Agassizi and Borelli questions

[michelle767]

Hello to all (this is my first post here)...
About two weeks ago I picked up a M and a F agassizi. I put them into my moderately planted 29G with, among other fish, a mother Bolivian ram and two of her juveniles. I shortly found out that this was a big mistake. Though there's hiding places galore in the tank, the male has claimed over half of it as his territory. Even the big mother ram who's about triple his size spends much time in the corner. So, I'm currently setting up a 20L just for the agassizi's.

Question 1: Aside from another female agassizi (if my LFS still has some), what else would work in the tank? I'm assuming another male might be too much, esp. as my current one has proven himself feisty. Tetras? Cories? A Pleco? I would like to try to breed them - would cories endanger the fry? I've read other posts and people tend to suggest tetras, but they're not my favorites so other suggestions would be welcome.

Question 2: I have a chance to get cheap borellis. I've heard that they're one of the most peaceful species of apistos. Has anyone tried keeping them with rams, i.e. is there a chance that they would work out better than the aggies? I plan on removing one of the juvenile rams to another tank as they're both males so that might ease things too.

Any help is appreciated.

 

[Apistt_ed]

..

hello Michelle,
Welcome to the forum. So, your aggie male's pretty aggressive huh? Well, Aggies are quite aggressive, in contrast to what some may say and they should do fine in a setup by themselves. I would add otto cats instead of plecos as they won't bother the eggs or fry. Corydoras can be great also when it comes to controlling fry population :wink: , so if breeding is something you'd like to do, I wouldn't suggest corys, even the pygmy corydoras because they will be bottom dwellers and will probably be too easy of targets for the aggies. Another male is pretty much not something you'd like to introduce and a female isn't necessary as aggies do better as a pair and not a trio (1M/2F).

some Fish that won't be a problem to any apistogramma tanks:

Beckfordii Pencil fish (great little fish and beautiful when courting)-

Sparkling gourami (licorice gourami if you can find them there), Vietnamese whiteclouds, and dwarf rasboras. (what i keep with most of my apistos.)

** all of these fish are fine because they aren't be bottom dwellers along with the aggies but are small enough to pose as dithers, "target fish" and won't be threats to young fry or eggs. They will be in the middle column of the tank or the top half, with the exception of the otto cats which will be on cleanup duty eating the algae.

If you can find A. Borellii at a good price, I'd say get them! They are IMO the most peacefull apisto available! There shouldn't be too much aggression between the two. The rams may be the aggressors more likely than the borelli. They will definitely work better in a "community" than the aggies though.

well, I hope this has helped you out a little... good luck, welcome again, and feel free to ask questions!

 

[michelle767]

Thanks for all the advice (and for getting back with me so quickly). I saw the message when I was at work and dutifully wrote down the fish you suggested, but, alas, when I went to the fish store later, the only ones they had were the whiteclouds and they, er, weren't looking well (the borelli shipment got delayed until next week, too - how disapointing). Being tired and not wanting to head to another store, I went ahead and bought.......tetras.

I'm going to give it a few days before I put the agassizi's in, just to make sure the tetras don't have ich. And then I'll be crossing my fingers and hoping for best. I'll also be picking up an otto, instead of cories or plecos. Thanks again for pointing me in the right direction.