Rio Negro focused Biotope Tankmates

[FrankNFigs]

I am building a Rio Negro focused biotope tank. Although I am focused on heckel discus, I do want to choose correct dwarf cichlids as tankmates. The tank is 500 gallons , 8’x3’x3’.

As of now my possibilities are:
-Biotodoma Wavrini
-Dicrossus Filamentosus
-Dicrossus foirni
-Apistogramma diplotaenia
-Apistogramma Biotoecus
-Apistograma mendezi

Any other recommendations on species and pairing are welcome

Thanks.

 

[MacZ]

-Apistogramma Biotoecus

Biotoecus is a genus of its own. Typo?

Biotoecus species are a quite small and all species need a lot of open sand. I would not combine them with Discus.

D. foirni are rearely available and I would rather give them a tank on their own to shine. The deserve the spotlight.

@anewbie has Discus with D. filamentosus, he might have further info for you.

 

[anewbie]

Biotoecus is a genus of its own. Typo?

Biotoecus species are a quite small and all species need a lot of open sand. I would not combine them with Discus.

D. foirni are rearely available and I would rather give them a tank on their own to shine. The deserve the spotlight.

@anewbie has Discus with D. filamentosus, he might have further info for you.

no - i have Dicrossus maculatus - beautiful but large fish. sadly only 2 are still alive after 2+ years but they get along even if two males.

Even though the tank is rather large (I have a 500 but mine is 8x4x2); a few comments - first your tank is really really tall and deserve really tall fish.

2nd i'm a bit concern about keeping heckel discus with some of the fishes you listed due to temperature differences - my understanding is the discus will want something like 83 or 84 though that is just baased off of a google search and i'm not sure if you can go a degree or two cooler but that will eliminate a lot of your dwarf cichild options.

I do have a small group of b. wavarni and for some reason i prefer them over the b. cupido i have (both groups are long lived so be prepared to treat them well) but they are not very colourful of course and again the temperature is going to be a bit rough.

aquaticclarity (if you are in usa) has some wild caught mendezi that are quite colourful if eye candy is your thing but again they will want cooler temperatures and they are a more aggressive species from what i've read (i did not buy them due to aggression concerns given my lack of space) btw the wavarni is extremely passive.

I keep my wc discus at 83 and anything cooler makes them shut down (well the range is 81.5 to 83.5 with 83 being hte common temperature) but they are not heckel - they get along fine with the maculatus - did i mention those d. maculatus are lovely fishes.

All the fishes i mentioned in this post i keep in very soft acidic water - ph below 5 and ec around 20-30. Sadly the discus are in a 180 instead of a 500 and could use a bit more room - i have 8 but one will likely be bullied to death soon (i've had them for around 2 1/2 years). After about 1.5 to 2 years one of hte non dominant pairs laid eggs and since then the dominant male has been bullying the 3 smaller ones to the extinct one now hides 24/7 and has lost quite a bit of weight.

 

[MacZ]

no - i have Dicrossus maculatus

Forgive my shoddy memory, at least I rememered it was you.

 

[FrankNFigs]

Biotoecus is a genus of its own. Typo?

Biotoecus species are a quite small and all species need a lot of open sand. I would not combine them with Discus.

D. foirni are rearely available and I would rather give them a tank on their own to shine. The deserve the spotlight.

@anewbie has Discus with D. filamentosus, he might have further info for you.

Thanks for the Clarification.

 

[FrankNFigs]

no - i have Dicrossus maculatus - beautiful but large fish. sadly only 2 are still alive after 2+ years but they get along even if two males.

Even though the tank is rather large (I have a 500 but mine is 8x4x2); a few comments - first your tank is really really tall and deserve really tall fish.

2nd i'm a bit concern about keeping heckel discus with some of the fishes you listed due to temperature differences - my understanding is the discus will want something like 83 or 84 though that is just baased off of a google search and i'm not sure if you can go a degree or two cooler but that will eliminate a lot of your dwarf cichild options.

I do have a small group of b. wavarni and for some reason i prefer them over the b. cupido i have (both groups are long lived so be prepared to treat them well) but they are not very colourful of course and again the temperature is going to be a bit rough.

aquaticclarity (if you are in usa) has some wild caught mendezi that are quite colourful if eye candy is your thing but again they will want cooler temperatures and they are a more aggressive species from what i've read (i did not buy them due to aggression concerns given my lack of space) btw the wavarni is extremely passive.

