Taeniacara candidi - best way of keeping - pairs, trios or groups

[zmirek]

Hi,

My preferable way of keeping dwarf cichlids is keeping them in groups in bigger tanks.

So far I kept that way all species I have (i.e. bitaeniata, eremnopyge, sp. Abaxacis, macmasterii, elizabethae, gibbiceps, D. filamentosus) and it worked quite well since agression and their results (damaged fins, sudden deaths etc) was very limited.
Basing on that I tried to use this method for keeping T. candidi. Unfortunetally group of 4 males and 2 females was (within few months) reduced to 2+2. It was a great surprise for me.

They are kept in 120x40x50 community tank with other apistos.
This tank has a lot of hidding places (coconut shells, bogwood, beach leaves, java moss) so there is no so open space allowing fish to watch each other from one corner to another. Other species kept there (eremnopyge and elizabethae) have stabile population for more than one year. Water parameters are pH 5,5, GH around 1, temp approx 27 deg C - dropping a few deg at night. Water changes (pure RO, usually more than 20% of tank volume) are done every two weeks

To make it more interesting T. candidi are the only species that sucesfully reared fry in such tank

Here comes my question. What do you think is the best way to keeping this nice fish? Maybe trio will work better than group? Maybe their spacial requirements (especially for keeping in groups) are much bigger than usually provided?

Best wishes

 

[Mike Wise]

As you discovered, T. candidi males (and females, too) are more territorial than most apistos. In large tanks like yours, more than 2 males will rarely live together. Since T. candidi is polygamous you should be able to keep additional females - if all of the fish are added at the same time. Right now, with 2 pairs dividing the tank, additional females might be killed by the other females.