Mixing Apistos with Rainbow Cichlids

[notabob]

Hi everyone. Have been keeping fish for about the past 20 years, but I'm new to Apistos specifically (and this forum).

I have been looking to introduce Apistos to my 53G (36x18x20). The tank is currently home to a grown (~3") paired couple of Rainbow Cichlids (Archocentrus multispinosus). Lots of driftwood, rocks, caves, and plants are starting to fill in. Line of sight breaks are numerous. Four YoYo loaches and a BN pleco on the bottom. Neon Tetras mid-level and Espeii Rasboras at the top make up the dither contingent.

My main concern before sourcing the Apistos is making sure that they can peacefully coexist with the Rainbows in such a footprint. The Rainbows have been very peaceful with other fish, although they do both chase intruders (mostly the YoYo's, who don't seem to get the message much) when spawning. I'm considering either A. cacatuoides and/or A. hongsloi at this time. I would love to keep a pair of each (as they are from different lineages), but while this might be possible with just the Apistos in there, I doubt it will be reasonable with the Rainbows in the mix in a tank this size.

Have other folks successfully kept these two types of fish together? What have been your experiences with them interacting? Have either become excessively aggressive towards the other during spawning? Thanks in advance!

 

[Mike Wise]

Personally, I think your tank is already owned by the pair of A. multispinosus right now. Any new cichlids - particularly smaller species - would not be welcome. I have kept the species before and they do get a bit over 4"/10 cm, so although probably sexually mature yours are not fully grown. That being said, A. multispinosus is a really peaceful cichlid, for its size, when not breeding. I used mine for snail control, at which they were really good. Once I removed apisto adults and fry from a breeding tank I'd add a single Rainbow Cichlid to clean out most of the small snails that had appeared. Once I added a Rainbow to a tank. I thought I had removed everyone. Wrong! I'd missed a female A. cacatuoides who was brooding eggs. Once the fry became freeswimming the female made life Hell for the poor Rainbow. This 1½"/6 cm female had a 4"/10 cm Rainbow trapped in a corner of the tank, fins being shredded and looking very dark and miserable. Of course I removed the rainbow before too much damage was done. I don't know what a pair of Rainbows would do if interested in breeding, but 2 against 1, well ... .

 

[notabob]

Thank you very much for the insightful post. Gives me something to chew on. The Rainbow Cichlids were rescues when I got them. They were sharing a tank with a Parrot Cichlid and definitely looked the part. I felt I could give them a better home. They certainly recovered well, and within about three weeks were back to good health and were spawning. The unintended consequence was that they developed an appetite for my finer-leaved plants, which no amount of supplemental plant-based food could quite suppress. And, of course, they also messed with my plans of introducing Apistos. I haven't yet been able to find a new home for them, which is why I've been looking for a way for them to coexist.