Multiple apistos in a 65 gallon

[Kristian Tombs]

So I am setting up a 65 gallon soon and I wanted to know if I could have:
1 Apistogramma Cacatoides red
1 Apistogramma Cacatoides yellow
1 Apistgramma Agassizii
1 Apistogramma Nijsseni
1 German Blue Ram
1 Bolivian Ram
These six fish would either be all female or all male because not interested in breeding but I just wanted to know if this tank would have enough room for these fish to set up their territories. Obviously I would prefer for all these fish to be male because they would have better colouring then but I must have all females then I will. Don't I have will have filtration of 700 gph and I am religious with water changes. So these beautiful fish would be in good hands. I would also add a shoal of corydoras aswell.

 

[Simon Morgan]

I don't think you can go to a store and pick out the gender you want 100% of the time. Apistos are often sold as pairs. Also cacatuoides red and yellow are the same species so that may cause more aggression. IMO you should reconsider the stock list.
Having pairs doesn't necessarily guarantee breeding or lead to more aggression.
You could consider a group of blue rams, a pair of apistos and possibly a pair of something else such as Laetacara or Nannacara.

 

[Kristian Tombs]

It's just those six fish provide lots of colour and the tank would be heavily planted with a lots of driftwood and rock stocks and caves to break lines of sight. I just don't want pairs tbh

 

[Simon Morgan]

To be honest, your tank is pretty large for dwarf cichlids, so you have more room for manoeuvre. All male would look nicer IMO and without the presence of females, they will display to each other but I doubt it would lead to any serious violence. Rams though, will behave more naturally in a group, they may well breed but I doubt they would be aggressive nor would any fry survive. 5 or 6 would look great in a big tank.

 

[Kristian Tombs]

How about the original stock list from before but without the Bolivian ram. All fish male and then two female rams until a pair forms then take out a female.

 

[Simon Morgan]

Yeah, it will probably work.

 

[Kristian Tombs]

What about:
1 Apisto Cacatoides male
1 Apisto Agassizi male
(These are the fish I really want) can u suggest me some more dwarf cichlids, cichlids and other centrepiece fish (I was thinking of a pair of rams and an angel)

 

[Simon Morgan]

In 65g, I'd personally be thinking of something larger. Festivums or Geophagus for example, no reason why you couldn't mix Apistos in with them. You could also consider Biotodoma, Biotoecus, Cleithracara, Crenicara, Dicrossus, Guianacara, Ivanacara, Krobia, and Taeniacara...and the Laetacara and Nannacara I mentioned earlier.

 

[Kristian Tombs]

In 65g, I'd personally be thinking of something larger. Festivums or Geophagus for example, no reason why you couldn't mix Apistos in with them. You could also consider Biotodoma, Biotoecus, Cleithracara, Crenicara, Dicrossus, Guianacara, Ivanacara, Krobia, and Taeniacara...and the Laetacara and Nannacara I mentioned earlier.

What kind of dither fish would these fish need. Cuz I would like a community tank not a cichlid tank. (Mixture of the two) please can u use the common names aswell cuz I don't know the scientific names

 

[Simon Morgan]

Personal taste will influence your choice but I think it's hard to beat a large shoal of Lemon tetras, you could combine them with Splashing Tetras or Hatchetfish.
Other choices include Bleeding heart, Diamond, Red-Eye and Cardinal tetras.
One or two big shoals will look better than a mish-mash of different species.

 

[Simon Morgan]

I'm assuming that your water is relatively soft and the tank is or will be fishlessly cycled, otherwise I might advise differently.

 

[Kristian Tombs]

I'm assuming that your water is relatively soft and the tank is or will be fishlessly cycled, otherwise I might advise differently.

Okay I'm just going to take it as it comes so what the LFS gets in.

 

[Mike Wise]

I'm going to throw my 2¢ into the mix. A 65 has the same bottom surface as a 55, right? If that's the case then 6 dwarf cichlids should be able to cohabit fairly peacefully - in a properly decorated tank. Like Simon say, 2 A. cacatuoides might be more aggressive to each other. I'd replace one of the color strains with, say, a red or yellow morph of A. hongsloi. A German Ram won't do well in this type of tank because it needs higher temperatures than the apistos need - at least 82°F/28°C, preferably higher.

 

[Kristian Tombs]

I'm going to throw my 2¢ into the mix. A 65 has the same bottom surface as a 55, right? If that's the case then 6 dwarf cichlids should be able to cohabit fairly peacefully - in a properly decorated tank. Like Simon say, 2 A. cacatuoides might be more aggressive to each other. I'd replace one of the color strains with, say, a red or yellow morph of A. hongsloi. A German Ram won't do well in this type of tank because it needs higher temperatures than the apistos need - at least 82°F/28°C, preferably higher.

I've only seen Kribensis, Agassizi and Cacatoides at my LFS and also rams

 

[Mike Wise]

There's always mail order.

 

[dwarfpike]

There's always mail order.

It's not as scary as it seems. I did it the first time last year, everything went great.