Ideal tank size…..

[Doc52]

What is the best size tank to keep 3 pairs of Apistogrammas??

 

[MacZ]

There is none, that's not a common way to keep them.

Do you want to breed or just a display tank?

 

[anewbie]

Depends on the species and if they are different species or same species. Generally speaking none but people have raised colonies of the same species over time (which is a little different than introducing as a group); also many species of apistogramma are harem breeders which makes the question a bit dubious.

 

[Doc52]

Depends on the species and if they are different species or same species. Generally speaking none but people have raised colonies of the same species over time (which is a little different than introducing as a group); also many species of apistogramma are harem breeders which makes the question a bit dubious.

Thank you for the advise. I have a 40 breeder I want to put a pair of apisto. Ortega’s and pair of Cacatuoides together on either side with plenty of caves and areas for them to hide and take over. Is it feasible??

 

[anewbie]

My guess is that it will end badly; I keep several dwarf cichlid in my 40B and they mostly co-exist without conflict - i had nannacara with cockatoo but my aquarium is extremely densely planted. The two males showed zero aggression towards each other (the nanncara was aggressive towards other dwarf cichlid that i removed); however my understanding (no first hand experience) is the ortega can be a bit aggressive and conflict is more likely. Also my aquarium had extreme level of plants such that the bottom layer easily served the equiv of leaf liter basically meaning a fish could hide just about anywhere. The sad part is when a fish is hiding you have almost no chance of finding it.
-
Anyway back to your question from what i've seen others say about the ortega it can be fairly aggressive so I suspect it might not go well.

 

[Mike Wise]

With 3 apisto pairs in a 40 breeder your safest bet is to use partitions.

 

[MacZ]

A. ortegai proved quite aggressive when I kept them. Also the water requirements of A. ortegai and A. cacatuoides are somewhat contrary.