New to Dwarf Cichlids/Apistogrammas

[gene]

Hi all, i am planning to set up a Dwarf Cichlids/Apistogrammas tank.

Set up as such:
2 feet x 1.5feet x 1.5 feet
Running on Eheim 2213
55 Watt PL light
Lapis sand

The original idea is to have a leaf litter biotope tank perhaps with java fern and anubias.

1. What else will i need? and what kind of apistos will be good choice? Something colourful and easy to find/affordable.

2. Should the tank have other tank mates. Since there s a good chance of breeding?

[jemswira]

Well to be honest a biotope tank wouldn't have anubias and java ferns.
Not an expert on Apistos, but I am currently in the research phase of setting up a south American biotope, which is where Apistogrammas are from. Java ferns are found in SE asia, Anubias in Africa.
More biotope appropriate would be plants like Amazon Sword, some Echinodorus and Cabomba. My two cents.

On another note, I do hope to see how it goes. Where are you getting your apistos? Still going between ram cichlids and Apistogrammas for mine.

[doppelbanddwarf]

Lots of hiding places. Good choices of apistos would be cacatouides, agassizii, borelli and trifasciata. For tankmates I personally prefer pencilfishes. Try to avoid tetras and the golden pencilfish Nannostomus beckfordi if you are planning to breed them and raise fry successfully as these would prey on fry.

[EdwinTay]

hi bro Gene

I used to keep apistos.

Generally, they are easy to keep, except rams (which I don't seem to have luck). For a 2 ft tank, you can only keep one pair because they are highly territorial & aggressive. I advocate keeping some small tetras (ditter fish) as they add life to the tank. Although there may be some predation, the apisto parents will look after the fries, hence will mitigate this. Apistos are very interesting as the females turn very yellow when mating or with fries. Do not keep two pairs of the same apisto in the same tank as they will spend their time fighting.

I got my apistos from; the wild (i.e. Peru), Malaysia (in Johor), Taiwan. Unfortunately, the wild-caught ones are much rarer nowadays.

[EdwinTay]

hi bro Gene

I used to keep apistos.

Generally, they are easy to keep, except rams (which I don't seem to have luck). For a 2 ft tank, you can only keep one pair because they are highly territorial & aggressive. I advocate keeping some small tetras (ditter fish) as they add life to the tank. Although there may be some predation, the apisto parents will look after the fries, hence will mitigate this. Apistos are very interesting as the females turn very yellow when mating or with fries. Do not keep two pairs of the same apisto in the same tank as they will spend their time fighting.

I got my apistos from; the wild (i.e. Peru), Malaysia (in Johor), Taiwan. Unfortunately, the wild-caught ones are much rarer nowadays.

[markvtec2]

hi bro Gene

I used to keep apistos.

Generally, they are easy to keep, except rams (which I don't seem to have luck). For a 2 ft tank, you can only keep one pair because they are highly territorial & aggressive. I advocate keeping some small tetras (ditter fish) as they add life to the tank. Although there may be some predation, the apisto parents will look after the fries, hence will mitigate this. Apistos are very interesting as the females turn very yellow when mating or with fries. Do not keep two pairs of the same apisto in the same tank as they will spend their time fighting.

I got my apistos from; the wild (i.e. Peru), Malaysia (in Johor), Taiwan. Unfortunately, the wild-caught ones are much rarer nowadays.

JZX at Ang Mo Kio bring in quite often. Can trying calling them.

[EdwinTay]

Tks bro markvtec2.

But I retired already.

I saw some at JZX but they are quite expensive. I used to get imported wild ones fm Cichlid Forever (now closed). NKS has imported wild ones before but they need quantity before they import. I have a contact to get from Malaysia & one from Taiwan - but I think these are originally from Germany or Czech. For beginners, I suggest Y618 (less expensive & more hardy) - I have seen Aggazzizis, caca, borellis, Vijietas recently.

One more thing - get hardly plants such as Java ferns & some sand or very small gravel as they like to dig.

[gene]

Thats plenty of advice guys.

The tank is currently in the cycling stage with lapis sand, is it a good choice?

Java ferns is definately a welcome. Its not in the biotope, so im comtemplating, i can take some from my other planted tank if needed. I will have to do a research as im not familliar with the apisto species.

[doppelbanddwarf]

The biotope for most apistos would actually be blackwater creeks with little to no aquatic plants, with a lot of leaf litter on white sand base although there are some species which do not live in these conditions. You can recreate the leaf litter using clean ketapang leaves here and perhaps a few echinodorus plants. Maintenance wise you might find it a hassle if you do not like the look of rotting leaves in your tank.

They also do prefer low ph and I find that the easiest way to maintain that long term is to start with ADA Africana substrate. Since you have already started with lapis sand you might have to lower your ph using peat or the ketapang leaves. Also some variants like the red/orange flash cacatuoides are line bred variants and do not naturally occur in such bright colouration. If you want to stick to a true biotope then maybe you might want to choose other variants.

[EdwinTay]

hi All

It's not necessary to have leave litter. But you might want to get PhDown & a Ph test pen. From my experience, they do well between 5.5 to 6.3. Cannot be too low - especially those which are farm-bred. The biggest issues with plants are; (1) apistos dig - therefore plants may be dug up & (2) plants have to be hardy type.

My recommended apistos are; caca, aggazzizi, Vijieta - easy to keep. However, my favourite is Hongsloi.

[gene]

Lots of great advises so far. I think i would go with the Leaf litter idea and caca.

Anyone who used lapis sand? Any purist who insist on using white sand? My concern is that white sand sometimes too dirty...

[doppelbanddwarf]

Ther eis no problem with using lapis sand. There is no hard and fast rule as to what substrate to use. Cacatuoides is a very tolerant species and you should have no problems as long as you maintain the water quality and provide lots of cover.

[EdwinTay]

hi Gene

For leaf litter, you must bear in mind; (1) it can get very messy, (2) you may not be able to see the apistos.

For caca, most probably the ones you will buy are farm-bred. Therefore there is less need to fully replicate the wild conditions. I had success breeding with a 2 ft tank with the following set-up : small pebbles (lapis sand is OK), java ferns tied to bogwood, a large piece of bogwood with a cave-like structure (the apisto actually laid their eggs there), 10 neon tetras as ditter fish, ph of 6, slightly lower temperature of 25-26C.

[gene]

How did you keep the ph at 6? Peat ?

[barmby]

Yes, dump peat moss into your filter such as Sera or Ehiem. It works.

[marle]

Put bit by bit to avoid burns to the fish fins

[EdwinTay]

hi gene

to bring down the ph, I used phDown. But, you have to test with ph pen. As Marle pointed out, too acidic, will be detrimental. In case you overdose, you should also buy PHneutral (it comes in powder form).

With regards to Singapore water, from the tap, it's usually 7 to 7.3. So i use phDown to bring the ph to around 6.3-6.5 first. As ph will naturally go down if your tank has wood & plants as organic matter, when they decay (including food) will make the water acidic. I don't use peat & I advise not to use as it may bring the PH really down (from my experience, apistos cannot withstand ph below 5).

With regards to dried ketapan leaves, my experience is that they do not cause the water to turn overly acidic. However, they will make the water turn a little brownish- which is actually quite nice in my view. Some people have said that these leaves have medicinal value (I agree). What I did was to soak the ketapan leaves separately, then pour some of the brownish water into my apisto tank.

While I can understand the need to replicate wild conditions, from an ascetic point of view, I find the following the best - light colour small pebbles or sand, some java ferns & nanas tied to driftwood, one large driftwood with holes (centre piece), background of blue oyama, medium-sized sponge filter. This set-up has enough areas for the apistos to hide while offering you a good view of the fishes.

[doppelbanddwarf]

Cacvatuoides do well in a wide range of water. I think they would be able to do well and even breed in neutral ph. Personally I will not adjust my tap water much for cacatuoides. Like Edwin suggested java ferns are good hardy plants to use to break line of sight between the pair. I find that the more hiding places you provide for apistos, the braver they seem to be.

[barmby]

Always do! More hiding places and the less the fishy hide.

[gene]

The cacatuoides look so handsome! Seems like apisto stocks are not too many. Went to afew LFS in yishun and clementi. All out of stock!