Starting an Apisto tank, looking for advice

[aspen]

well, imo, appearance wise, sponge and corner box filter's are the same- utilitarian. but, it is easier to split media when using corner box filters to start another tank. as far as whether they work, i had 2 discus in a 30 for a couple of months, and it kept up fine, with no health problems at all. in fact they both laid eggs on the filter. imo, if they will work for 2 discus, they will be sufficient for any realistic number of apistos, etc. the thing i do is, i put some gravel or ceramic noodles in the bottom to keep them them down, then floss, then a little piece of aquaclear sponge. however, what media you use is likely not that important, anything will work. i do find that when i clean them, i can get them much cleaner than a sponge, due to the fact that you can get a lot more stuff out than with a sponge. the media is 'thinner' if you know what i mean.

rick

 

[Psilocybin]

*update*

Hi, it's been awhile since my last update. Where to begin... I've had my Apistogramma cacatuoides for a little over 2 months now in my 29gallon tank. for the first few weeks, they were the only inhabitants of the tank, then I finally bought a bristlenose pleco. The bristlenose gets along fine with my Apistos, I have had no problems so far.

Then a few weeks later I bought a pair of Tiger Loaches for my 30gallon Yellow Lab tank. Those tigers harassed my lone YoYo loach constantly so I moved the YoYo loach in with my Apistos in the 29gallon. The YoYo is about twice the size of my Apistos, so it went wherever it pleased, and it ate what it pleased. The YoYo ate every batch of eggs while it was in there. I finally caught it about 10days ago and tossed it in my 10gallon BumbleBee Goby/Kuhli Loach tank. I'm pretty sure that one of my female Apistos is guarding eggs now that the loach is gone, maybe I'll be raising fry this spring.

A week or two after I introduced the YoYo, I bought a small group (7) of large Black Neon Tetras. I have dubbed these guys the Red-Eyed Jedis, because they got red eyes (well duh =P), and they're bluish-green neon stripes looks like light sabers. They stick to the mid-upper water column, and I really dig them.

Then a week after getting the Black Neon Tetras, my LFS got in some African Butterfly Fish (I've been wanting Butterflys for months now) which I just "had" to get. African Butterfly Fish are awesome, they're like small arrowanas with nice fins. I feed them all sorts of bugs and insects I catch in my house, I love watching them snap up the fallen bugs, its great. But there was a problem with them... whever I would feed my tetras flake food, the Butterflys would wait and ambush the tetras at the surface. There were torn fins on the tetras, but I was fine with that... until I saw one of the Butterflys snap at George, my male Apisto. That was the last straw, so I tossed them into my 30gallon, and they have been holding they're own just fine in there.

Then finally, last Thursday I went to my LFS to check out the new shipment of fish. They had a pair of these gorgeous Geophagus surinamensis still floating in the bag. I bought them up right away while they were still floating (no need for them to get acclimated to the fish store tank, THEN my tank). These guys are a little under 2" long each, and I'm pretty sure I got a male and female. One of them is dull looking and smaller, whereas the other one looks like it has little jewels encrusted on it's sides, and is significantly larger than the other. These "Eartheaters" get along great with my Apistos, and there have been absolutely no aggression issues (and I've been watching them closely).

So here is the total population of fish in my 29gallon (as of 5/20/03) -
3 Apistogramma cacatuoides
2 Geophagus surinamensis
7 Black Neon Tetras
1 Bristlenose Pleco

And now news from the plant front, I have 8 different species of plant in my 29gallon (but I cannot name them all). About a month ago I visited farm41 and he hooked me up with some excellent plants (thank you again Matt, they are doing awesome, I can't thank you enough, the tank looks great now). The crypts are doing great, constantly sending up new runners, along with the "sword grass." I've got java moss taking over a piece of driftwood, and almost all of the new plants are growing new leaves. The really tall "spindly" plant that I got from farm41 lost of all of it's blades when I first put it in the tank. I was pretty dissapointed, but didn't take it out. Now there are 4 new blades shooting up, and growing incredibly fast (at least for me).

Well, I can't really think of what else to tell you guys. My fish are growing well, and all get along great... and so are my plants. I'm thinking about getting a small school (lets say 7) hatchet fish. After I get those hatchets, I won't be adding any more fish, I just plan on letting everything grow, and interact with one another. I am very pleased with my 29gallon Apisto tank.

Thanks,

Jim

Oh, and whoever managed to read through this whole post has too much time on their hands =P

 

[farm41]

Sounds like a lot going on at your tanks Jim, glad you like the plants.

You know, anyone that could write so much, must have too much time on their hands.

 

[Psilocybin]

heh too true.

The worst part is that I actually typed out about that much a few days ago on here, but my computer crashed when I hit the submit button. I didn't feel like re-typing it all right after the crash, so I waited a few days and typed this.