new guy with new fish room

[Husker]

Hello to all, I'm new here and I'm glad I found the A. forums. A little background on me before I start picking all of your brains.

In 1977 my aunt moved to NM and gave me her dual 29g set up with tanks on a wrought iron stand. I have been keeping cichlids ever since. Mostly Africans, but I played a little with the common other stuff like Dempseys, convicts etc. I've always had at least one or two tanks in my house, and have had as many as 30 at one time running.

My two older kids moved out last year, and left me with an uninhabited finished basement. I spent the better part of a week cleaning, prepping, and painting one of the old bedrooms, and it is now ready for tanks and stands. I have already moved my 70g Tang. tank into the room, but am looking to start my first adventure into the world of Apistos.

I've been doing a considerable amount of research (and bugging Zach from the digitalfishroom via email daily!) and still have a ton of questions. We have an RO system in the house, and my water is a pretty stable 6.4ph and very soft-40ppm if my test strips are right.

I currently have 4 tanks in the basement, they are:
-24x18x13 25g
-30x12x18 29g?
-24x18x18 37g (this one has plants/substrate/water in it and is ready for fish)
-48x18x18 70g (likely going to be my Tang. tank)

So now, here are a few of my questions. First, will my water be suitable for the Apistos? I have read that certain species will be fine at 6.4ph, but the spawn will not be viable, is this correct? Can the experts on here suggest some Apistos that might work and possibly reproduce for me? Which tanks would work best, and what quanities would be right? With adequate water changes will a sponge filter be enough filtration?

Zach has some A. Borelli that I think I will start with. With the help of this forum I hope to be up and running soon.

Thanks for any and all help!

Husker

 

[DH247]

Please mind that I am no expert!! But this is what I have learned from hangin out here and reading as much as I can! So if anyone sees something wrong please correct me! I'm still learning :wink:.

Most apistos will be happy in that level of pH. There are some that are more demanding than others (ie diplo's and elizabethae's). But Aggies, Cac's and Borelli's, to name a few, will be happy and are able to spawn in that pH. Granted it may not be ideal, and you will get fewer fry per spawn, but they will still do their thing.

Having seen the aggression these little guys can sometimes belt out when crowded I would suggest going for trio's in the smaller tanks and maybe a foursome in your 37. Lots and lots of cover and hiding spots and some clearly delineated property lines would help too!

 

[Apistomaster]

Hi Husker,
Welcome to the forum.
One of the greatest opportunities to get things right is be able to begin with a dedicated fishroom. Take some time to think about where your interests take you so you can have areas with the sizes of tanks you will need and just suggesting here, try to adopt some standard sizes so you can have the option to adopt some standardized accessories like, heaters, light, filters and so on.

Since you have RO water you can make up whatever you need to suit for any particular fish project. As it is now there are many Apistogramma species that will thrive. Certainly A. agassizi and A. caucatuoides will be happy.
I have had no trouble with either of those two using a higher pH and TDS than yours. I actually remember that I raised ~80 agassizi to maturity the first time they spawned in my tanks. What surpised me most was that the sexes were very close to 50/50. Based on my research back then, I was expecting to get a bunch of males and a few females. That sort of thing happens among my killies where I'll get either a skewed result one way or the other with an occassional batch that is balanced. All under what are the same circumstances as far as I can tell and in reference to the same species.

There are those species that are much more particular but one thing all dwarf Cichlids seem to have in common is that their idea of what is enough space is always larger than their keepers ideas.

 

[Husker]

thanks!

Thanks AM and DH, good info. The fish room is coming together slowly, and I am not rushing anything. I'm leaning towards 30 breeders for tanks, in addition to what I already have. I wish I could get my hands on 5 or 6 of the Oceanic 25g tanks like the one I have already. I'll likely start with a pair of easy Apistos this week in one of the tanks. Had some issues over the weekend with the rack I built, but I think I can get that ironed out.

The project is more work than fun right now, but its coming together slowly.

Thanks again.

Jamie