new to the forum w/ questions about A. cacatuoide

[blankminded]

I want to get a breeding group of Apisto cacatuoide going. Im setting a 20 gallon long bare bottome tank. I has some drift wood, small PVC piping, clay pots, slat tile slabs, and a Poret spong filter. My main question is how many would be good to put in the tank and what ratio? I was thinking either 1 male and 2 or 3females or 2 males and 4 female. Im thinking it might be a bad idea to have 2 males in a tank that small so maybe 1 male and some females. Any and all advice would be great. :biggrin:

 

[dw1305]

Hi Blankminded,
Welcome aboard.
Have a search through this forum. There are plenty of threads which should tell you all you need to know. Have a look at this one:

<http://forum.apistogramma.com/showthread.php?t=8531>

I'd also suggest having a look at Bob Wiltshire's (ApistoBob) Web site. It has really useful advice for habitat, water etc. and Bob's practical experience of keeping many dwarf cichlids.

<http://www.dwarfcichlid.com/index.php>

cheers Darrel (in Bath, UK)

 

[RHS788]

My best luck is taking 2 of the bases from about 3-4" clay pots, then cutting out/drilling a hole in the side of one of them. Place one over the other this makes a decent cave, and you can somewhat see in it with a flashlight (depending on the shyness of the fish). Be sure and make the hole big enough for the male to get in there. I would feel comfortable with 2 pair in a 20 gallon, and maybe create some natural divider in the middle. I have found the females to be the fighters, but would consider a third in there if you have a place to move one of them to if they fight. What I don't like to happen is have one or two die and then you have no either male/female to work with.

When the females lay eggs they place them on the ceiling of the "cave", then a couple days later they move them to the bottom; wigglers result in a few days thereafter.

If desired, I have taken the female, cave and all.. gently placed them in a small ice cream container (all under water) then moved her with eggs to another 10 or even 2.5 gallon by herself for the privacy of the family. Not a requirement, but I just felt better on occasion based on the aggressiveness of the females.

For food, I have taken frozen bbs, put them in water and using a small tube feed them in the cave. After about a week, I move the lid back so they can easily swim around. Another option is setting up a culture of microworms and feeding that to the family.

Good luck, it is easy to get engulfed in watching and tinkering with them.

Randy