I have been on the lookout for some Apistogrammas (or other SA dwarf cichlids) to go with my Copellas which I got a year ago, and in all that time (despite living close to the Amazon) nothing has come up except some completely orange cacatuoides imported from Asia. Just recently several interesting fish have appeared for sale here. I just got one Apistogramma (id on another thread here as A. cf hongsloi) for free as it was a stowaway with some tetras from Colombia. It is very small and I am seeing it fairly rarely in my tank, which has a lot of leaf litter, branches etc. Now a shop (not in my city but will ship) is advertising 3 species of Apistogramma from Peru - agassizii, bitaeniata and "Ladislao" which I beiieve is quite new. They are all quite expensive. $22 each the first two and $28 the Ladislao. I have had a male agassizii before (from Colombia), it was beautiful, but very aggressive to any other cichlids, even bigger ones, but I never obtained a female. A.bitaeniata definitely appeal to me, and I am not sure about the Ladislao as I can't find much information or pictures. I wonder if any of these would be suitable for my tank, bearing mind that I already have the one Apistogramma in there. The tank is 240l with a footprint of 120 x 40 cm. I have approximately 20 Copellas, 4 otocinclus and the little Apistogramma. Could do with a bit more activity on the bottom. Water is very soft (KH 0-1, GH 1-2 but not very acidic (pH about 6.8) despite months of adding leaves. Recently I am trying a little peat in the filter.
Incidentally I was amazed to see that the same shop has Nannostomus "Cenepa super red". I am not thinking of buying any as they are $28 each and I just recently bought some N. mortenthaleri for $7 each that I am very happy with. They also have Hasemania nana, a tetra I have not seen for sale here before.
Anyway I would be interested in opinions about the Apistogrammas, or if it would be a mistake to get any.
Incidentally I was amazed to see that the same shop has Nannostomus "Cenepa super red". I am not thinking of buying any as they are $28 each and I just recently bought some N. mortenthaleri for $7 each that I am very happy with. They also have Hasemania nana, a tetra I have not seen for sale here before.
Anyway I would be interested in opinions about the Apistogrammas, or if it would be a mistake to get any.