My Apisto Community Tank

[cichlidfan]

Hi All,

I have a 3ft by 2ft by 18 inch high aquarium which measures about 250 litres, or 65 US Gallons. I have an Eheim 2217 External Canister Filter which does 1000 l/h. The manufacturer recommend that with the surface area, that this filter can actually be used in a 600 litre aquaria. I am also considering filter media to remove an excess Nitrates, just to keep the Apisto's healthy.

The tank is planted quite heavily, with driftwood and rock caves, but also some open swimming area. The tank gets 50% of the water changed every week, with 20% on wednesday's and 30% on saturday's to help keep the water fresh, and the nitrates down. Now before i get told that this is too much water to take out, we do the same amount of water change in the aquarium that i work at, with no ill effects.

Some of the people that i work with think that this setup is ok, but i was just wondering if i could get some other opinions on it.

My question is that i have the following fish in it, and was wondering if this may be too many , or whether it would be safe to add the other fish (listed at the end).

In the tank there is the following:

20 Cardinal Tetra
16 Black Neon Tetra
10 Glowlight Tetra
10 Rummynose Tetra
9 Silvertip Tetra
7 Apistogramma Cacatuoides (1 dominant male, and atleast 1 female, probably another 2 males also)
3 Apistogramma Nijsenni (1 Male, 2 Female)
4 Apistogramma Agassizi - Steel Blue (ratios not known still very young)
1 Apistogramma Panduro (also young, but we suspect a male)
5 Albino Corydoras Catfish
5 Corydoras Julii Catfish
2 Bristlenose Catfish (1 Male, 1 Female, Breeding Pair)
3 Bumblebee Goby's (will hopefully be moving soon)
2 Female Molly's (will also be hopefully moving sson)
2 Siamese Fighters (Male is partitioned off to protect his fins, hopefully moving to his own little tank soon)
3 Bolivian Butterfly Rams (1 Breeding Pair)

Total Fish = 102
Total Tetras = 65

The fish that i would like to add would be the following (in priority order):
4 Apistogramma Panduro (2 Pair) (depends on what the juvenile ends up being, hopefully, i think? it is a female)
2 Apistogramma Agassizi Red (1 Pair)
5 Corydoras Sterbai
10 Rummy Nose Tetras (Only if the others are possbile)

Total Fish = 123
Total Tetras = 75

Your Opinions on this would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks

P.S. If you would like to see a pic, let me know, and i can either email it to u, or have an attempt at posting it (haven't gotten around to making my website yet...)

Thanks Again

 

[farm41]

wow!! you really packed them in there.

I would only have 1 species of apisto in that tank, the rams, some cory's and the cardinals.

The water changes would be fine with alot lighter load on the tank, I change all my tanks 50% weekly and only have about 1/10th the fish load.

 

[cichlidfan]

Yeah, i can see where you are coming from, particularly where the cross breeding is concerned, the plan is (in the future, not sure when) to have species tanks of about 3-4 foot, depending on which apisto, and have a good go at breeding them.

I did a series of tests tonight (as i do to keep an eye on things every week) and these were the results:

Ammonia = 0ppm
Nitrite = 0ppm
Nitrate = 10ppm (and i am about to do a water change that is about 2 days overdue!!!)
pH = 6.8
GH = 10 (a little high i know, still working on it with some resin)
KH = 4

The thing is that the tank isn't really crowded (if u want i can email it to u) and the cactuoides are breeding like wildfire (2 females in 2 weeks). I would have thought if they weren't comfortable, then they wouldn't have bred at all... just a thought.

Thanks for feedback

 

[Neil]

cichlidfan,

WELCOME TO THE FORUM

It is not so much that it can't work or that it is not working, it is more a function of how well it works, how long it will continue to work and how much trouble it is to deal with it.
I can see that you are paying attention to alot of important issues. Your water is fine without messing with it too much more. For example, if you reduced you biolode by reducing the fish population, you wouldn't even have to worry about nitrate reduction media. Water changes would do it.
There is so much going on in your tank right now that it is easy to miss something. If one of your Dwarfs breed and really doesn't like other fish near by, there will be alot of stress in the tank. Breeding is inherantly stressful to begin with, without having to defend their fry against 100 other fish in a 3ft tank! How are the fry doing from the cac spawns so far? I suspect not well because it is likely that they will be picked off by other fish or eaten by the parents because of the difficult environment that they are in.
The reason that not everyone has success with Dwarf Cichlids is that they require good water (which you have) and an appropriate environment for successful reproduction (which you don't really have). Don't get me wrong. I have had success with species in all kinds of situations that most others say won't work. But, these were exceptions and aided by the fact that I know these animals so well. If your intent is to spawn these fish, consider making it easier on your fish and yourself by lightening your load. If you want to have a densely populated tank for viewing, more power to you. But be prepared to keep a constant eye on it. If someone in the tank becomes a tetra killer (nijsenni can be mean little buggers!), you could loose 5 without even noticing it (unless you count 65 every day) and the water quality could plummet quickly. Not to mention the intolerance of one apisto species for another. The domino effect in a tank like this is resting on a thin thread.
Neil

 

[Randall]

Well Stocked 65-Gallon Tank

Dear Cichlidfan,

Wow, what an incredible assortment of fish you have there!

With the numbers of fish that you keep in your 65-gallon tank, I'd think that changing 50% of the water each week would be obligatory to maintain good water quality. From your description, it would seem that this regime is working well for you.

Given the numbers of dwarf cichlids contained, I wouldn't add any others even if some of the existing cichlids were removed to separate quarters. Adding, in particular, Apistogramma panduro to the closely related A. nijsenni could mean trouble. Both of these species can be aggressive.

Good luck!

Randall Kohn

 

[cichlidfan]

Hey guys,

thanks for the feedback, i am currently only looking for the "viewing" aspect, as i dont have the room to have species tanks (although, it is the plan in the future for sure) The problem is that in Aust., particularly the part i am in, dwarf cichlids are not easy to come by, in fact, these four species are the only four that i have seen around!!!! 8O 8O 8O

I t is partly due to this fact that i have grabbed the ones that i have, as some are about as rare as rocking horse poo..... The panduro's in particular, are extremely hard to get, and when they are available, they demand a fairly high price $$$$$$$$ (about AUS$40 an individual). I have purchased the ones that i have, in the belief that i will be able to get these guys out of the community, and into species tanks in the future. If they bredd in this time, great, but if not, that isnt a problem at this stage.

The broods that have eventuated have been separated into a breeding tank with an airstone, as i do this with all of my fish to stop the parents eating them. The brood at the moment have been developing well, and there are quite a number of little "wrigglers" in there.

Keep the comments coming, the more i can learn the better.

Thanks guys

 

[aspen]

i would guess when you posted, that you knew at least someone would say that your tank is overstocked. after all, you are the one looking at it! i also think that you have too many fish in there. imo, with a 65 gal, keeping 2 species of dwarfs happy would be suitable.

maybe finding a 'fishaholics anonymous' meeting in your area might help! or a few tanks to move some fish outta there.

rick