Best for beginners

[ac82]

Hello everyone,

I was wondering whether I could have some advice with stocking my tank? I already have a male and female pair of apist. cacatuoides; is it ok to have two different species of dwarf cichlids in the same tank? If so which ones would you recommend?

I have 180 litre tank with a pair of lace gouramis, some corys and tetras.

Many thanks in advance,

Andy

 

[Pnyklr]

I have always thought that if you have more than one type of apistogramma, that they would interbreed.

 

[Apistt_ed]

the chance for interbreeding is most likely going to happen in species that are closely related. in your case, species such as A. cacatuoides won't do well with closely related fish like A. luelingi, A. blackchin/ sp. jurensis, etc but if their respective females were in that environment, interbreeding shouldn't be a problem as the fish will usually only interbreed if the female/male of same species isn't available. cheers john

 

[Greg PL]

if the tank is long enough (over 1m) I would go for 3 males and 4-6 females of A. cacatuoides. There are different color forms if you opt for variability.
this way you will see the most of their social behavior. and you can be sure that the fish are "compatible" - no species will dominate the other.

if you mix species - you don't need to worry about hybridization, as the tetras and corys should take care of all offsprings anyhow.