Hi guys
I'm planning a new tank, and I'm looking at a SA biotope... but more of a theme than a biotope. Soft water, a few tannins, and SA fish, anyway. I've kept larger SA cichlids, so that's all fine.
However, I'm struggling to find clear answers on keeping Apistogramma with Corydoras. Some people report complete disasters, others say they've never had a single problem.
Now obviously some of that comes down to the individual fish, but I'm trying to work out how much is related to poor setup and tank footprint. For example I saw a guy with a 3 ft tank, 2 males, 3 females, and 20 corydora... that was clearly asking for trouble. I'm fairly sure it can be done with a "big tank for small fish" approach
So my question is, how big a tank do I need in order to be fairly confident of a reasonably low-aggression tank. I don't mind a few chases, but I want to avoid anything nasty.
My plan is to stock with
The second option would be a new custom sized tank - in this case the tank footprint could in theory be anything up to a 5x2' (60x24" LxW), or a little over 10 square feet - possibly an inch or two smaller, and limited by my room shape. Water volume would be approx 130 gal including sump, or 110 gal if I use a canister, with a height of about 18" - anything more than 18" seems fairly pointless for this setup.
How suitable would either of these two sizes be? I'm not really concerned about the water volume, as this tank would be very under-stocked, but I'm more interested in the footprint and how much space I would need to ensure that the fish can each have their own territory, and that the corydora would be okay around the cichlids (eg they have room to avoid the territories).
As above, I'm pretty experienced with larger SA cichlids, so I'm fairly good at defining territories and breaking eyelines, and this tank would be purposely set up for this purpose with at least 4 bigger "zones" (approx 2.5 sq ft each) separated by wood/rocks, substrate hills, and plants and lots of cover and eyeline-breaking decoration and aquascaping even within the areas: my aim would be that pretty much the entire height of the tank would be aquascaped in some way, such that there are no real sightlines across the entire tank.
My goals are to ensure no female gets hounded to death by the male (eg his attention is spread), the females can each have enough territory to not fight (bickering is okay), and that if a pair do spawn, the other fish can stay out of the way (again, a few quick "go away" chases is fine). I don't mind cichlids being cichlids - I just don't want sustained aggression: which, in my experience with larger cichlids, means letting the victim get out of sight for a while, but without forcing them to hide under a branch.
So yeah, sorry for the wall of things from my brain: any thoughts? Would I be okay with the 48x15" footprint, or should I hold out for the 60x24"?
I'm planning a new tank, and I'm looking at a SA biotope... but more of a theme than a biotope. Soft water, a few tannins, and SA fish, anyway. I've kept larger SA cichlids, so that's all fine.
However, I'm struggling to find clear answers on keeping Apistogramma with Corydoras. Some people report complete disasters, others say they've never had a single problem.
Now obviously some of that comes down to the individual fish, but I'm trying to work out how much is related to poor setup and tank footprint. For example I saw a guy with a 3 ft tank, 2 males, 3 females, and 20 corydora... that was clearly asking for trouble. I'm fairly sure it can be done with a "big tank for small fish" approach
So my question is, how big a tank do I need in order to be fairly confident of a reasonably low-aggression tank. I don't mind a few chases, but I want to avoid anything nasty.
My plan is to stock with
- 1x Male Cacatuoides
- 3 or 4x Female cacatuoides (I'm happy with either, whichever would work best)
- 6-12 Corydora (I'd like at least 6, but if I can have more that's great)
- 6+ Tetra and similar SA dither type fish: these aren't the main point of the tank, so the exact numbers don't matter to me
The second option would be a new custom sized tank - in this case the tank footprint could in theory be anything up to a 5x2' (60x24" LxW), or a little over 10 square feet - possibly an inch or two smaller, and limited by my room shape. Water volume would be approx 130 gal including sump, or 110 gal if I use a canister, with a height of about 18" - anything more than 18" seems fairly pointless for this setup.
How suitable would either of these two sizes be? I'm not really concerned about the water volume, as this tank would be very under-stocked, but I'm more interested in the footprint and how much space I would need to ensure that the fish can each have their own territory, and that the corydora would be okay around the cichlids (eg they have room to avoid the territories).
As above, I'm pretty experienced with larger SA cichlids, so I'm fairly good at defining territories and breaking eyelines, and this tank would be purposely set up for this purpose with at least 4 bigger "zones" (approx 2.5 sq ft each) separated by wood/rocks, substrate hills, and plants and lots of cover and eyeline-breaking decoration and aquascaping even within the areas: my aim would be that pretty much the entire height of the tank would be aquascaped in some way, such that there are no real sightlines across the entire tank.
My goals are to ensure no female gets hounded to death by the male (eg his attention is spread), the females can each have enough territory to not fight (bickering is okay), and that if a pair do spawn, the other fish can stay out of the way (again, a few quick "go away" chases is fine). I don't mind cichlids being cichlids - I just don't want sustained aggression: which, in my experience with larger cichlids, means letting the victim get out of sight for a while, but without forcing them to hide under a branch.
So yeah, sorry for the wall of things from my brain: any thoughts? Would I be okay with the 48x15" footprint, or should I hold out for the 60x24"?