Cacatuoides with Atahualpas???

[Cyn1k]

Hello all, I'm new to this forum and actually joined specifically to get your opinions on adding 1m and 1f Cacatuoides to a tank already housing 1m and 1f Atahualpa (if not cacs what about other apisto species?).

My tank is 55g with a Fluval C4 & C3. It has natural rock (pagoda stone) stacked into 2 separate caves. There is driftwood and an African root(?) shaped like a large arch doorway. There and a couple of cichlid stones and a resin Pagoda on top of the pagoda stone . The "plants" are plastic. Substrate is a gravel that is slightly larger and more jagged than traditional coated aquarium gravel (this wasn't a good choice for the species in the tank but I didn't know any better at the time and have no interest in changing the substrate at this stage).

The current stock is 2 Atahualpa (1m, 1f - not paired), 4 Green Laser Corys, 30 Rummy nose Tetras.

I have been waiting a very long time for a shipment of Cacatuoides to arrive at my LFS and they are arriving next week. (It had been so many months which is the reason I added the gorgeous atahualpas when I saw them at a specialty shop).

My male Atahualpa is slightly aggressive, in that he will chase the other fish (except never the Rummys) if the mood strikes him. That said he has never ever done any damage whatsoever. He chases and might butt them on the odd occasion but never anything more than that. Also the Cory's seem to find his chasing fun as they like to constantly swim in front of his face encouraging the chase, over and over again. No fish has ever died or been visibly injured in this tank. They all seem to understand their place and get along relatively well.

--> Should Cacatuoides be compatible in this tank with Atahualpa? If not what other apistos might work better?? (I HAVE NO INTEREST IN BREEDING).

 

[Cyn1k]

No replies at all?

Bump

 

[Mike Wise]

A. atahualpa tend to be much more aggressive compared to A. cacatuoides. In a 55 they should be OK together - IF it is designed to form multiple territories with boundaries where the fish can't see each other across the tank. I'm sure your male A. atahualpa considers the entire aquarium his territory right now, so before adding more apistos move all of the decorations around so he has no established territory. Otherwise, your new fish will probably be attacked as interlopers into his territory. Also be aware that females are even more territorial than males.

 

[Cyn1k]

Hi Mike, Thanks for the response.

Would you consider any of the following better matched (all coming in at the same time as the cacatuoides)?:

agassizii Fire Red, agassizii Iqutios, agassizii Alenquer Red Tail, baenschi Inka 50, borelli Opal, borelli Yellow, cacatuoides Red Tail Super, hongsloi Red Gold, hongsloi Super Rotstrich, macmaster Double Red, nijsseni, sp red Point I, sp Red Point II, trifasciata, trifasciata Maciliensis, viejita Gold

Also, I've decided I'm going to change my substrate this week to Pool Filter Sand. I plan to do this as soon as tomorrow and add the cacs on Friday or so. If I don't put my decorations in their final positions until then I'm hoping it will keep my atahualpa off balance a bit and give the cacs a more even starting point. Thoughts?

Thanks Mike!

 

[Mike Wise]

Of these, my preference would be any of the agassizii forms. They have a different shape than A. atahualpa and will probably be more accepted (not seen as a con-specific) than some of the similarly shaped species.

 

[Tom C]

...In a 55 they should be OK together ...

A short report 4 years ago from one of the many occasions I have collected Apistogramma atahualpa in the surroundings of Iquitos, Peru:
A brief report from the first collecting day in the Amazon Oct. 2009

This report shows how A. atahualpa lives, what other fish-species they normally share their habitat with (never Corydoras!), and the kind of blackwater environments and water values like temperature, pH and conductivity this species is adapted and developed to live and thrive in. I have collected this species in pH as low as 3,4, here it was 3,8.

I want to believe that every Apisto-keeper naturally will try to copy these conditions as much as possible, when they keep A. atahualpa in aquarium.

Apistogramma cacatuoides is normally never found in habitats like this, but in white- and clearwater streams/pools/lakes with higher pH and most often higher conductivity.

For this reason it is not possible to keep Apistogramma atahualpa and Apistogramma cacatuoides in the same tank, if we want to provide both species optimum conditions (and of course we do want all our fishes to have the best and closest to their natural, conditions we possible could provide them with)...

 

[Cyn1k]

Thanks Tom. I enjoyed reading your report. I wonder what your water readings would have been like during the rainy season? FWIW I've gone off adding a Cacatuoides to the tank, but I'm still looking to find, and add, another Apisto species to share that tank and coexist with my Atahualpa pair.

 

[Apistomaster]

Recommend that you follow Tom's advice.
Cacatuoides can adapt to a wide range of water chemistry since the majority have been tank raised for countless generations.
No so with Apistogramma atahualpa.