[DeadFishFloating]

G'day guys,

I'm going to be down sizing from my 6 footer.

I'm not sure of the total number of tanks that I'll end up having, could be three or four depending on whether I keep my geo araguaia. I am getting 6 L397's next week end, so they will be staying, just depends on whether I keep them in one tank or split them between two.

Anyway what I would like, is some advice on, is stocking a couple of tanks with SA dwarfs.

I've found a breeder of apistogrammas, and in a couple of months his current stock of fry will have grown to sexable and sale-able sizes. He has three or four species I would be interested in; A. agassizii sp. Rio Tefe, A. borelli "Paraguay", A. elizabethae & A. iniridae.

I want to keep my L. curviceps, and hopefully a LFS will still have some wild caught L. dorsigerus left by next weekend when I''m off work next.

Would two pairs of Laetacara and trio of Apistogramma fit comfortably in a 36"x18"x18" 50 gallon tank?

Stocking for the tanks would be:

Tank 1
2 pairs of Laetacara curviceps
1 trio of Apistrogramma agassizii
6 otocinclus
3 L397
school of penguin (hockey stick) tetras
school of lemon tetras

Tank 2
2 pairs Laetacara dorsigerus
1 trio of Apistogramma borelli or Apistogramma elizabethae
6 otocinclus
3 L397
school of pencilfish
school of marbled hatchetfish

Tank 3
2 pairs of Dicrosus filamentosus
1 trio of Apistogramma iniridae
6 otocinclus
3 L104
school of rummynose tetra
school of cardinal tetra

 

[illy-d]

I found with my Keyholes that conspecific aggression during spawning was actually quite high... You may have better success keeping 1 curviceps & 1 dorsigera per tank... This may or may not make a difference being that the general shape of the fish are quite similar (my keyholes tolerated Rams, but not Festivums - go figure?).

The tank shape you are using is interesting - it actually has a larger footprint than a standard 4' 55g tank - so I think you may be able to keep two pairs of dwarf acara and a trio of apistos provided you decorate & aquascape accordingly.

 

[DCguy]

These stockings all seem resonable to me provided that you greate suitably complex habitats in the tanks.

DC

 

[DeadFishFloating]

illy-d it's the footprint versus length that's giving me a small headache as to whether I can create four territories that are large enough.

Of course if the wild caught dorsigerus are sold by next weekend I won't be setting up a Rio Paraguay tank.

I'm all over the place as to what I'm going to do. I keep changing my mind every couple of days.

If the dorsigerus are gone by next week end I'll probably keep my six footer. I'll just empty it and rescape, and try two pairs of curviceps, along with two male and six female agassizii.

I'll buy a 48"x24"x24" tank and set two pairs of araguaia up in it with my six L397's.

 

[dwarfpike]

Creating 3 areas in a 36" x18" would be tough, if I were going to try, I'd have the round river rocks the curvi's/dorsigera would spawn on against each far wall of the tank, and a huge tangle of driftwood in the middle for the apistos, making sure the openings weren't big enough for the Laetacara ... you might be able to keep each in it's own area ... but ...

I am wincing slightly thinking about it ... I like to give each pair or harem it's own 24x12/15/18 area (width depending on tank size).