Multiple species Apistogramma cichlids in 1 community-tank (225cm*90*80)?

[EdwinB]

Hi everyone,

After a decade keeping African cichlids, I decided to make a change to dwarf-cichlids from South America.

My tank is quite large (225cm h*90cm d*80cm h) with a 400+ liter bio-filter; I think it should be possible to keep more than one species of Apistogramma in my tank(???). I'm going to do a bit of scaping; meaning providing a lot of elements, hiding places, view breakers, plants, etc.. I'm going to work with wood, rocks, plants, floating plants and a sandy surface. And would like to keep the temp around 23-27 Celcius and have quite soft water.

Since it has been a while, I would like to start with some thougher, but low aggression, species and keep them with some tetra's, pencil-fishes, cory's en some small (<10cm L260(?)) L-number species.

I hope someone can give me some advise about:
- Mixing Apistogramma's in 1 tank
- Species Apistogramma which might go good together and species which should absolutely be avoided
- Species that don't dig around plants are a plus also
- Risks for crossbreeding
- Other non-Apistogramma cichlids which can combine
- Tankmates non-Apistogramma to absolutely avoid

I also read something about mouth-breeding Apistogramma's and combining Apistogramma's from the different spectrums within the family. Can somebody tell me more about his?

Thanks in advance!

Edwin

 

[Mike Wise]

Your tank is certainly large enough to house many apistos when properly aquascaped. Everyone here knows my opinion about putting potential breeding pairs in a community tank: "a community tank is not a breeding tank". You need to decide which you want, a nice community of fish or a tank for breeding. If you want a community, I suggest keeping males only of several different species with different body shapes and finnage, but similar temperament. An example would be a mix of A. agassizii, A. bitaeniata, A. cacatuoides, and A. macmasteri. In a large tank like yours you probably could keep several specimens of the same or similar looking species. The males will interact with each other, but not as aggressively as when there are females with which they want to breed. Most apisto will not dig enough to uproot plants, so that is not a major problem. Other cichlids that work well with apistos include dwarf acaras (Laetacara) and Bolivian Rams (Orinoco Rams need temperatures higher than what you want to provide). Again, potential breeding pairs are not recommended for a peaceful community.

If you truly want to breed apistos in such a large tank, then I suggest that you decide on only one species and add 3X as many females as males. Avoid adding other bottom dwelling species (corys, Botias) that compete for territory. Also avoid schooling species that tend to prey on fry if given the opportunity - like Cardinal/Red Neons, Rummy-noses, some barbs.

As you can see, Rift Lake cichlid-keeping is different from that of Neotropical cichlids.

 

[EdwinB]

Your tank is certainly large enough to house many apistos when properly aquascaped. Everyone here knows my opinion about putting potential breeding pairs in a community tank: "a community tank is not a breeding tank". You need to decide which you want, a nice community of fish or a tank for breeding. If you want a community, I suggest keeping males only of several different species with different body shapes and finnage, but similar temperament. An example would be a mix of A. agassizii, A. bitaeniata, A. cacatuoides, and A. macmasteri. In a large tank like yours you probably could keep several specimens of the same or similar looking species. The males will interact with each other, but not as aggressively as when there are females with which they want to breed. Most apisto will not dig enough to uproot plants, so that is not a major problem. Other cichlids that work well with apistos include dwarf acaras (Laetacara) and Bolivian Rams (Orinoco Rams need temperatures higher than what you want to provide). Again, potential breeding pairs are not recommended for a peaceful community.

If you truly want to breed apistos in such a large tank, then I suggest that you decide on only one species and add 3X as many females as males. Avoid adding other bottom dwelling species (corys, Botias) that compete for territory. Also avoid schooling species that tend to prey on fry if given the opportunity - like Cardinal/Red Neons, Rummy-noses, some barbs.

As you can see, Rift Lake cichlid-keeping is different from that of Neotropical cichlids.

Breeding is nice, but what I should do with a hundred youngsters? Detroying my tank to catch them is my first thought and not an option..... I'd like best of both worlds and build a community-tank which is in good balance and where most fry gets eaten. Calling it a biotope-tank is a bit too much, but for sure only fishes from 1 continent, so no botia's and such.
Keeping only males for the peace in the tank is also an good option in this case, this is something to consider!