Help me find the perfect Dwarf cichlid!

[ram man]

Well, I am gonnatake another whack at doing a dwarf cichlid tank, First rule of this tank, no rams, shellies, those fish every one is getting at petsmart now. I want a nice Apisto species.

Banded Dwarf Cichlid (Apistogramma bitaeniata) - Planted Tank

I realy like the A. bitaeniata. But i have heard conflicting info about this fish, some say it is easy some say it is fussy.

Blue Cheek Dwarf Cichlid (Apistogramma eunotus) - Planted Tank

Apistogramma eunotus looks like a realy cool fish to have in a heavily planted tank. Does anybody know about these beauties?

I am open to most Apisto suggestions.

 

[silver dollars]

What about A. Macmastrimi? There really nice looking. Or A. Cockatuoides? Go to Aquabid.com and in the Apisto section, they have some Nice looking Dwarfs. Good Luck!!

Nik

 

[Cichlid-Man]

First let me say, i'm not totally sure on specifics...but i can give you some ideas of species.

Apistogramma macmasteri is a nice one, good red colors. As for the Apistogramma eunotus, thats definently a less common type...at least around here even from the breeders. And looks really nice, can't tell ya any specifics though.

I happen to like the Apistogramma "Inka" personally, its one of my favorites. If you can find a good stock they are a beautiful fish.

And of course, there is always some other choices, some harder to find then others:
-Apistogramma panduro (More common)
-Apistogramma elizabethae (Less common)
-Apistogramma baenschi (More common)
-Apistogramma hongsloi (Less common)
-Apistogramma trifasciata (More common)
-Apistogramma viejita (More common)
-Apistogramma uaupesi (Less common)
-Apistogramma nijsseni (More common)

If it were my tank, i'd probably shoot for some Inka. But i've loved those forever. I'd love to be able to keep a few of those species on the above list though.

 

[Orion]

You've seen shellies at Petsmart?? I've only seen them in one LFS one time, and that was because I had ordered them.

I'm experenceing my first apisto's in my tanks, so I'm not qualified in giving sugestions based on what little first hand knowledge I have of them. I can say that they are fiesty little buggers. I have one, presumeably a male, that's not a bit afraid to charge a fish twice his size.

If your not really worried about the species, then I would try to find whatever you can local to you. Save money if you can on shipping, as it seems that the shipping is at least the same cost as the fish if not normaly more. Or pick up a book on them and try to single out a few species that really get your attention and then take it from there.

 

[ram man]

Apistogramma elizabethae i think i saw at my lfs last week, very nice fish.

Apistogramma trifasciata is what i am searching for. I love this fish. Im gonna see what the lfs has this weekend. The store was pretty empty, but they were expecting a new shipment yesterday.

 

[ram man]

well, i have a list of 13 apistos i like, pics will be posted if i manage to find any of them.