Apisto's in Community Tank?

[Kursat Ufuk Coskun]

Hello friends. Sorry for my English first, if I wrong. I have some Apisto's and I want to make a community tank.

I have one pair Cacatuoides, one pair Panduro, one pair Baenschi, one pair Macmasteri and one pair Agassizii Fire Red. I also have 3 tanks. The biggest one is 34G. Others are 11G.

Here is my 34G tank:

Genel by Kursat Ufuk Coskun

So, which species should I choose for the community tank?

For example:

11G -> Apistogramma Panduro
11G -> Apistogramma Baenschi (My Baenschi's are sometimes sooo aggresive)
34G -> Apistogramma Agassizii, Apistogramma Macmasteri, Apistogramma Cacatuoides

Is it a good choice?

Thank you...

 

[Mike Wise]

Personally my preference for apistos in a community tank is to mix only males with different body or fin shapes. When adding mixed sexes you are setting up opportunities for breeding - and all the inter- and intraspecies aggression problems that occur in cichlids.

 

[Russ Hennessey]

i agree with Mike. I have a couple of community tanks that have stray apistos in them and they get along...but I always put only single sex of each species and keep the count low and have long and low tank so lots of area for territories.
Aso, If you put any pair in there you risk them starting to breed and then all hell can break loose. With your tank sizes it will be hard to keep more than 2-4 apistos total without territory problems.
BTW - nice aquascape on the 34g!!

 

[Paulvechkin]

My 20G
2x Apisto Steel Blue
9x Cardinal Tetra
2x Nerite
5x Amano Shrimp

My 55G
20x Black neons
4x Peruvian Angels
2x Apisto Panduro (pair)
1x Rubber Lip Pleco

If you can't care about your fry surviving they make fine community fish, at least the two species I have.

 

[hayxoxhay]

Hello friends. Sorry for my English first, if I wrong. I have some Apisto's and I want to make a community tank.

I have one pair Cacatuoides, one pair Panduro, one pair Baenschi, one pair Macmasteri and one pair Agassizii Fire Red. I also have 3 tanks. The biggest one is 34G. Others are 11G.

Here is my 34G tank:

Genel by Kursat Ufuk Coskun

So, which species should I choose for the community tank?

For example:

11G -> Apistogramma Panduro
11G -> Apistogramma Baenschi (My Baenschi's are sometimes sooo aggresive)
34G -> Apistogramma Agassizii, Apistogramma Macmasteri, Apistogramma Cacatuoides

Is it a good choice?

Thank you...

Hello friends. Sorry for my English first, if I wrong. I have some Apisto's and I want to make a community tank.

I have one pair Cacatuoides, one pair Panduro, one pair Baenschi, one pair Macmasteri and one pair Agassizii Fire Red. I also have 3 tanks. The biggest one is 34G. Others are 11G.

Here is my 34G tank:

Genel by Kursat Ufuk Coskun

So, which species should I choose for the community tank?

For example:

11G -> Apistogramma Panduro
11G -> Apistogramma Baenschi (My Baenschi's are sometimes sooo aggresive)
34G -> Apistogramma Agassizii, Apistogramma Macmasteri, Apistogramma Cacatuoides

Is it a good choice?

Thank you...

What did you end up doing? did you keep all the apisto pairs together and if so, did they get along well?

 

[MacZ]

Doubt we will ever know, the user hasn't been online for almost 5 years. But who knows.

 

[hayxoxhay]

Doubt we will ever know, the user hasn't been online for almost 5 years. But who knows.

oh bummer. thanks for informing me !!

 

[MacZ]

Freely available info if you had looked at their profile. The thread is from 2016, the user still has "new member" status.

 

[hayxoxhay]

Freely available info if you had looked at their profile. The thread is from 2016, the user still has "new member" status.

yeah sorry Im just new to this site and dont know how to use it properly.

 

[datemike]

Personally my preference for apistos in a community tank is to mix only males with different body or fin shapes. When adding mixed sexes you are setting up opportunities for breeding - and all the inter- and intraspecies aggression problems that occur in cichlids.

I'm interested in a list of species of males you could mix in a 75g long.

 

[Mike Wise]

There are over 500 species/forms of apistogramma. The question should be "a list of species of males that you personally would like to mix in a 75g long."

 

[MacZ]

The question should be "a list of species of males that you personally would like to mix in a 75g long."

And add the factors "that are in your budget and obtainable".

(I personally don't like to mix.)

 

[datemike]

There are over 500 species/forms of apistogramma. The question should be "a list of species of males that you personally would like to mix in a 75g long."

agassizi/baenschi/viejita/borelli/panduro/ortegai/trifasciata/macmasteri have been the species that i'm most interested in, i'm just having a hard time finding good information on the specific behaviors of each one.

found information online mostly on borelli, baenschi, trifasciata and macmasteri (with the latter 3 looking like they are maybe a no go altogether due to aggression).

i've had less success finding information on other species and their behaviors however. i need to search more on this forum and probably order a couple books on apistogramma. google has not been so helpful, outside of helping me find this website which has been wonderful.

any books on apistogramma that you can suggest for me?

 

[MacZ]

agassizi/baenschi/viejita/borelli/panduro/ortegai/trifasciata/macmasteri have been the species that i'm most interested in, i'm just having a hard time finding good information on the specific behaviors of each one.

Viejita is a common tradename for macmasteri and true A. viejita are kind of a rarity.

Behaviour is pretty similar for most. Especially when you only want to add a bachelor group there is basically no difference. In your list I see two outliers. A. borellii are especially docile and A. trifasciata especially aggressive. The rest is nuances of grey. I think you are overestimating the individuality in terms of social behaviour in Apistogramma. It is all very similar, comparable to how Mbuna are very similar in behaviour to each other.

For books use the search, we have a thread for that, but I don't have the time to search myself right now.
Otherwise take a look at seriouslyfish.

 

[datemike]

thanks again mac, you've been a help like always. i read a couple horror stories about some of these species so i was under the impression they each had their own quirks and temperaments. i've been using seriouslyfish for a great deal of my reading and its been helpful but sometimes a bit sparse with information depending on the fish.

i'll look for the book recommendations on here and see if i can purchase some this weekend.

 

[MacZ]

i read a couple horror stories about some of these species so i was under the impression they each had their own quirks and temperaments.

Always make sure you have SEEN the tank (at least a picture) and know the dimensions. Sometimes it's a classic "tank too small, no structures" thing and the owners were simply inconsiderate or badly advised and wanted a bigger bite than they could chew. And then they tell the fish were hyper aggressive to cover up that they messed up the tank.