Possible to keep 2 Male Apistos in a 20g high?

[supersonick95]

I currently have a planted community tank with:

Breeding Pair of Apisto Cacatuoides

5 Phantom Tetras

5 otos


I am thinking of taking back the female to my LFS because they began to breed, and actually produced fry resulting in increased aggression towards all fish within the tank. the male patrols the tank and chases anything that gets close to the bottom third of the tank. The female will dart at anything she can't spot when she's breeding. The tetras are stuck in one corner scared for their lives making the tank look stagnant, lacking the movement that was present about a week ago. I fear that this is unnecessarily stressing out the apistos and the entire community as well.

while seeing the fry grow would be nice, i am not up for the hassle of removing them from the tank. I tried to move them into a breeding net enclosure, but they got sucked out and eaten by the tetra. It was very discouraging and seeing the mother freak out really broke my heart. Breeding is not something I'm interested in.

My LFS has some Male Apisto Viejita and some Bolivian Rams and I am interested in purchasing one or the other. Could i house two males of differing sub species of apisto in a 20 high? if not could i house another male dwarf cichlid such as a Bolivian ram with my male cacatuoides? would they still become territorial even if there are no females present?

I would be fine with just the original Male apisto but i have fallen in love with the entire species and would enjoy having another sub-species.

 

[MacZ]

In a tank with a 60x30cm footprint a single male is plenty enough, I would stick with that. The tank size is often already too small for a pair and I would not even want to try and put two males in it. Not even from different species.

I would be fine with just the original Male apisto but i have fallen in love with the entire species and would enjoy having another sub-species.

Apistogramma is the Genus, not the species. Agassizii, borelli, macmasteri etc. are the actual species-names. Subspecies are a level underneath that.