First Apisto Based Aquarium Stocking Questions.

[Steven]

Hey all,
I'm new to the forum and I'm in search of knowledge. I've recently decided to tear down my 23 long Tanganyika tank in hopes of creating a beautiful SA black water biotope. The only experience I've had with Apistos was a 10 gallon dirted tank with a wild caught pair of, what was labled as trifaciata, but the guys at my lfs told me that was as accurate of a guess they could make. They've since moved on to another home.

At this point I'm not dead set on what species of apisto I would like to end up with, but I have a few strong candidates in macmasteri, agassizi, and baenschi. I would also be fine with borellii as they seem to be available to me quite often.

I would like to keep the stock list for this tank fairly simple. One species of Apisto, one species of schooling dither fish (no pencilfish, they're too expensive from what I've seen) some kind of slimmer bodied tetra. I'd like to keep a small group of Corydoras if possible, and a clown pleco.

The aquascape will consist of beechwood branches and leaves, maybe a couple rocks and "if" I add any plants at all some frogbit will be floating around.

Questions;

Which of those Apistos would you recommend for a newcomer?
Can I keep Corys and Apistos with a 36 x 12 tank footprint?
What would be a good tetra to use as dither fish? I love embers and black neons, but would like a little more color in the tank.

 

[Steven]

After some more research I've narrowed my Apisto options down to agassizi, baenschi, or panduro. I've seen two of these fish available at my lfs a few times and I've decided to stick to Peruvian species for the tank. The Clown Pleco has been ruled out since I found out that it's not a blackwater fish.

 

[Mike Wise]

Based on your desires, you really aren't interested in producing apisto fry. That's fine. In this case any of the apistos listed will do just fine, as will a school of any small peaceful tetra and 6-8 corys + a small pleco of some sort. If you hope to get fry from your apistos, you will have many more restrictions.

 

[Steven]

Thanks for your input Mike. I glad to hear that corys will be fine in this tank. I've zeroed in on the Rio Ucayali so I'll be stocking 3 Apisto agassizi along with a Clown Pleco (L206) which turns out is from that specific area. For corys I'm thinking 7 trilineatus or panda. Still unsure on dithers.

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,
I think C. panda would be a good mix as it is quite a small Corydoras. I like the small Panaque spp. as fish, although they are extremely nocturnal. They are wood eaters, so they need a source of wood, other than bog wood or Mopane, and they produce a huge amount of sawdust. You can supplement their wood with a hard vegetable like Yam or Sweet Potato.

If you can find L206 it will be quite expensive, not sure where you are located, but probably £20 ish in the UK.
Panaque maccus or L002 are usually a bit cheaper and more readily available, although L206 is at least sometimes listed for sale as wild caught from Peru.

You could try "Rare Aquatics" if you are in the UK.

cheers Darrel