Keeping different variations of Cacatuoides together

[Marvick]

I recently bought three female Apisto's this being one of them. The other two are regular cacatuoides, this one is gold, as well as a female from what i can tell (very little of any other color besides a little speck of red). I Also had a very vibrant male that was getting bullied by this gold fellow and ultimately killed the poor sucker. I am new to owning/breeding Apistogrammas. I was wondering if the variations in color in the same cacatuoide family could/should be kept together? I understand that it is different from aquarium to aquarium and fish to fish. They are all alone in a 20 Gallon plant tank with plenty of hiding spaces.

 

[Mike Wise]

Color variations in 1 species, be they apistos or humans, are just that - same species but different colors. They will breed together and produce viable offspring. What the color of the offspring are depends on genetics. You can keep your cacatuoides in the same tank, just don't expect all to be similarly colored, or even the color of the parents.

 

[JIM]

I agree

+2

Fish today, because of many, many times being bred and cross bred, have so much of a gene pool that you may get any kind of offspring.

If you want fish that breed true, you will need to start with wild caught fish, and even then you may get a little variance.

 

[Hmoobthor]

I recently bought three female Apisto's this being one of them. The other two are regular cacatuoides, this one is gold, as well as a female from what i can tell (very little of any other color besides a little speck of red). I Also had a very vibrant male that was getting bullied by this gold fellow and ultimately killed the poor sucker. I am new to owning/breeding Apistogrammas. I was wondering if the variations in color in the same cacatuoide family could/should be kept together? I understand that it is different from aquarium to aquarium and fish to fish. They are all alone in a 20 Gallon plant tank with plenty of hiding spaces.

very cool looking "gold form"...

try to breed for a triple red gold form which i love. too many males = chaos

 

[Melanochromis]

I have two cacatuoides of the gold form. They seem to be somewhat less competitive than the non-gold ones. They are slower in getting food, less responsive to things, and seem quite "dumb" in general. Eventually I put them in their own tanks without other caca to make sure they get enough food and don't get bullied.

But to answer your question, yes. It should be possible to breed cacatuoides of different forms. My females are not picky. They will always go for the largest, most dominant males regardless of the color form.

 

[Marvick]

Thanks for all the insight guys:biggrin:. If i could get a hold of some wild apistos that would be sweet. I only know of two places in Sacramento and surrounding areas that have a decent selection. Most of them are young, and this gold one didn't take well to the last one. I was thinking about possibly raising the male in a separate tank until it gets as big as this one. The other one was quite reclusive as well so maybe if i get a more feisty one all will be right.

heres another picture.