A. Cacatuoides tankmates

[Taylor's Apistos]

hello all,
I am planning a planted 40g high setup and want to focus on Cacatuoides and live plants. I am curious what tankmates would go well with Cacatuoides. I want at least 2 females with eggs/fry at all times if possible. I was thinking maybe 2 males and 3-4 females, and MAYBE some blue Rams. My main question is, how should i plan to keep algae in check, otocinclus cats, shrimp, or snails? I want a well planted tank (maybe 40-50%) without having to dose too much or add co2 injection. Was hoping to just use liquid co2 if needed. I would like suggestions on what plants to use for Cacatuoides breeding, what other fish to keep, and what inverts I could use to keep my tank at a minimal algae level, while still having enough for the groups of fry to feed on until their tiny bellies are full. I will have a pfs substrate, and haven't decided whether I want to use soil or some other nutrient rich substrate underneath the sand, or if I am going to just fert the plants through the water column. Seeing as I have sand substrate I am going to want Malaysian trumpet snails to stir the sand for me. I want a low tech tank that I don't need to maintain often. Any info on tankmates, plants, substrates, dosing ferts, invertebrates, and any other pertinent information is welcomed and very appreciated! Thank you all.

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,
Have a search through the forum, all the answers are here. A great advantage of this forum is that you have posters like Mike Wise, Gerald, Regani, Apistomaster, Ted Judy, Tom C, Mark Breeze, MickeM, Frank_H etc. who really know what they are talking about.

Here are a few suitable threads.

<"Otocinclus"> and MTS are fine, <"shrimps and A. cacatuoides aren't a good mix">. If you have 2 males you need a lot of cover, personally I'd have 1 male and <"a lot of females"> (you need at least a foot square for each female). I wouldn't add any Rams.

Pencil fish <"(other than N. beckfordi)">, and <"Copella/Copeinia/Pyrrhulina"> are <"suitable dithers">. I kept Black Neon Tetras (H. herbertaxelrodii) with my A. cacatuoides and they worked well.

Plants you can have any you like, I'd make sure you have a <"lot of moss"> and <"leaf litter">. I mainly have Ferns (Ceratopteris, Microsorum and Bolbitis), Anubias, Cryptocoryne and Echinidorus. When the tanks were less well established I had more stem plants Hygrophila corymbosa, Cabomba caroliniana & Potamogeton gayi.

I always have some floaters.

I have Red ramshorn snails for algae control, although I look upon a bit of "aufwuchs" as a resource. If you haven't got a <"microworm culture"> I would get one.

I have a got a tank with cat litter substrate, but other than I just have sand and feed the plants via the <"Duckweed Index">.

cheers Darrel

 

[Taylor's Apistos]

Thank you for the reply Darrel, I'm
very glad to see such an educated person answering my questions.

My concerns then are as follows:

1. With one male will i have multiple females with fry simultaneously, and will he parade around the tank enough for me and my family to see him? I just love the look of the Orange flash.

2. When it comes to leaf litter, what is the best type, or combination of types of leaves? I have multiple oak trees in my back yard, not exactly sure what type of oak. I just know they drop acorns. Must i cover my entire tank substrate with leaves? Or could i just have them in a corner/half of my tank? I want some foreground grass/ moss spread among my substrate also.

3. Algae control is a minimal concern of mine. I want algae in my tank, I just don't want it overrunning every plant or surface that gets light. I understand it's great for fry to graze upon as well, just another reason I want to keep some around. I currently have some snails in the tank now, (which is a piranha tank at the moment haha, I'll be selling him soon, opening the tank for the rebuild) but im not sure what kind they are. I've had them around for many many years. Slowly breeding and getting picked off by my fish. I have attached a picture of one of the snails. They haven't gotten larger than a pea.

4. Why do u mention a microworm culture? Is it for feeding they fry once hatched? I currently have convict cichlids which have bred and im raising the convict fry on freshly hatched baby brine shrimp, they are growing wonderfully fast, but once they get larger idk what im going to feed them, maybe just switch to my standard veggie flakes that i feed the parents. I have frozen mysis shrimp that I could also feed the fry once they get larger.

I have kept many cichlids (mostly Malawi) over many years, but I wanted to try something more unique and I found the Orange flash to be a spectacular looking fish. I am just doing a lot of planning and educating myself on what I need to do before I begin the setup. I am new to planted tanks, and new to South Americans. So I apologize for my many questions. Unfortunately I know I'll have a million more to come, but I'll do whatever I can to keep a happy and healthy apisto breeding tank.

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

1. With one male will i have multiple females with fry simultaneously, and will he parade around the tank enough for me and my family to see him? I just love the look of the Orange flash.

Yes and yes.

2. When it comes to leaf litter, what is the best type, or combination of types of leaves? I have multiple oak trees in my back yard, not exactly sure what type of oak. I just know they drop acorns. Must i cover my entire tank substrate with leaves? Or could i just have them in a corner/half of my tank? I want some foreground grass/ moss spread among my substrate also.

Yes you can cover the entire substrate, or you can have an area with leaf litter. What ever Oak (Quercus) tree it is it should be OK.

3. Algae control is a minimal concern of mine. I want algae in my tank, I just don't want it overrunning every plant or surface that gets light. I understand it's great for fry to graze upon as well, just another reason I want to keep some around. I currently have some snails in the tank now, (which is a piranha tank at the moment haha, I'll be selling him soon, opening the tank for the rebuild) but im not sure what kind they are. I've had them around for many many years. Slowly breeding and getting picked off by my fish. I have attached a picture of one of the snails. They haven't gotten larger than a pea.

Snail looks like Physella acuta.

4. Why do u mention a microworm culture? Is it for feeding they fry once hatched?

Yes, if you raise BBS you don't need one, although they are very low maintenance for "belt and braces".

cheers Darrel

 

[Taylor's Apistos]

You've been extremely helpful Darrel. Just one final question on this topic. Will the physella acuta (which I researched and agree that is what they are) harm live plants? Or be helpful with removal of algae? They currently exist in my tank and im curious if I will need to remove them before adding the apistos, live plants and mts.

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

You've been extremely helpful Darrel. Just one final question on this topic. Will the physella acuta (which I researched and agree that is what they are) harm live plants? Or be helpful with removal of algae? They currently exist in my tank and im curious if I will need to remove them before adding the apistos, live plants and mts.

No they are fine with plants.

cheers Darrel