Which Apistogramma?

[tomm10]

I'm new to cichlids and am interested in apistos for my new tank. I'm hoping to get some guidance to help me pick the right one for my setup.

I like the looks of agassizis and cockatoo's. I like rams as well but have heard that they have fairly short life spans. Is this the case?

My tank is a 29g planted they would be sharing with 5 pygmy corydoras 4-8 zebra danios and some shrimp. There are plenty of hiding spaces in the form of rock caves, hollowed out fake logs and dense plants. This is an established tank with soft water at about 30 ppm GH and 60 ppm KH. The pH is at 7.2. Water changes of 10-15% are done weekly and temp is kept at 79 but could be changed to suit.

Is there a difference between the two apistos I mentioned in terms of care? I'm not terribly interested in breeding although it could be something I get into later I guess.

Any other thoughts I'm missing? Any other fish I'm missing?

Tom

 

[wayne]

I would have thought you'd be fine with either. Most apistos are possibles for your tanks with the exception of some of the black water species like nijssenni or panduro i.m.h.o. I would go for the best quality fish available to youu than wait for a particular species to turn up.
I would recommend trifasciata if you see them. Forgiving and beautiful

 

[tomm10]

Thanks for the reply, Wayne. I was starting to think no one cared :sad



There's a local shop that usually has a really good cichlid selection and normally some pretty good looking apistos. I'm glad to hear that they are all (mostly) suitable choices.

Tom

 

[wayne]

Well if I had a good variety accessible to me, then I'd likely give cockatoos and aggassizzi a miss, and likely borelli too. These fish are sadly starting to slip in quality and hardiness a little I believe. I would go for something a little more unusual on the belief it's likely wildcaught or f1, not farmed, and if it looks good in the shop - full bodied, alert, healthy.
I picked up some eunotus recently and they have proven bulletproof, though not as spectacularly coloured as some. Trifasciata come to mind as the adult colours are spectacular, it's hardy, adapts to variable conditions of pH and temperature and as it's not commonly kept is a cert to be genetically in good shape. Some people wil argue there's no such thing as inbreeding, just poor culling, but I don't really believe that.
Research anything you buy. The only thing I do now is avoid specific blackwater species as I don't have the time to pander to their tastes anymore