How many species of Apistogramma in one tank?

[dust]

Hi everyone! Could you please tell me how many species of Apistogramma can be kept in a 200x60x60h aquarium? I'm thinking of keeping two colonies: A. baenschi and A. kullanderi, with a dither fish. Thanks.

 

[MacZ]

Ideally one species. Even in a tank that size.

Only exception was brought up by Mike Wise, who also says two males of different (read: visually also as different as possible) species can work.

But I personally would leave it at one.

 

[Mike Wise]

I'm guessing that we are using metric (cm) here. In this case I would agree with MacZ. Apistos in the wild can occur with each other, but the volume of water that they live in is many magnitudes of order greater than your aquarium.

 

[anewbie]

I'm going to slightly disagree - in a 6 foot tank by 2 feet you can probably get away with two breeding species if the right species. The problem is finding the right species of course just males is safer.
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My norbert mostly ignore my wavarni even though the young wavarni are no larger than a large female norbert. Of course you seem to want to apisto species. What I can say is that i have found cockatoo esp wc cockatoo quite aggressive to other species (not each other); nijjensi are said to be aggressive - i've not mixed mine with other species but might eventually - I have some 6 month old sp bluketa with ipirianga - both are f1s i intend to ship soon but they have been together for 2 months without issues (this is not something i would wnt to push long term or tempt while breeding but it was an effort to catch them and then a cold spell hit). The sp bluketa are amazingly docile so if there was a need i would try mixing them with d39 though i would only do so with plenty of extra f1s in a 6 foot tank. The pity of your aquarium is that it has all this wasted height for dwarf cichild. You would be much better off with 200x100x20 then 200x50x50.

In a couple of years i believe i will be setting something up that is ~366cmx152cm so if you want to wait 4 years i can give you an update.

 

[dust]

Thank you for the lightning-fast replies! Of course, the dimensions are in centimeters (sorry U.S.A.). I live in Europe (specifically Upper Silesia a.k.a. Oberschlesien in Poland - MacZ, Greetings, Neighbor . This is intended to be a display tank, not a breeding setup. In that case, perhaps some other small cichlids? My picks are: Dicrossus filamentosus, Wallaciia regani, Cleithracara maronii, or maybe Pterophyllum leopoldi. I’m not sure if the water temperature will be suitable for them. Which one would you choose? As for dither fish, I'm considering: Nannostomus eques, Copella arnoldi, Carnegiella strigata, or Nannostomus marginatus. Which tank mates would you recommend for such a setup?

 

[anewbie]

I personally found dicrossus filamentosus more of a fragile fish that needs very pure water - while there is bi harm in trying a single male if it doesn't do well then you know. Cleithracara maronii are more general but shy fish that should be in a group again preferring soft water but not as critical also they are readily available farmed fish so in such case it is not a huge deal if they die after a couple of years.

I've not kept the other cichild - of course carnegilla strigata will jump so having space between top of tank and lid is beneficial. Nannostomus marginatus are pretty as long as tank maters are small enough they won't be eaten. I haven't actually kept leopoldi though one of these days i might to see how they differ from their larger siblings - i've read mix things from being quite passive to quite vicious.
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You could keep 6 to 12 of the keyholes but they are not the most oclourful fishes and they might go after the marginatus who - at least in my aquarium are often found near the bottom as near the middle.

I will say the dicrossus filamentosus when it first matures is an absolutely stunning fish - as it ages it seems to less colourful unless it is breeding (which you don't want) but then you should be keeping you tank very soft acidic and clean. I have two of their cousins with my discus (d. maculatus) for around 18 months now. I started with more than 2 but the others 3 did not do so well - these two males have settled in and are quite at home now and not small fishes. In fact i would say they are rather large. Anyway for myself i said if i ever keep them again they will be the center piece of a specialized setup though at least here in usa one needs to start with a group if they desire male and female.

To be honest you have a very tall tank so i would look at something that take advantage of the height or layer the fishes bottom to top. In my tank of same size i have this:

 

[Mike Wise]

dust, if you don't want breeding, then don't get both sexes. Otherwise there will be breeding and all of the problems inherent in breeding in a community tank. Your advantage is having a very large aquarium. If I had a community tank of that size I would include 2 or 3 male apistos of different shape and finnage - but similar disposition. I would also add 2 specimens (but not potential breeding pairs) of smaller cichlasomines like Laetacara or Cleithacara. Apistos and cichlasomines tend to inhabit different micro-habitats so they don't interact much with each other. As for other fish for the community, that is your choice. Most tetras, barbs and rasbora species are schooling fish so 2 or 3 large schools show better than a few specimens of many species. In a tank that is your size - with no breeding cichlids - even a large school of cory catfish is possible.