Golden Wonder Panchax potential tank mates?

[Miss ATV]

Hello,

I am still in search for some tank mates for my 9 months old Cacatuoides male. He's living on his own in a 70L tank which was set up around him, there are plants and leaf litter and driftwood in the tank as well. The issue is, he is largeish now (about 8cm) and very confident that the whole tank is his territory. He also has an apetite for anything that comes new into the tank as the only activity he is used to now is me feeding him so I have no chance to add smaller fish as I am sure he'll eat them. I also don't want to add anything too fast that will outcompete him for food because he's dopey when it comes to larger faster carachins.

I would like to add some other fish and I wanted to ask if you had any experience or suggestions on what I can add maybe 3 other fish to this tank. Not looking to overstock just something else to be kept in there rather than 1 fish.

I have seen Golden Wonder Panchax - anyone has any first hand experience on their interactions with a dominant but non breeding Apistogramma? Would 1 male be to harassed if I introduce him now?

Other things I am considering are which I would welcome any first hand experience insights:
3 Panda Corys or
1 Zebra Pleco
or 1 x Male Agassiz about 5cm size

 

[Mike Wise]

I have no experience with Aplocheilus lineatus so I can't help you there. This is a killi that is a top swimmer and can get to 10 cm TL, so it should be OK. Apistos typically are not aggressive toward fish living in upper levels of the tank. I am surprised that you think your cacatuoides male is so predatory, however. True, any fish will eat another fish it can get in its mouth, but my experience with apistos is that they are poor predator on anything the size of a dwarf prencilfish or larger. Right now, for example, I have a large (close to 10 cm TL) male A. wolli that lives in a community tank with corys (which he cases away from food while he is eating but does not physically attack them) and what was originally 7 Hemmigrammus rodwayi (non-gold). Now there are about 8 - 10 fry under 1 cm TL that the apisto ignores completely.

 

[Miss ATV]

I have no experience with Aplocheilus lineatus so I can't help you there. This is a killi that is a top swimmer and can get to 10 cm TL, so it should be OK. Apistos typically are not aggressive toward fish living in upper levels of the tank. I am surprised that you think your cacatuoides male is so predatory, however. True, any fish will eat another fish it can get in its mouth, but my experience with apistos is that they are poor predator on anything the size of a dwarf prencilfish or larger. Right now, for example, I have a large (close to 10 cm TL) male A. wolli that lives in a community tank with corys (which he cases away from food while he is eating but does not physically attack them) and what was originally 7 Hemmigrammus rodwayi (non-gold). Now there are about 8 - 10 fry under 1 cm TL that the apisto ignores completely.

Thanks for the reply Mike. I tried to reintroduce him after the female died to the tank with the fry after a few weeks and he calmly went about and ate a fry like they weren't his own off springs, so thats showed me he has definitely intentions of consuming anything that fits in his mouth.

I have an ancient Rosy Tetra(she's over 6 years old) from an old tank which I have taken down last year when the other rosys died and I discontinued keeping them. I did not have the heart to rehome her because she's been with us since Jan 2015 and my partner is very fond of her. Everywhere online its stated they live up to 5 years and I thought I'll let her live her final days in my dwarfs cory tank. Anyway, she's alive still and in a good condition for her age. Good size a bit over 4cm and overall a robust fish.

I added her to his tank hoping he will ignore her as he's ignored the Penguin tetras when I had them together initially. Well, he attacked her the moment he saw her in his tank and would not stop chasing her, she could not choose any spot to stay still ad he kept hunting for her. So after a few hours of watching this drama she's back with the corys living her retirement.

Now... I feel he's got more agressive since I started to feed him live food, as I can see him "hunting" all day using every bit of the tank. I do release the brine shrimp in different spots just trying to keep him engaged not condition him with just food falling from the same place. Sometimes I see him hanging on the top bit between the floating plants biting - I dont know what he sees, I can only hear him breaking the water. I know when I feed pellets ocassionally he knows they'll float so he definitely uses the top bit too. He's just very predatory in my eyes how he behaves now on his own. My partner left a scissor next to the tank and he fish was going mad attacking the glass to get to it

 

[yukondog]

Sometimes you get a psycho fish and there is nothing you can do about it, other than get rid of it and start over, or keep it knowing what he is like. Good luck

 

[Mike Wise]

I agree. Only other option is to isolate this psycho fish, re-arrange the tank decor, add other fish and then after a week or 2 add Mr. Nasty back into the tank. If this does not change his personality, it is time to put him in permanent time-out by himself (or with bigger, meaner fish).

 

[Miss ATV]

Mr Nasty is already by himself due to his tendencies of treating his kids as food.

Unfortunately while I "designed" the layout I wedged three pieces of wood together in such a way that unless I take the whole setup apart they can't be rearranged. To top that I superglued the plants on them so I will really have to rip everything off which I would avoid if I can.

I like the idea or 1-2 bigger fish, I know he wont mess with them as he's scared of the glass magnet cleaner and thats just a bit bigger than him. Now the question is, what could those fish be in a 70L tank with hardish water. This killifish looks very appealing.

I was also looking at the 3 panda corydoras as they are armored I dont think he can cause any damage to them. As being 3 of them his anger could be dispersed.

I am trying to research as much as I can as Saturday I have planned a trip to this huge fish store and I know I can get some decent sized fish from them once I decide what species I want.

 

[Miss ATV]

Wanted to give an update on this: the tank at the store had indeed very large fish, but there was a few dead ones and I did trust not purchase from that tank in the end. I ended up adding 3 beckfordi pencilfish, and 6 zebra otos since then, Mr.Nasty was not bothered to chase anyone longer than the first 5 minutes after introduction. The pencilfish are just too quick for him and the otos he completely ignores


I'm still hoping to add a largeish killifish to this tank as soon as I find any healthy looking ones.