Stocking levels?!

[gex18]

I have a juwel rio 400 tank (dimensions 5 ft long x 2.1 ft high x 1.67 ft wide), capacity 400 litres , filtration is as follows;

Eheim 2329 external wet / dry filter
Eheim 2217 external filter
Fluidized bed filter (300 US gallons rated)
TMC vecton uv clarifier

Water changes; 2 x 10 gallon changes with corrected RO water per week.

Stock is as follows;

6 x 5" discus
30 Cardinal tetras

I am interested in purchasing some apistogramma agasizzi but would like to know how many i can add if i stock to just this species? If i want to add another species (such as A.Cacatuoides) that is compatible with the above. Also do you think i can add say 20 runny nose tetras and a few corys?

Thanks in advance

Anhtony

 

[fishgeek]

you have a nice set up anthony and you could probably fi alot of fish in theredependng on what your aims are

aggasizzi arre harem breeders and you would have no trouble fitting 2-3 males and 4-6 females in your tank
at the upper levels you may find that one male and /or female is isolated and unable to establish a territory
your planting, aquascaping will impact greatly upon how happy the fish may be , if you divide the tank so that the male fish can not see each other directly along the bottom then things should be fine

apisto are predominatly bottom dwellers and surface area or footprint of the tank is more important for stocking density than volume of water

if you were to add another species then they would need some of this room , dependant on body shape and species some apisto's are relatively more subdued than others, to acomadate the new species

as to rummy's and cory's , yes you could add these fish if you are happy you can maintain the discus's water quality
and if you have them you will not succesfully raise fry if your fish decide to breed

the cory's are also bottom dweelers and the apisto will not be happy sharing too much tank with them, ideally if keeping these later 2 together reduce the numbers of both so they can find there own space

andrew

 

[gex18]

Thanks for the prompt reply - just a couple more questions, would L183 ANCISTRUS DOLICHOPTERUS be ok instead of corys? Also what are the ideal apistos to keep in a discus setup?

 

[fishgeek]

ancistrus will be ok , though will mean that apisto's unlikely to breed as they wont be able to defend there egg's

any of the warmer water species should be ok , as the water quaity wont be an issue not the hardness , just higher temperature
that though is more likely to be an issue for the cory as they are generally from coole rwaters