# Apistogramma advice please?



## neil groves (Dec 13, 2015)

Hey guys....

i'm new to this forum and indeed keeping Apistogramma....

My question is can I keep these little fish in a community tank and still expect them to breed and raise their young?
Primarily I just love the bright colours of these little fish and will enjoy just sitting watching their antics but I also
hear they can breed in the aquarium but my concern was the other community fish would eat the eggs/fry, that being the case I would set up a tank just for them which brings me to stocking levels, my immediate thought is to use a 45g corner tank or a 55g standard aquarium with 2 females and 4-6 males, can I add more than that? my first purchase will be Apistogramma Agassizii for red/orange colours and Apistogramma Pulchra for blues....

Can someone please give me an idea for what I need, can I keep these two types of fish in the same tank and maybe a third one down the road?

If I went for keeping just one pair for breeding, could this be done in a 12g cube?

thankyou

Neil.


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## royalplanted (Dec 12, 2015)

Haven't had apistos for a while. Really enjoying mine. Through research I suggest one male and 2-3 females to start. Wd be best to separate them when breeding. New to this sight as well. Hope this helps. http://www.fishchannel.com/freshwater-a ... -care.aspx
http://www.tfhmagazine.com/details/arti ... uarium.htm


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## royalplanted (Dec 12, 2015)

12 g cube will work.


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## Tropheusbd (Jun 24, 2012)

Great Article by Wayne. I am new to Apisto's myself. Been keeping African Cichlids for over 30 years but never Apiso's. I set up a 20l With live plants, dark sand, caves and a lot of leaf litter as recommended. I purchased 4 A. cacatuoides Triple Red's in early December 2015, two males two females at 1" and 6 Pencil Fish. Lost the Apisto's over the past few weeks not sure why? I was wondering about the leaf litter degrading and breaking down, and if that is fouling the water possibly? Any idea's on this aspect if you know? It may also be that I fed dry food and Frozen brine & Mysis?. I see in Wayne's article that these foods are not recommended so possibly the root cause of my loss? I also now cannot find any one locally at this time in he New York area that has any Apisto's for sale. I wanted to try and stick with the A. cacatuoides. If you know anyone that has any, perhaps yourself? Let me know as I would like to try it again hopefully with better results.
Thanks for any advice.
Bill


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## tanker3 (May 18, 2015)

You can always order on-line. I never used Oak leaves in my tank. I used peat in my filters. Also I used to feed my Apistos almost everything without issue (flake, pellets, Mysis and Brine shrimp, worms, ect. No issues. But I did do lots of water changes. I know if my PH was low (6.5) my bio system did not work very well, so lots of WC. Also I had them in a 20gal.


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## ahud (Aug 22, 2009)

As far as community fish, Apistogramma will spawn as long as there is not a fish that prevents them from going through the process. But large schools of tetra will make short work of the cloud of fry and you won't get to enjoy the female doing her parenting. Most Apisto keepers go to Nannostomus (Pencilfish) for companion fish. They look nice and tend to leave fry alone. Adding more than one species of Apistogramma is a bad idea IME. It works, but I think you will enjoy the tank more by sticking with one species.

Stocking is directly correlated to how much structure is in the tank. If the tank is heavily packed with driftwood/plants. This should read as "I have so much **** in my tank that I can't really see the fish". Which is why you are better off starting with a trio 1m/3f. A rough rule of thumb is each breeding female needs 12". The male will need somewhere to get away from the females when they are guarding fry.


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## meghanbridget33 (Aug 21, 2016)

I don't have those two you posted, i do want an Agassiz really bad as well. I currently have german rams, bolivian rams, and I have an apisto boreli. I think my boreli is a female, she seems to get along with everyone now. When I first got her she was hiding and was breathing heavy. Now she is a assertive little fish. Beautiful markings.


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## The Dude315 (May 19, 2015)

In a 4 foot tank I think you could do two species of dwarf cichlid if your creative with scape. You will need two clearly defined territories and line of sight breaks. It's all about the territories.


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## Mr Chromedome (Feb 12, 2013)

Your fish is neither female, nor_Apistogramma borelli_. A female Umbrella Dwarf would be bright yellow. A male would be a paler blue color, and have a very tall dorsal fin. Uncertain of actual species, but I do know what it is not.


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## tanker3 (May 18, 2015)

Mr Chromedome said:


> Your fish is neither female, nor_Apistogramma borelli_. A female Umbrella Dwarf would be bright yellow. A male would be a paler blue color, and have a very tall dorsal fin. Uncertain of actual species, but I do know what it is not.


I agree, looks like an Apistogramma Nijsseni.


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## Mr Chromedome (Feb 12, 2013)

_Apistogramma nijssseni_ is another fish that it absolutely is not. All the species in that complex have a caudal that is completely ringed in black.

My first thought was Steel Blue, as these are commonly sold as _borelli_, but it doesn't quite look right for that, either. I'd suggest posting those photos at Apistogramma.com for Mike Wise to try and identify. But I would not expect an easy answer, as there are many similar species that often are not identifiable without a collecting location.


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## tuna (Nov 8, 2004)

Looks like a Steel Blue


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