Hello everyone! Hoping to learn a lot here :)

[Kelbrina]

Hello! I have a 45g community tank with 4 a.agassizi in it, as well as some cardinal tetras, 3 new checkerboard cichlids, a bristlenose pleco and some corydoras. I am in the process of setting up a 75g tank this month that will be cory, apisto, and checkerboard cichlid focused. Trying to make an ideal home for them, kind of a biotope but not super-strict.

I'm located in western Massachusetts, hello folks in my neck of the woods!

 

[Tom C]

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...Trying to make an ideal home for them, kind of a biotope but not super-strict

Then my advices would be these:

- Apistogramma belong to the tribe Geophagini, which means that they "eat earth". This is a very frequent and natural behavior, they will normally sift the substrate almost all day long.

I strongly believe that most Apistogramma species won't thrive in the long term without fine sand on the bottom.

Frank Schäfer (Aquarium Glaser, Germany), wrote not long ago:
"Especially the sand is important and the meaning of it often underestimated.
In fact the sand is more important than the water chemistry (hardness, pH).
In the wild, these fish feed mainly on particles they find in the sand.
To find them the fish takes a mouth full of sand, chews the sand and releases the sand through the gill openings.
Food particles attach on special anatomical structures on the gill arches and can be swallowed subsequently.
In case an Apistogramma can find no sand it comes in a situation comparably to humans that get no opportunity to clean their teeth.
This may work for a while, but in most cases sooner or later one becomes sick of it."

This is one of the habitats where I have collected Apistogramma:

Sand almost as fine as flour, and leaf litter.

And this is how Apistogrammas look like most of the time, when they have the right substrate, when they let the fine sand out again:

- Never combine Corydoras with Apistogramma. They don't live close together in the nature.
Apistogramma are territorial fish, especially when they breed. Corydoras won't understand anything of the "territorial communication" like "Don't get closer or I will attack you".
The Corydoras will approach the Apistogramma's territory again and again. As the dwarf cichlid will have difficulties finding vulnerable places on the (armored) body of the catfish, they will sooner or later find out that the eyes are the most effective place to attack to make them leave the place. You'll quite often end up with Corydoras with one or no eyes at all.
Besides; Corydoras will often eat any small fry they'll find ....
(Yes, I know: there are people who have had this combination for years, without any problems. I also know many people who wouldn't listen, but who, after seeing what happened, would never repeat the experiment.)

- Apistogramma rest/sleep on the ground at night. Nocturnal and larger plecos will scare them and chase them up toward the surface, again and again, every night.
This creates no sense of security and well-being, and may cause life-threatening stress for the Apistogramma.
I've seen how species of Ancistrus demolish Apistogramma's caves at night, and how eggs and fry can "disappear"...
I never find plecos or similar fishes at exactly the same spot as Apistogramma in the wild (unless they are caught in the same rest water pool during the dry season.)
If you want to get rid of algae, and to keep catfishes in the same tank as Apistogramma: Use Otocinclus species.

Good luck!

 

[Kelbrina]

Wow, great information and a lot to digest. I'll reply tomorrow with some more questions and with an actual keyboard to reply with! Thanks so much for your in-depth response.

 

[gerald]

Welcome K - I'm a Springfield MA native myself - moved to North Carolina 30+ yrs ago. That Apisto minima was a nice find!
TomC - is minima part of the agassizi species group? There seems to be not much info about it.

 

[Tom C]

...TomC - is minima part of the agassizi species group? There seems to be not much info about it.

It is a member of the Apistogramma-pertensis-Lineage, A.-pertensis-Group and A.-pertensis-Complex. It was known under the name Apistogramma sp. "Weissaum/ White-seam" until it was described (Mesa, Carlos & Lasso 2011).

A lovely, very small species.
All mine were found among Dicrossus filamentosus, in fishermens tanks, in Colombia.

 

[Kelbrina]

Phew, okay! I might need to think about the apistos in a smaller tank then because I also had my heart set on a big school of c. habrosus in my 75g as one of the highlights. Corys are such bumblings goof they do seem like they wouldn't get the message regarding territory!

As far as substrate, I special ordered 25lb of Caribsea Super Naturals Sunset gold, and 25lb Caribsea Super Naturals Crystal River. This brand seemed to be the most cory friendly, and maybe not the absolute finest grain, but each grain seemed to be more rounded. Will it perhaps work with apistos? Can anyone recommend another brand? I'm picking up the order tonight, actually, so I can post a photo showing the grain size. Also, I love love the picture of him spittin' out that sand!

I'm not dead-set on the plecos being in the new tank, and am in the works of setting up a 30g central american cichlid tank for my young nanoleuteus "yellow convict" and hoduran red point. Perhaps they could migrate to there?

 

[Kelbrina]

Welcome K - I'm a Springfield MA native myself - moved to North Carolina 30+ yrs ago. That Apisto minima was a nice find!
TomC - is minima part of the agassizi species group? There seems to be not much info about it.

I'm very excited by him! Wish there was more information out there about him, I scoured the net last night and found many pages that google translate helped me out with, but still not very much info.

And I'm in Holyoke, just north of your former Springfield! What were things like 30 years ago in Springfield? Better/worse than today (Springfield's not doin' so hot!)

 

[big blue frog]

Hi and welcome! I am up in Maine, not exactly a neighbor but still New England.