Stocking Agassizii in 50 gallon

[skoram]

I'm in the process of setting up a new 180 Liter tank (approx. 48 gallons) and plan to stock it with Apistogramma agassizii (cf. "Tefe" if I can find some) and around 10 dwarf pencilfish. The tank dimensions are 90 x 45 x 45 cm (L*W*H) or 36 x 18 x 18 inches. I plan to decorate the tank with lots of floating plants, driftwood and a fairly thick layer of leaves over a fine sand substrate. I am also debating the addition of a riparium section.

My initial thought is to stock the tank with 5 agassizii - 2 males and 3 females. I would like to have more than 1 male to avoid "putting all my eggs (or milt, in this case) in one basket" but am not certain this is wise or feasible for this species/tank size combination.

Any feedback or advice on this would be greatly appreciated.

P.S. Here are some pics of the stand I made for the tank:

 

[Jonathan Aquair]

I would not do 2 males in a 36x18 [90x45], especially wilds/F1+. Only one male will breed & the other will just be beaten on/hiding. The only time I kept two Apisto males in a tank was my old Cacatuoides (domestic) colony in a 48x12x12in. My wild A. Bitaeniata couldn't stand each other in a 75 gal with 5+ inches of almond leaves. I can't remember my old A. agassizi doing any better.

Seems that the Trifasciata lineage likes to have very large territory footprints. I haven't kept and Reginae or Pertensis lineages, but I'd imagine it is similar...