Apistogramma Cacatuoides

M

Matt W

AC Members
Jul 30, 2003
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Jacksonville, FL
codewalkers.com
I've been wanting some of these fish ever since I saw the beautiful photos Molino posted of them:

http://aquaticphotos.com/details.php?image_id=82
http://aquaticphotos.com/details.php?image_id=64

Well, my LFS got some! My question is how they will do in my tank plan. I hope to put them in my 125 heavily planted. i figured I would get 1 male and 2-3 females. I would put 2 or 3 coconut shells in there for them.

The only tank mates they would have to start with would be cories and cardinals. I am sure they would be fine with them. I do hope to add some discus in the future though. Would they be OK together?
 
I think they would all get along fine, and its best to keep at least two females per male as the Cacts are harem apistos. The only issue I see, and it may not be one, is that your gonna have to balance out the temp a bit, cacts don't care for the temp above 82, while discus prefer it no lower than that. But you probably could keep both just fine around that temp without problems. They cacts shouldn't bother anyone in there but themselves.
 
they should be fine. ive got a trio in a 29 planted and they do great. the only prob is when the male decides on one of the females to give attention to the other gets harrased pretty good. i dont think youll have to much of a prob with that in a 125 though. i also think 84 should be ok for them. i had my tank up to around there when battling some ick and they didnt have any problems with it.
 
A. cacatuoides will not do well in a tank maintained with discus parameters. They come from cooler waters with higher hardness levels and pH, and will react poorly (i.e. die) if they are kept in the soft, acidic, and very warm water that discus prefer.

Along similar lines, cardinal tetras would be good companions for discus (until the discus get large enough to eat them), but not for A. cacatuoides. Neons (because they like lower temperatures) would be a better match there.
 
hey harry im curious as to what you mean by "lower temeratures". are we talkin low 70s? my cactu live in a constant 78-79 degrees and have never shown any probs. also i wasnt aware they need a higher hardness and ph. mine are fairly low and soft. thought they just needed the average SA cichlid water. not sure if thats the setup that discus need as i havnt kept them...... yet.
 
Rich: the recommendations in Baensch are: temp 75-77, hardness to 10 dGH, pH around 7.0. Yours should be fine.

The biggest problem for Matt, in my mind, would be the temperature requirements for discus, because the A. cacatuoides would not be able to acclimate to those higher temperatures. That would tend to lead to an impairment of the immune system, and eventual early death.

That kind of makes the hardness question moot, but it is helpful to know that some apistos, A. cacatuoides among them, do not require super-soft water.

The small cichlid best adapted to discus conditions, I believe, is the ram. There may be apistos that would do equally well, but since the tank under discussion was going to start with the A. cacatuoides and then go from there, it didn't seem particularly helpful to tackle the situation from that end.
 
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