apisto's with my angel?

[snakeskinner]

hey fellas, just stumbled across your website and am hoping you can be of more help than some of the other more varied sites. I've got a 65 gallon tank I just set up and it's going through its cycle. I used about 2-3" of pool filter sand across about 2/3 of the floor and gravel for the remaining 1/3. I placed 2 terra cotta pots partly buried on each end of the sandy area and placed about a 6" long, 4" tall flat rock inbetween the pots as a visual blocker between the two. I have planted several plants in the sandy area but not near to the extent of some of the "planted" tanks I've seen on the net because I don't have near enough lighting. I also have a coconut half "hermit crab house" placed near the dividing wall inbetween the pots. On the rocky area, I used several pieces of flatrock to fashion a few caves along the bottom and refrained from planting this area. I am attempting to get java moss to grow across all the rocks for hiding places for any fry I may end up with. Fish I have or plan to have in this tank include dwarf neon rainbows, celebese rainbows, threadfin rainbows, red irian rainbow, lake kutubu and boesmani rainbows and possibly another species or two if my wife finds any she likes. She also has a pair of congo tetras, a pair of golden panchax (killifish basically) and a lone young angel of unknown sex. the angel is about 2" long right now so it's got a lot of time before it reaches maturity. I had a pair of 1" blue rams but the male only made it about 2 weeks before he died from no aparent reason but the female seems to be doing fine, now. If the female does survive I will probably keep the rams in this tank as well but if she doesn't, I'm considering a different dwarf cichlid to keep. I like the cockatoo's and think I can probably find some if I wanted to. Do you think the angel would bother a trio of cockatoo's? is there another apisto that might be better suited for this job? I am also checking into Kribs but am leary about their attitudes. I hear a lot of spawning kribs taking over the tank but I've been told the fullgrown angel might bother the kribs so I'm undecided what to think about that. I would rather keep with another s/a dwarf than the krib if possible. thanks for any tips, Kyle

 

[aspen]

hi kyle. almost any apisto species would do well in a tank like that. i would suggest one of the easier or more common species like cacatuoides, a trio or quad would be nice. i am not a fan of keeping multiple males of any dwarf species together, one usually gets killed.

remember, that angel will be the boss of that tank, and trying to breed apistos in there will likely end up with the fry as food for the angel. angels will also sometimes kill smaller tetra species (neons, cardinals etc), so keep that in mind. my discus have even killed congo tetras. this will depend on how thickly you populate that tank, and how agressive the angel is. leave lots of corners and protected areas for the females to defend.

rick

 

[snakeskinner]

sounds good. the angel keeps to herself right now but she's young so that could change. I hope that since it'll be full of rainbows and such that are constantly moving, it'll keep the angel busy and un-interested in the dwarf's I end up with. I'm not too set on raising fry although it would please me if some were to survive so I'm not really worried about that matter. My main concern is the fish I buy, breeding is just a bonus. thanks for the tips, Kyle