Cacatuoides with L260

[while]

Hi!
I'm a bit new to Apistogramma but have underestimated their aggressiveness so far adding Green Neons, Otos and Amano Shrimp to my 260L tank. The male and one female seem to think the neons and shrimp are food which is a bit unfortunate. At least the neons seem to be ok now I think but it makes me think a bit more before adding more tankmates.

I was planning on adding L260 Queen Arabesque Pleco (maybe one or two) next as they are also very beautiful and dont seem to get too big.
What do you think of this combo? Am I making a mistake or will it be fine? The apistos are quite aggressive but so will maybe the pleco be, right? Its also not going to be a huge size difference and there is a lot of hiding places and wood with holes etc.
Attaching pictures of my tank and Apisto male.


Thankful for any advice!

 

[Mike Wise]

I don't recommend adding breeding pairs of apistos (in most species, any male and female) to a community tank. This is particularly true if the tank has other bottom-dwelling species, like corys or plecos, and potential apisto fry predators like your Green Neons. All will be considered threats to future offspring and will be attacked.

 

[dw1305]

H all,

Am I making a mistake or will it be fine? The apistos are quite aggressive but so will maybe the pleco be, right? Its also not going to be a huge size difference and there is a lot of hiding places and wood with holes etc.
Attaching pictures of my tank and Apisto male.

Nice tank, you could try adding some <"structural leaf litter"> and <"moss">.

I've kept Apistogramma cacatuoides with another <"smaller Hypancistrus species"> (H. debilittera L129) and with <"Cherry shrimp">, and neither went very well as a combination.

cheer Darrel

 

[while]

I've kept Apistogramma cacatuoides with another <"smaller Hypancistrus species"> (H. debilittera L129) and with <"Cherry shrimp">, and neither went very well as a combination.

Ok thats sad to hear. What happened? Did they fight or was it mainly a fry problem?

Ill look at adding some leaf litter. Thanks for the tip!

 

[while]

I don't recommend adding breeding pairs of apistos (in most species, any male and female) to a community tank. This is particularly true if the tank has other bottom-dwelling species, like corys or plecos, and potential apisto fry predators like your Green Neons. All will be considered threats to future offspring and will be attacked.

Ok. Even in larger tanks? I think that makes sense for the small ones but in 260L there should be room for more I think. My male also killed one of the 3 females I added w him so he does feel very aggressive.

 

[yukondog]

Welcome while, I've never had any luck adding more females with harem breedier it's always ended in disaster for me but the leaves are a good idea, I have them in all my apisto tanks, you might want to boil them first.

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

What happened? Did they fight or was it mainly a fry problem?

A bit of both, the Hypancistrus L129 fry claimed all the "tight" caves and also ate any eggs that the cichlids laid, in the more open pots etc.

At various other times I stored a male Ancistrus L100 and female Hypancistrus L333 (separately) in the tank, and they really went for the cichlids at night and evicted them from the bottom third of the tank.

cheers Darrel

 

[Beatha]

I have two females and 1 male in a 12 long, which is 3 feet long, and both laid eggs and raised babies at the same time. That tank also has cardinals and rasboras, no problems at all. There is a clown pleco, they seem to do okay with him as the one female had about 40 babies in her corner. She has a second batch right now, about 4 weeks after the first. I did put in a divider this time, as there's a spare Nanochromis female in the tank and she went on a raid. She's leaving after I remove this set of babies. THere are also 2 remaining babies from the first batches, just because I couldn't catch them. However, I have another female and male in a 32 gallon who spawned and someone ate the eggs there. That tank has many more bottom dwellers as it's a formal high-tech planted tank, and I think it's actually one of those that ate the eggs. I would not deliberately add a bottom dweller to a tank with cacatuoides or other Apisto if you want to spawn them. Mine are not aggressive, though. In my case, the plecos were there before the Apistos. I'm clearly getting babies, though, despite the clown pleco.

 

[while]

Thanks! My pair (the two other females were killed) just spawned and I now have have a bunch of small fry swimming around the mother in some Eleocharis grass at the bottom. Both the male and the female are fighting off everything that comes near even more aggressively than before but it seems to work ok. I didnt dare to buy the pleco though so maybe Ill hold off after all.