Suggestions on Apistos that go well with Angelfish?

[ET69]

Hi,

I'm looking for suggestions on apistos that would go well with my angelfish. I have a 150 gallon tank with a "clearwater" biotope.

24-25'C (76-77'F), pH 6.2-6.5, KH 0-2

These values are slightly adustable to cater for the precise type of Apisto.

What I'm looking for is a type of Apisto that naturally lives in the same locality as Angelfish and I'm ready to change the tank to match the environment found there.

 

[Randall]

Apistogramma spp. & Pterophyllum scalare

Hello ET,

Others may surely disagree, but I would be very reluctant to house Apistogramma spp. and Pterophyllum spp. together. The later grow to be significantly larger and tend to be far more aggressive. Perhaps a larger dwarf cichlid might be to your liking; say, Laetacara thayeri, L. flavilabrus or Cleithracara maronii.

Met vriendelijk groeten,

Randall Kohn

 

[ET69]

I did some looking around and found that there should be several Apistogramma-species that occur naturally with Pterophyllum-species.

Linke & Staeck state:

In Laguna Paraqueña the Apistogramma sp. "four stripes" was collected together with Apistogramma sp. Breitbinden (actually the A. sp. Caño Morrocoy population of Breitbinden - mw), Mesonauta insignis, Pterophyllum altum and Satanoperca daemon.

And in "Collecting Cichlids in the Peruvian Amazon" Lee Newman states:

The species we brought back included Pterophyllum scalare, Satanoperca jurupari, Laetacara thayeri, L. flavilabrus, Crenicara punctulatum, Apistogramma eunotus and Biotodoma cupido, as well as some non-cichlid fishes.

But I'm still looking for more suggestions in Apisto-species that occur naturally with Angels. 8)

 

[Mike Wise]

I am sure that Pterophyllum & Apistogramma species are found at the same lacations all over the Amazon, but they do not inhabit the same biotopes. Pterophyllum, from what I have read, tend to inhabit much deeper water than do Apistogramma. They may be sympatric, but they are not as a rule syntopic.

 

[Randall]

Apistogramma & Pterophyllum

Hello ET,

Pterophyllum altum grows to approximately 15" (38 cm) from the tip of the dorsal fin to the end of the anal fin. Consequently, as Mike suggests, it is unlikely that P. altum is collected in the same small, shallow streams as Apistogramma spp. I agree with Mike in that although species of the two genera may be sympatric, they are probably not syntopic.

Just as an illustration from the Old World, Pelvicachromis pulcher and Hemichromis fasciatus are both found, in part, in the Niger Delta where they are both sympatric and syntopic. In the wild, the 10" (25 cm) highly predatory H. fasciatus preys, in part, on the diminutive P. pulcher and its fry. Although these two species can be found in the same biotopes, that is not to say that they should be housed together in the same aquarium :!:

All the best,

Randall Kohn

 

[Neil]

ET69,

WELCOME TO THE FORUM

Although Randall makes some very good points, I have found that housing adult Apistogramma spp. with angels is not problematic. There is obviously a problem with potential fry predation, but typically angels do not venture into the areas of the tank that the apistos cherish (the bottom!). It has been my experience that Apistogramma species have even been successful at bullying angels during btreeding times, but for the most part, don't need to. They just don't seem to care about one another as much, since they are in different parts of the tank.

That said, you would be wise to find a species of Apistogramma that is high-bodied and mature at the time of placement with adult angels. Angels can and might find a small species (or thin-bodied species) a tempting target. This would be my biggest concern, more than whether the inhabit the same biotope or not. I think that Mike and Randall are likely right in that a large percentage of Apistogramma inhabit the same water-course as angels, but not the exact same space. Apistogramma, in general, tend to gravitate to the edges (banks and shallows) of a stream and angels probably are out in the deeper water.

Neil

 

[Mike Wise]

I though you would all find this interesting. I just completed a search of Dr. Sven O. Kullander's monograph (a book really) "Cichlid fishes of the Amazon River drainage of Peru". I was checking at his collecting localities from his expeditions to Peru in 1981, 1983, & 1985. Dr. Kullander is very careful in identifying his collecting sites & identifying the species collected at them. I was looking for sites in which he collected Pterophyllum with dwarf cichlids (Apistogramma, Apistogrammoides, Crenicara, & Laetacara). I expected that there would be some places where these fish were collected together. I was surprised to see that none of the locations Kullander collected included angels with dwarfs.

 

[apistodave]

I have 5 Altums in my display tank in the house (150 gallons) It is heavily planted with nice hiding places on the bottom and all. There are also 2 male and 2 female cacatuoides in there and let me tell you when those females have fry they make the Altums nervous! Other than that they get along fine.

 

[MrsShytwn]

Angels w/ apistogrammas

I have a 75gal community tank, with a spawning pair of silver angels. I decided to go with Apistogramma cacatuoides, one male and two females.

The angels have spawned, and both female cacatuoides spawned at the same time. Everyone is getting along wonderfully. The angels like the top half of the tank and the cacatuoides generally reside on the bottom half.