hello all!

[flyfly]

Hello everybody! My name is jeremy. Im relatively new to aquaria with less than three years under my belt, but I do my research and keep up with my husbandry. Im very new to apistos. Im moving to portland this month and planning to convert the theme of my planted 55g to a S. American community. Im looking for some advice and/ or heads-up on possible problems. Here is my plan:


Livestock
a large school of cardinal tetras, probably around 20+.
A small pleco
possibly two species of apistos, Im thinkin viegita and cacatuoides (good beginner apistos right?)
amano shrimp and otos (noted that amano shrimp arent s. american)

Tank
heavily planted, 2wpg, compressed co2
eco complete substrate
aquaclear 110
fluval 350

being that Im moving out of town, Im not sure what the water params are going to be.


Questions-
1. I noticed in a lot of the pictures on this site that people are using sand as a substrate, will I be missing out on anything if I stay with eco complete?

2. Will two species of apistos be okay in this tank? what is a good stocking level? I like to be understocked, but I can cut some of that slack with the other livestock.

3. I read something on a post about plecos not being good tankmates with apistos, why is that? I would really like to have a small, ornate pleco, but I could stick with otos to save harmony.

on a side note, I am not using this tank for breeding, it is my show tank. At this point, I am not interested in investing the time or tanks to breed. I just got done breeding my s. american leaf fish, and Im ready for a break :wink:

here is a photo of my tank (haha, Im not the best photographer.)

Thanks for any and all help

flyfly

 

[Mike Wise]

Since you plan on this being a show/community tank, I see no problem with what you want to stock. People do not want plecos - or cardinal tetras for that matter - in a breeding tank because the will eat most of the eggs & fry. Otherwise they should do well together. People use sand because apistos are a geophagine cichlid that enjoy sifting through sand for something to eat. Your substrate should do OK. I assume by Portland that you mean Portland Oregon. If Portland is anything like the central Willamette valley, you should have neutral, moderately soft water.

 

[flyfly]

Thank you Mike! One last question: what are good male/female ratios for the viegita and cacatuoides?

 

[Mike Wise]

2 females/1 male will keep the males of both species from harassing any 1 female too much. For breeding purposes 2 or more females/male will work well, depending on the size of the aquarium. Just a "rule of thumb", but each female should have a breeding territory about 12"/30cm around the breeding cave. Each male needs an area that is outside of the females' territories.