Howdy from Texas

[Stickzula]

Just thought I'd get things going with a good ole howdy! I have been a successful cichlid keeper for quite a few years now and have decided to try my hand at dwarfs. My experience has been mainly with rift lake cichlids and general tropical community fish.

I am really excited about starting an amazon type themed tank. I have a 75g tank that I am looking to change from an angelfish community to a quasi blakwater tank. I am planning on lots of tangled vines and roots/driftwood, dark sandy substrate (although I may have to settle for more of a lighter silica sand), a few random rocks, some low light plants both floating and rooted, leaf litter, and subdued lighting.

The stockist is still up for grabs, but right now I am thinking about this: 1 angel pair, 1-2 apisto pairs op a large group of a single species(really need to figure out what is appropriate for this size tank), a pair or small harem of bolivian rams, a couple BN plecos or several ottos(not sure how ottos would fare with the cichlids), a school of at least 15 tetras(thinking cardinal, black neon, OR rummynose) and maybe a school of hatchets(or something to occupy the upper levels. I would like to put in some kind of catfish to scavenge any leftovers. I was originally thinking corrys, but I have read some conflicting info on keeping them with apistos. One report says the apistos may eat the eyes off of the corrys so corrys may be out. Something small would be my preference here.

Eventually, when I get enough space and an appropriate setup I want to try a discus and ram tank. Most likely that will be a 90g or 120g high tank setup with warm water, probably a lot of plants, a few small driftwood pieces, a bunch of discus, a good colony of either gold or blue(maybe both) rams, and a HUGE school of cardinal tetras. I could be convinced to put in silver dollars too.

I'm still looking around and trying to gather as much info as I can on my own, but if anyone has advice I'd love to hear it. I am already in the process of converting the angel community to a blackwater setup, but nothing is set in stone and I'm sure it will be a long process. Any comments are welcome!

 

[Mike Wise]

Welcome to the apisto forum. You seem to have an excellent community tank set-up in mind. You shouldn't have any problems with those fish living together. Breeding in such a tank is unlikely, of course. Most plecos, angels and schools of tetras will make short work of any eggs/brood that appears.

 

[Stickzula]

Glad to know I'm on the right track. I am not planning on breeding in this tank. If I end up wanting to breed, I'll setup a tank dedicated to it. I am looking to buy some A. pebas fry from DJ_JD here in the buy/sell section. The idea is to grow them out in a 10g, then move them over to the 75g once it/they are ready. Any thoughts on that? Would it be possible/advisable to keep a pair/sm group of pebas with a pair/sm group of another apisto species? I really like the looks of cacatudoides, but I'm concerned about territorial aggression between two species. I'm not sure what an appropriate number of apistos would be for this tank or if mixing them would be ok. Since they won't be guarding eggs/fry that aggression should be eliminated, but territorial skirmishes could still be a problem. Any advice?

 

[Mike Wise]

A. sp. Pebas can get quite aggressive with each other; less so with other species as long as there is enough territory for everyone. My conservative rule is that each apisto requires a square foot of bottom territory. Males, of course, will control larger territories that include female territories, but still need some room for themselves. You can make the territories larger or smaller, depending on the temperament of each individual and the lay-out of the tank. Most of the time other fish that don't live on the bottom are ignored.