considering adding apistos: good idea, or bad idea?

[SIMOSPASM]

i am considering adding 4-6 apistogrammas cacatuoides to my 92 gal C02 tank. tank members include:

cardinal tetras
rummy nose tetras
zebra botias
yo yo loaches
bristlenose plecos
otocinclus
cory cats

i am sure there would be no compatibility problems on most of these, except for the cory cats! i have read conflicting articles on the internet that either cory cats will do fine with apistos, or they won't. have any of you tried this?

before i had blue rams in my tank, but they kept getting sick. i honestly would love to try rams again, because they worked great with all of my cories, but i am doubting it'd be worth it to try again. basically though, i want to add some sort of cichlids to this tank.

my work has some really cool looking apistogrammas cacatuoides. they are young and smaller than my cory cats at this time. could they grow up with my cories peacefully? or should i maybe try bolivian rams or angel fish instead?

my tank has a lot of hiding places and great depth. here are some pics:

http://myspace-676.vo.llnwd.net/01373/67/61/1373311676_l.jpg
http://myspace-377.vo.llnwd.net/01373/77/37/1373317377_l.jpg[/img]

[Buggieboy]

in your set up you could place 4 differnt prs of Apistogrammas nicly. But of the same spices it would be fighting. Any of the Apistogramma cockato spices like the " triple reds,double reds,orange flash either black boded or of the yellow/gold color morph would fight. They would also interbred so if your wanting Apistogrammas for you tank a good mix would be Ap. Cockato , Ap. trifastica, Ap. borelli { slow growers }, Ap. agssizi { red tail or blue tail }, Ap. vijjita {any of the color morphs }, Ap. nijssi, Ap. panduro . Any of those spices or others you can find would do good togeather. the more prs of cockatos you have in the tank the more fighting you'll have over femles nd caves or just males liking to show off for a female. Any trio prs you get the odd female out is more likly to get hurt or killed.

[SIMOSPASM]

good points, but i have 2 questions about that:

1. would different color variations of cacatuoides help, rather than all having the same breed?
2. would having more females than males help?

[Buggieboy]

The differnt colors of cockatos will still fight with each other. IMO no i wouldn't have more females then males, reason being. The odd female out will be hurt to the point of hiding for her life or killed for messing with the male. I know alot and I mean alot of people will disagee with me i thank. But I've been breding the Apistogamma spices for two yrs now the 15th of this month and have replace so many females because of fighting between them.

[Cory Lover]

Hi,

I think as long as you have many hiding places for the Cories, they will be fine with the cockatoos. I keep my Cories with Firemouth and their fine.

I know it's of topic, but nice looking tank!

Cory Lover

[jgulecas]

If the water parameters are fine for cardinals, it should also be perfect for Blue Rams. Most Rams sold at LFS's are from Thailand and are injected with hormones. They are not healthy and tend to die off. Try to find someone local or online on Ebay or Aquabid who is breeding them successfully, and purchase some from them.

Nice tank!

[TwoTankAmin]

Just one heads up- cacs love to eat bn fry.