Cockatoos & Macmasteri - happy ever after?

[yorkie1980]

Hi all

I recently purchased 4 juvenile Macmasteri (1.5") and 6 Cockatoo fry (1/2")

They are currently co-habiting in a 240L (121cm x 41cm x 55cm) planted tank and seem very happy. I've provided plenty of hiding spots and there's loads of plants for them to hide in.

I only have one tank, and don't have room or finances to buy a separate tank. So my question is: will I need to split these guys up eventually?

I don't know sex of either species yet as they're still pretty little. But I'm thinking worst case scenario I could have 5 boys and five girls - meaning 5 breeding pairs in one 4ft tank - I'm guessing that wouldn't work?

I also really want to introduce some BN plec, but am a bit worried about having another bottom dwelling species with my Aps. Any thoughts on this?

Thanks, yorkie

 

[tjudy]

Hello, and welcome to the forum!

My first comment is that you should be able to determine the sex of the macmasteri at 1.5".

A 48" long 40-gallon tank can house the cichlids you have. There will be some sparring, but that is what makes keeping apistos in community tanks interesting. Even if you end up with an even split of 5M and 5F cichlids, you will not have 5 breeding pairs. Both species will 'harem' spawn, so you will have a single dominant male of each species (maybe only one if the most dominant male can boss around the males of the other species). The odd-boys-out will try hard to avoid the dominant males, and might breed occasionally as a 'sneaker male'.

As the apistos grow they are going to pick off your cherry shrimp. Adding an ancistrus will not cause problems in the tank. If you want to save fry, offer the cichlids caves with small openings. THey can defend that from the pleco, and after the fry hatch the catfish will not bother them. About the only thing I would add is another 9 - 11 tetras of a small schooling species (such as neons, glowlights or cardinals) to fill in the mid to upper section of the tank and the aquarium some more diversity.

 

[yorkie1980]

Wow - thanks for the great advice Ted.
I'm planning on getting a school of Marbled Hatchetfish soon for the upper levels.

I had heard that about shrimp, but was hoping as mine are bigger and a lot faster than the fish, they might survive. But I guess I'll have to just see what happens. And thanks for the advice on the plecs too - very useful.

I absolutely love the apistos - they've got so much personality. They settled in to my tank really quickly (although I'm not sure the tetra appreciated their arrival as much and have been shoaling a lot lately).

The Macmasteri are doing a lot of tail slapping (one darker one in particular) and I love the interaction, colour changes and dorsal fin-raises! AS someone new to the hobby, I'm absolutley fascinated by them.

Any tips on sexing them easily? I've done a bit of research about fin patterns etc, but not finding that very easy/helpful. As I mentioned, one of them (a bit darker than the others) has taken up position in a bogwood cave and isn't very accommodating to the others. When (s)he gets close to others they lose their stripe, raise their dorsal fin and do tail slapping next to him/her. The darker one also flashes agains thte bogwood occassionally. I've read eslewhere this can be a health thing, but (s)he only does it when tail slapping and chasing.

Any tips/advice very much appreictaed - I'm so lucky to have stumbled across a forum dedicated to my species of fish

 

[Mike Wise]

I for one will be interested in how this tank evolves. That is a lot of cichlids for a 240.