Combining M. ramirezi and Dicrossus in a 720L tank?

[Gertbl]

Hi everybody,

In my new tank, 200x60x60cm (720L) a have the following stock in mind for the tank:

8 Discus, will be Green or Blue discus.
50 Nannobrycon eques
8 Chilodus gracilis
6 Sturisoma sp. aff. festivum
5 Hypoptopoma sp.
2m 5f Copella arnoldi
3m 3f Mikrogeophagus ramirezi
A few Poecilia wingei

Is it wise to keep next to the M. ramirezi group, a group of Dicrossus?
Or is it better to keep a cave spawner next to the ramirezi group?

The tank will have almost the same decoration as my 1.60m tank. A lot of wood and next to that some Echinodorus bleheri, Vallisneria gigantae, and some small Echinodorus sp.

 

[gerald]

It sounds like your tank is big enough for both rams and checkerboards, but the discus might make it difficult for the dwarf cichlids to defend spawning territories, and the Sturisoma may eat the eggs anyway. I'd suggest having a smaller tank (or several) where you can move a pair of rams or checkerboards when you want to breed them.

 

[Gertbl]

I've kept Dwarfcichlids together with Sturisoma, and never saw the Sturisoma's eating from the eggs. I don't think this would be a problem. If so, I can place the Sturisoma's in my South American Hillstream tank.

Would Discus make it that difficult for the dwarfs to defend their spawning grounds?
It's also possible for me to place one couple of M. ramirezi in a 120L tank together with only Otocinclus. So that is also no problem if it's necessary.

Edit:
Or would 1m 1f M. ramirezi and 8 Dicrossus filamentosus, be a better choice?
They will be room for a small field of Echinodorus on one side of the tank.

 

[Mike Wise]

Would Discus make it that difficult for the dwarfs to defend their spawning grounds?

Probably. It would be kind of like making love in the middle of a buffalo herd; possible, but not very enjoyable.

 

[M.ramirezi]

Mikrogeophagus ramirezi are perfectly capable of defending their fry from discus.
I've kept them with angelfish and they were able to keep the entire group (those were adult fish) away from their eggs. Eventually, the eggs even hatched, right under a pair of angelfish.

In my experience rams aren't afraid of (much) bigger fish. They always kept the bigger catfish (Farlowella sp., Sturisoma sp. and Ancistrus) fiercely away from the fry.

 

[Gertbl]

I was always told that Dwarfcichlids like Apistogramma would cause more problems in combination with Discus.
I've kept Dicrossus maculatus for a while with a young group of 6 Red Spotted Green discus. There was absolutely no problems between these two, even had some eggs from the Dicrossus.

M. ramirezi that I kept with Pt. scalare "Manacapuru" was also a good combination. No problems at all. I have to say it also depends on the decoration of the tank. I keep a lot of wood in the tank and Echinodorus sp. So that I keep the sight in the tank to the minimum.

Of course it's always a risk of combining (dwarf)cichlids together, I am aware of that.

 

[henkh]

In my experience dicrossus and ramirezi can be kept together. And certainly when the tank is 720liters. No problems to expect.