Apistogamma coexistance?

[fishysmell]

I've been wanting to order various pairs of Apistogammas and I was wondering if 2 or 3 pairs of different species can live together in a pretty heavily planted 125 gallon tank.  This is probably a stupid question but I'm new to cichlids.  I know temperment is somewhat dependant on the species but generally can a few pairs live together?

Thanx 4 the help

 

[keprydak]

Which species were you thinking of? Some species may interbreed, but I do know that you can keep several colonies in a large tank. You just have to stay away from interbreeding that's all. I'm pretty sure A. macmasteri and A. steinedachri (sp?) can be put together with A. nijensi. Check out www.thekrib.com because it talks a lot about it i believe.

As far as it goes, you could keep maybe 3 species together, having 2 males and 6 females for each (or 3 males).

 

[fishysmell]

Well I wasn't thinking of having THAT large of a colony; maybe just a pair or trio of A. borelli and A. cacatuoides.  Also would it be possible to have them in a community tank with tetras, rainbows, barbs, etc. or would they become too territorial?  And thx 4 the site but I had already read everything there so I was looking for some first hand knowledge.

Hope I'm not an idiot; thx 4 the help.

 

[blueconvict2]

Apistogamma ramirezi is a good choice( i beleive the name has been changed to papiliochromis ramirezi) The common name is Butterfly drawf cichlid or blue ram. There is also a gold ram.  These are beautifully colored fish. They are less aggressive than african cichlids.  I have kept two pairs in a community tank with no proplems.

 

[keprydak]

But apistos are so rare.... and rams you can find at the petsmart (not to bash rams, they are cool fish too!)

You could probably do tetras, barbs I would not try... Many people use small tetras as dither (I use harlequin rasboras) to induce spawning in shy apistos. Hasn't worked for me yet, but maybe I need another female. You'll need something small that can dodge attack, and something that won't be territorial - cardinal tetras, harlqeuin rasboras, neon tetras... if they are too big or too fast or nervous type fish, it'll just worry the apistos to death..

 

[wayne]

In a word yes - I've had cacatoides and nijsseni spawn (unintentionally ) at either end of a 30 gal. and get away with it, though the nijssenni male later killed another male cacatuoides in a 55 gal.  At the moment I've got about 30 cacatuoides in a 55 that I'm raising to sell, and it works well as a colony.  
 I also have a 250 litre tank with discus, cardinal tetras, ancistrus cats,cacatoides and borelli and it's great, certainly my most enjoyable tank ever - no bother.
see www.thekrib.com - that includes stuff on wild population densities

 

[wayne]

Sorry - I see you've already seen the krib.  What species can you get - try to get good quality, there's a lot of weedy looking inbreds floating around.
 You might have hassles trying to keep rams with apistos - a lot of rams now are particularly inbred and of very poor quality, and a sturdier apisto will harrass and beat on one of these, though they'll ignore most everything else.

 

[fishysmell]

No problem wayne and thanks for the help everyone.  I really appreciate it.

fishysmell