Caucatoides and Panduro?

[The Dude]

I have 2 heavily planted 75 gallon tanks on a rack. The top has a pair of Caucatoides and the bottom pair houses 2 males (bought as a breeding pair). I would like to add a pair of Apisto's to one or both tanks. The bottom tank has several synodontis cats growing out for my 150, but they could probably be moved now.

 

[The Dude]

I've added some more anubias and Bacopa to the bottom tank so it's a little better now

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

... The top has a pair of Caucatoides and the bottom pair houses 2 males (bought as a breeding pair). I would like to add a pair of Apisto's to one or both tanks. The bottom tank has several synodontis cats growing out for my 150, but they could probably be moved now.

How hard is your water?
If it is hard water that is going to limit which Apistogramma species you can keep.

cheers Darrel

 

[The Dude]

pH is 7.2 degassed. 6.2 at peak C02 concentration. I use tap water so I could mix in RO to bring it down some.

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,
OK that sounds all right, but it would still be useful to know the hardness (both dKH and dGH) and the conductivity (as either microS or ppm TDS).

I would probably go for the tank with the two male xanthic cacatuoides, and I would probably add a species with a different body shape, rather than another high bodied species like panduro.

For those who don't use added CO2, when you add CO2, the pH changes are due to changes in the 2CO3 ~ HCO3- ~ H2CO3 equilibrium, but these don't effect the alkalinity, just the pH.

cheers Darrel

 

[The Dude]

Hi all,
OK that sounds all right, but it would still be useful to know the hardness (both dKH and dGH) and the conductivity (as either microS or ppm TDS).

I would probably go for the tank with the two male xanthic cacatuoides, and I would probably add a species with a different body shape, rather than another high bodied species like panduro.

For those who don't use added CO2, when you add CO2, the pH changes are due to changes in the 2CO3 ~ HCO3- ~ H2CO3 equilibrium, but these don't effect the alkalinity, just the pH.

cheers Darrel

What species would you recommend? I have accepted that with my heavy stocking I would likely not have success rearing fry in the tank. Given the dense stocking I think that conspecifc aggression would be minimal. Would Borelli work better? I will have to rescape the lower tank after catching the Syno's so I was thinking of adding another pair at that time. That tank will have 30 Cardinals and 20+ Rummynose.

 

[Shane Puthuparambil]

I would sell the cacatuoides... its not worth having them. They will just take up space. Perhaps look for a trade through your LFS for credit.

Honestly, a high number of tetras is a bad method for keeping Apistos. They are slow eaters and they would starve in a tank with a large number of tetras due to the lack of food availability.

If you are set on the tetras, I would suggest a slightly larger fish like a keyhole cichlid or two rather than the Apistos in such a tank. As I said, they are easily starved, and they tend to do poorly in such systems.