Probably a silly question, but..

[Meghan]

What size tanks do you guys keep your apistos in? I presently have a pair of yellow faced borelii in a 76L community tank, but I also have a 20L tank which is currently housing some b/n fry and I've just aquired a 10L tank I was thinking of doing something funky with plants.. with.

Is 10L too small for an apisto? I know it's a tiny tank, and if the verdict is 'too small,' don't worry, I wouldn't put fish in there just because I want to, only if they/it can survive happily. I'm curious because they're such small fish? The tank is filtered and heated.

I just can't find any decent stat-sheets about many apisto species on sites that seem credible.
(Is this site just a forum, or is there a species log somewhere I don't know about? I don't mean to make light of the usefulness of this forum, it's just that I haven't been able to find any "this species likes this ph, hardness, food, has this temperament, eats this food, needs this much space etc" type posts. Well, not easily. )

 

[tjudy]

Hi Meghan... I have to laugh a bit. I just turned off the few data sheets we have. I can turn them back on, I guess, but noone other than me was working to expand/maintain them and I no longer have the time. Your message is the first I have read where a need for the profiles is mentioned in avery long time.

To answer your question... I keep pairs in 15 - 20 gallons and colonies in 30 - 55 gallon tanks. To me, a colony is loosly defined as either a harem of one male adn three or four females, or a group of two males and four - five females. Lots of cover and hiding places regardless of tank size or number of fish.

 

[chris1932]

Meghan
I am keeping pairs of Apistogramma in 15 and 20 gallon tanks that are 12x24. I am sure that 20 longs would work as well. These fish live in shallow waters for the most part and bottom surface area seems to be more important than depth.

 

[bigbird]

Hello Meghan,

Remember gallons and litres in the reply. 10litres is approx 3gallons. My suggestion would be minimum of 45-60litre for the apisto harem, with lots of plants, leaves, driftwood etc. 10litre in my view is too small. Maybe use the 10litre for the fry and add another pair or 1M 2 F to the 20litre tank. I keep 1M and 2-3F in 60litre tanks. These are just my thoughts anyway.
cheers from the east. jan-kurt :wink: