank (40x25 cm bottom area). The female stayed hidden under the wood and plants nearly all the time and after 2-3 weeks passed, I saw the male chasing the female and a few bitten off parts on her tail and immediately removed the male. I kept the female alone in there. After she grew the tail into the normal condition and grew in size, I moved her to the males aquarium (a 12 gallon, 55x35 cm bottom area) and they did not have any harmful/stressful aggressive behavior towards each other ever again (no fry yet).
I also once had a pair of agassizii in a 20 gallon (70x35 bottom area) with an adequate amount of wood and caves as hiding places, but I was new to Apistos (around 4 years ago). I did not realize the aggression and the male bit off some of the females tail rays nearly from the flesh, which led to an open wound and she was infected with fungus (and probably also bacterial diseases etc.) and died in a horrible condition. The second female I put in after that did well and had fry with the very same male in the very same aquarium. If a male was this aggressive now, I wouldn't put a new female without changing the decoration and maybe removing the male from the aquarium (for the female to get used to the aquarium before having to deal with the male).
So, basically, pairs might live together or kill each other in a 5 gallon or 20 gallon. The size and decoration helps, but doesn't always prevent abuse and (accidental?) murder. You need to watch their behavior and health and separate the pair if there seems to be a dangerous behavior or health problems, body damage etc. There is no way to tell for sure if a pair will be compatible before you put them together (if there is a way/a few ways, I do not know it/them yet).
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