I keep my wc discus at 83 and anything cooler makes them shut down (well the range is 81.5 to 83.5 with 83 being hte common temperature) but they are not heckel - they get along fine with the maculatus - did i mention those d. maculatus are lovely fishes.

All the fishes i mentioned in this post i keep in very soft acidic water - ph below 5 and ec around 20-30. Sadly the discus are in a 180 instead of a 500 and could use a bit more room - i have 8 but one will likely be bullied to death soon (i've had them for around 2 1/2 years). After about 1.5 to 2 years one of hte non dominant pairs laid eggs and since then the dominant male has been bullying the 3 smaller ones to the extinct one now hides 24/7 and has lost quite a bit of weight.

Thanks for sharing your experience. I have kept my Heckel group for a year now. They were in a 270, and now moving them to my 500. The 270 is sold and now replaced by a 180 gal reef tank. Currently running a 300 gal aquaponics pond in my basement for my heckels. They thrive at 82-85, a stable 83 would not be an issue. I agree they become lethargic around 81 and less long term. I kept b. cupido in a previous red ica discus tank and they were great fish. Keeping to Rio Negro species to prevent myself from just collecting random fish. The tall tank tempts me to keep my 8 altums in with the heckels, and they would be a good stand in for p. scalare, although not biotope correct. I’d like to use the height to stratify the fish based on their natural preferences and promote more natural behaviors. I’ve kept Rams and a. Borelli in other tanks in the past. They were defensive in standard tanks when combined with Discus(rams) and angels(a. borelli). Both showed more natural behaviors when the qty of the larger fish were reduced or removed. I also maintain very soft water, starting with RO water and adding a pinch of buffer, and decent amount of brightwell blackwater at each waterchange. Ph between 4.5 and 5.

 

[anewbie]

Thanks for sharing your experience. I have kept my Heckel group for a year now. They were in a 270, and now moving them to my 500. The 270 is sold and now replaced by a 180 gal reef tank. Currently running a 300 gal aquaponics pond in my basement for my heckels. They thrive at 82-85, a stable 83 would not be an issue. I agree they become lethargic around 81 and less long term. I kept b. cupido in a previous red ica discus tank and they were great fish. Keeping to Rio Negro species to prevent myself from just collecting random fish. The tall tank tempts me to keep my 8 altums in with the heckels, and they would be a good stand in for p. scalare, although not biotope correct. I’d like to use the height to stratify the fish based on their natural preferences and promote more natural behaviors. I’ve kept Rams and a. Borelli in other tanks in the past. They were defensive in standard tanks when combined with Discus(rams) and angels(a. borelli). Both showed more natural behaviors when the qty of the larger fish were reduced or removed. I also maintain very soft water, starting with RO water and adding a pinch of buffer, and decent amount of brightwell blackwater at each waterchange. Ph between 4.5 and 5.

Yea i've been debating on altums myself the problem is i really don't want to go taller than 24 or maybe 28 inch since i like being able to reach the bottom to manage plants.

I'm pretty happy with my group of b. wavarni but not sure why they appeal to me more than the b. cupido. I keep the warvani at 78 so not sure how they will respond to 83.

I'll be honest if you are in the usa you might want to grab those a. mendezi that aquaticclarity has. I'm a bit concern about 83 but mrs google suggest they are found in the wild with discus so maybe they will do well at the warmer temps.

I use straight ro water - no buffer - my discus tank has consistently been ec around 20-25 and ph below 4.7.

 

[martin_c]

Temperature wise A. diplotaenia is the one in your list that matches the needs of S. discus.
I actually kept those 2 species together for a while. The diplotaenia are small enough to fit into a grown Discus mouth, but mine never showed any hunting efforts at all. Can't guarantee the same for yours though. The diplos weren't shy, they were quicker at the food than the discus.

 

[anewbie]

Temperature wise A. diplotaenia is the one in your list that matches the needs of S. discus.
I actually kept those 2 species together for a while. The diplotaenia are small enough to fit into a grown Discus mouth, but mine never showed any hunting efforts at all. Can't guarantee the same for yours though. The diplos weren't shy, they were quicker at the food than the discus.

Did yours look like the ones on Tom's website ?

 

[martin_c]

Did yours look like the ones on Tom's website ?

Not sure, but here's a snapshot of the wildcaught father i found on my disk: