nannacara anomale & a. cacatuoides

[geeks_15]

I have a heavily planted 75 gallon high tech tank.
http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/forumapc/journals/65193-75-gallon-wall-planted-aquarium-journal.html

My current fish are:

trio a. cacatuoides
4 pearl gourami
16 harlequin rasbora

I have a pair of nannacara anomale in a different tank and I would like to add them to the 75. My question is this:

What are the chances the apistos and nannacara can live in harmony?

I had another male and female a. cacatuoides in the 75. The male who remains in the 75 was dominant. He would chase the other male away, but never did any damage and was not too persistant about the other male. I removed the other male because he was hiding and staying in the top corner of the tank too much for my taste.

Since I have extra tanks I could just try it out, but if I have no chance of success I would rather not. The fish can be hard to catch because of all the plants and tank decor.

Thanks

Jeremy

 

[Mike Wise]

Welcome to the apisto forum, Jeremy. As for your tank, there is a good possibility that your cacatuoides trio and N. anomala pair can live together in a tank of your size. Herem holding apistos tend to be more aggressive toward other males of their own species than those of other species. Right now, however, the entire tank belongs to the cac male. I think it would be best to move some of the decorations around so that the dominant male doesn't recognize it as his territory. It is important that each fish (male and female) has its own territory. Ideally, each female's territory should be about a foot/30 cm in diameter, centered on a good breeding site. You will find that the fish will get along much better if the line-of-sight in the tank is broken up so that the fish can't see over the length of the tank.

 

[geeks_15]

Thanks for the welcome and the info.

I may try it out.

 

[Apistomaster]

Nannacara anomala are very adaptable dwarf Cichlids. When I had a fish shop I would put 50 in a 15 gal tank without much cover yet they would spawn in the corners of the tank and maintain a small territory around the nest. If I had to compare them to any other fish they would be like a small damselfish. I have bred them in tanks of only 4.5 gal but the male had to be removed for his own safety. Females always made excellent parents. They were once a favorite fish used in laboratory studies of behavior.
I'm sure they will fit into your 75 gal just fine.

 

[geeks_15]

Update

My nannacara have eggs in the quarantine tank.

They are due to come out of quarantine anyway, so I moved the male into the 75 with the a. cacatuoides trio. So far, so good.

The nannacara male is larger than the cac and seems to ignore his attempts at aggression. In only 24 hours the nannacara has gotten comfortable and the tank is quite harmonious. The cac has all but abandoned his aggression.

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,
Sounds promising, and a nicely aquascaped tank. Have you tried 1/2 coconut shells caves for the Cacs? I just cut a small notch out of the rim, to small for the male to enter. I like them because you can plant them with java moss, java fern, Anubias etc and they look really natural.

I've also used broken shell bits smooth side up, as substrate for open spawners, and they will use them.

cheers Darrel

 

[geeks_15]

I haven't tried coconut shells. I'm not sure where to get them. I would use them if I could find some.

For this tank I stacked rocks and used silicone to stick them together. There are also several pieces of driftwood and some are hollow. There are many caves and crevices in the tank.

 

[wethumbs]

Nannacara anomala is like the Energizer bunny

I had a pair of Nannacara anomala in a 40gal tank with 6 Hemichromis lifalili. They still managed to spawn and raised the frys....Amazing fish. The female was so mean even the lifalili (3"+) were scared of her. She was like a 'black' ninja stabbing at everything big and small that came near her brood. She managed to defend the free-swimmers for a few days before they all 'disappeared'. They are definitely great fish with strong maternal instinct.

 

[dw1305]

coconut shells

Hi all,
You can buy coconut shells ready planted with java moss via ebay <http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Coconut-Java-Moss-@-Live-aquarium-plant_W0QQitemZ120378349313QQcmdZViewItemQQimsxq20091012?IMSfp=TL091012152005r19041>. I just buy a coconut whenever I see them in the green-grocers, and hang it up until the birds have pecked all the coconut flesh out. I don't bother boiling them, I just scrape the fibres off the shell, and cut a small notch in the rim. They sink naturally. Java moss and particularly "Xmas moss" stick on really well. I used to start by sticking the moss on with a dab of silicon, but now I just drape some moss across he shell and let it sticks itself on as it grows. Java fern also attaches fairly well.
cheers Darrel