Singles tank and Stocking a 65

[Boa69]

Hi all,

I, like many other new posters here am interested in setting up a dwarf cichlid tank! Other forums have reffered me here. Below I have included a possible setup for my tank and would love any input on it.

However, I would like to ad that I am not really interested in breeding dwarfs and would not want more than one breeding pair in the tank. Some keepers of larger cichlids keep a single species of one cichlid with many other single species. Can you do the same with dwarfs? Many of the problems with cichlids killing other cichlids arise when they are in breeding mode right?

So can you keep a bunch of singles together in a large tank with a good setup in mind?

I am planning on have a 65 Gal Cichlid Community Tank (120cm long) and have been looking around the net and have come up with this mix.

Fish:

Apistogramma ... (unknown)
Blue Rams (ramirezi) 4

Corys (Julie) 6
Tetras (Cardinals) 8
Pencilfish (Beckfords) 8
Tetras (Black Phantom) 8

In a well planted tank with lots of caves and driftwood would this be a good mix?

I think they are all from SA.. Most of the fish are middle and top dwellers so the rams would only have to deal with the Corys..

I want to setup a support tank that breeds some livebearers to feed to the main cichlid tank.. is this a good idea? I was thinking of fancy guppies or sword tails.. does anyone else do this? Or maybe brine shrimp..

Thanks alot for your input,
Im living in Japan right now and its pretty hard to communicate with the staff in fish stores! I have found two high quality stores in my area (much more expensive than US or Canada!).

thanks

Boa69

p.s. I have experience breeding and keeping both firemouths and severums as well as community tanks! I can usually only hit the net cafe here once a week so my response may take a while! Sorry! Thanks

 

[LyreTail]

I think that as long as you have all male Apistos, then the other fish will not suffer too much, because like you already stated. when spawning they can become relentless

 

[Boa69]

interested in hearing more

if anyone has any comments on this post they would be appreciated..

thanks

Boa

Thanks for your comment Lyretail..

Would it be possible to go with lots of male apstos and then a pair of pelvicachromis p.??

 

[Apistt_ed]

..

Actually with the tank you plan on having them all in, I wouldn't see any problems with it at all. Rams are always going to be pushy with each other whether it's pairing up or spawning, so they're going to be as they are. With a 65gallon tank there is more than enough space to keep the cichlid squabbles to a minimum, if the tank layout is thought out well. Hiding spaces, plants, terra pots, and an open swimming area for the rams and you'd be fine! You can possibly get a pair of Apistogrammas that aren't as dominating in a tank. A. Borelliis are great little peaceful fish and they will do fine with the fish you have mentioned. There really isn't a need for just buying male apistos because I have found that in the largest of tanks, the males can be more troublesom than a pair (M/F) to gain hierarchy. That's just my thoughts.

As for the young of live bearers as food for apistos, I've tried this with guppies and I didn't really see too much happening to the babies! I'd never really noticed my apistos even show interest to them when I knew they were an easy meal... Maybe its just my fish.. well, That's my 2 cents. good luck!

p.s. You're lucky in that you have the chance of owning some fish we dream about here (just fish in general including apistos)!

 

[gully fourmyle]

Another species you may find important not to overlook depending on the food you intend to feed is Hatchet fish - silver or Marble. This is important if you are going to feed any sort of food that floats.

Personally, I'd never use fry as live food for dwarfs. You never know when you are going to change your mind about breeding them, especially if one of your males winds up being spectacular. Get them used to eating fry and you can't depend on them not to eat their own. Sometimes they will anyway but why tempt fate?

I used have as many as four pairs of dwarfs (different species) in 65 gallon tanks with no problem. The key is to have "dither" fish that distract them from each other as well as lots of hiding places. Tetras aren't particluarly good dither fish as they are a bit slow unless provoked and tend to stay at one level of the tank. Zebras work best even though I can see you are trying to keep the tank area specific. As an alternative, you might try Spotted Danios (if you can find any) or Leopard Danios. Only another fish enthusiast will be able to tell the difference and the fish will earn their keep.


Another thing that helps is plentiful food. My fish were always exceptionally well fed with live food - daphnia, glass worms, mosquito larvae, bosnia, tubifex worms and so on. As well, I made my own brand of frozen food. A well fed fish is not so inclined to pick a fight because it doesn't need such large territory. Having different species such as agazzizzi, borelli and cacatoudies helps too as I found they tended to ignore each other.