# 75 Gal: Number of Apistos/Rams?



## 679x (Jul 25, 2016)

I've got a few threads open because I'm trying to find the best fish for my future 4-foot 75 gallon tank, which I won't be getting for perhaps a few months to a year. Anyway, I'm jumping back and forth between potential species but I keep looking at Apistogramma trifasciata and Bolivian rams.

I am willing to set up a tank catering towards either species, along with compatible tankmates for the middle/upper levels of the aquarium. Keep in mind that I'd very likely be keeping only one or the other species, not both in the same tank, although they will have non-cichlid tankmates.

I read that Apistogramma trifasciata are harem breeders, and that Bolivian rams are fine with multiple pairs if the tank is large enough.

The only info I can find for stocking numbers for either species is for like 20-30 gallon tanks, not for 4-foot 75 gallon ones.

With that being said, I'd like to know how many Apistogramma trifasciata I could keep in this tank. They'd be the only species occupying the bottom level of the tank. Ideally, I'd keep multiple males and multiple females PER male, but I'm not sure if I could have that many of this species in the tank together.

If I decided to get Bolivian rams instead, I'd need to know how many to get, too. I'd imagine they'd be more compatible in large numbers than large numbers of Apistos would be.

Any help would be appreciated, thanks.


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## DeadFishFloating (Oct 9, 2007)

Almost all dwarf cichlids occupy the bottom level of a fish tank. So both the apistos and the rams will be competing for space.

If you are considering dwarf cichlids, numbers depend greatly on the complexity of your aquascape. The more plants, driftwood and leaf litter (which needs to be continually replenished), the more dwarf cichlids you can keep.

I have seen massively overstocked apisto tanks, where there were simply to many males for any single fish to claim a territory. But we are talking in the dozens and dozens, if not close to a hundred apistos.

Dwarf cichlids fight. All cichlids fight. You can't get away from it. You have conspecific aggression, which is aggression among a single species. And you have interspecific aggression, which is aggression between different species. Setting up a functioning aquarium is all about understanding these dynamics and reaching a balance. Unfortunately there are no hard and fast rules for reaching a balance.

Individual fish have their own personalities. You can get individual fish which are hyper aggressive and just won't fit in, in a community tank. You can get aggressive individuals that need to be amongst the right mix of fish for them to fit in.

I'll give you a couple of examples.

I had a large Blue Moon heckel cross male discus that was hyper aggressive. He wasn't the boss male in the tank, but he would continually harass all other male discus that lower than him in the pecking order. If he was put in a tank where he was the boss, he was even worse and I had to remove him before he killed the other males. Just for my own peace of mind and for the safety of all my other discus, I had to sell him.

I have a pair of Blue diamond discus. If kept as a single pair, the male is fine with his partner. If kept in a tank where he is the dominant male, he makes life **** for all the other males. But if he is kept in a tank where he's well down the pecking order, he's kept in his place. He'll challenge other discus, but he gets put in his place quick smart and there is little over all aggression in the tank, which my sanity can handle.


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## tanker3 (May 18, 2015)

I have kept and bred a few Apistogramma before, but trifasciata was not open of them. The female usually took care of the eggs and fry, with the male not really caring after the eggs are laid. I have never had the male breed with multi females before, or at least at the same time. So not too sure of the Harem breeding. I usually keep a male with 2 females. A 75gal would hold only maybe 2-3 pairs only, and because they are bottom dwellers, I would not add any plecos or corys to the tank.


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