Apistogramma cacatuoides. Let's throw some ideas around!

[SKYCAST]

Hey all!

This is my first post on this forum. I recently rescaped my black water aquarium.

Current specs are:
2 male triple red cacatuoides
2 female wild cacatuoides
12 neon tetras
12 pristella tetras

33 gallon long aquarium
Sicce Eco + canister filter for 55g
Sponge filter with air pump
Fluval glass heater set to 80F
Malaysian, Mopani, and Spider woods
Oak leaves
Play sand with gravel
Current Freshwater Satellite LED light (standard)

It's been a work in progress which generally entails me buying a new piece of wood to drop in every few months. The reason I'm posting now is to throw some ideas around and gain insights, as well as hearing The ideas you guys have on what would make a well crafted tank.

Here are some of my ideas:

First is to move the tetras into my other tanks and substitute an equal number of pencil fish in their place( Pencil fish seem to be well recommended from what I've read). So what I'd like input on is what type of pencil fish do you think is both beautiful and graceful individually and in shoaling behavior? I'm looking for something that isn't shy and likes to move in shoals.

The second idea is to move jusy the pristellas to my other tank and create groups of 12 neon tetra and 12 green tetra. I think it would be fund to observe their behavior, learn to recognize small differences, and see if they would school apparently or together. Does any one have experience mixing green with neons? Seems like it would be cool!

Any other species recommendations? Also ideas on the 1:1 ratio v. Harem groups for my apistos? I'm happy to but more females but don't want to overcrowd their space.

Thanks! Looking forward to your post!

 

[Mike Wise]

A community tank or a breeding tank?

 

[SKYCAST]

A community tank in general. Fun fact though is that my current two male triple reds are both the progeny of an earlier male female pair I kept. They both survived even with all those ferocious tetras swimming around!

 

[Mike Wise]

If you aren't interested in getting many (or no) fry, then I see no problem with what you have now. Just keep a close eye on apisto aggression and remove the losers.

 

[gerald]

Yes i think the common neon and green neon tetras will freely school together.
The Diptail pencils (eques and unifasciatus) and marginatus are usually pretty mellow.
Golden pencil (beckfordi) and Coral (mortenthaleri) are often more rowdy.
Consider some of the Copella species too (with a tight-fitting cover of course).

 

[SKYCAST]

If you aren't interested in getting many (or no) fry, then I see no problem with what you have now. Just keep a close eye on apisto aggression and remove the losers.

Thanks Mike. Since I put the wild female apistos in I noticed some interesting behavior. Before the females were added, it was just the two male brethren. Both acted very mellow towards each other, which I assumed was a lack of need for aggressive behavior to court females.

Fast forward to now and the social hierarchy seems to have switched! The subdominant male has become much more territorial and chases away the dominant male at sight. Not sure what this means.. Possibly he was able to mate and is exhibiting guarding behavior? I am going to give it more time to see what will happen. Do you think adding in another 1-2 females would help out as well?

Also I was wondering something about breeding wild type females with triple red tank raised males. I'm not sure on which traits are sex linked and how they would appear. Very curious and not sure if others have had experience with this before. I've only come across posts of breeding double/triple reds with orange flash.

 

[Mike Wise]

Your community tank has more than enough apistos right now. Adding more will just cause more aggression problems. Remember: "A community tank is not a breeding tank".

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

Thanks Mike. Since I put the wild female apistos in I noticed some interesting behavior. Before the females were added, it was just the two male brethren. Both acted very mellow towards each other, which I assumed was a lack of need for aggressive behavior to court females.

Fast forward to now and the social hierarchy seems to have switched! The subdominant male has become much more territorial and chases away the dominant male at sight. Not sure what this means.. Possibly he was able to mate and is exhibiting guarding behavior? I am going to give it more time to see what will happen. Do you think adding in another 1-2 females would help out as well?

Your second male needs somewhere to hide out of line of sight of the other male.

I've never had much success with more than one male in the same tank, although I kept a male:seven female cacatuoides harem tank without any problem

Also I was wondering something about breeding wild type females with triple red tank raised males. I'm not sure on which traits are sex linked and how they would appear. Very curious and not sure if others have had experience with this before. I've only come across posts of breeding double/triple reds with orange flash.

You may get tail chequering (it is a dominant trait), but I wouldn't expect to get a huge amount of red colour in any F1 males. You may get longer fins and hardier fish, because "Triple Reds" were line bred and will be quite in-bred.

cheers Darrel

 

[SKYCAST]

Hi all, Your second male needs somewhere to hide out of line of sight of the other male.

I've never had much success with more than one male in the same tank, although I kept a male:seven female cacatuoides harem tank without any problem You may get tail chequering (it is a dominant trait), but I wouldn't expect to get a huge amount of red colour in any F1 males. You may get longer fins and hardier fish, because "Triple Reds" were line bred and will be quite in-bred.

cheers Darrel

Thanks Darell,

Sorry for the late reply. For some reason I stopped recieving email alerts. Very interesting! In this past month one of the females (the other turned out to be a sneaker) has had two batches of Young, they grow up so fast and far more have survived compared to the last pair of apisos I have. The dedication this wild female has towards rearing her young is just incredible.

I moved the sneaker male into his own tank, but since he was wild I have no idea if he wil "color up" as I've read in other posts. I'm hoping he will develop this blue color I keep coming across