A few apisto questions

Hi guys,

I have mainly been into Australian and New Guinea fish since I stopped keeping goldfish years ago and thanks to my 2 pairs of Bolivian Rams, I have developed a keen interest in Dwarf Cichlids. I am a real novice when it comes to Apistos besides knowing they prefer soft acidic water and plenty of shelter (rocks,logs and plants) so before I start stocking my tanks with fish I thought i'd better consult with some experts.

Currently I have a 30L fry tank, 2' planted and 5'x14"x18" planted tank and am curious about a couple of things.

With the 5' tank the fish consist of the smaller tetras (neon,lemon,glowlight,phantom), some blue-eyes, a few peacock gudgeon, a couple of gold rams, couple of otos and BN and a few shrimp (not sure how many rarely see them)

The 2' tank has a pair of juvenile convicts that are soon to be relocated since they have demolished the substrate and uprooted a few plants.

So my questions are, would it be a bad idea to have a couple of trios or 2 pairs of different species apistos in the 5' tank?

How many apistos could I put into the 5' or th 2' tank to avoid excessive agression between females?


Thanks in advance guys

IMO, the 2 ft can host no more than 2 pairs, while the 5 ft can host more as there's plenty of room for them. So a trio or 2 pairs in the 5 footer shouldn't be any issue.

So long as the water is nice and soft, most apisto species will be fine in that condition. However watch out for pH crash if the water is too soft.

Hey Sildan,

Welcome to the forum - great to hear of yet another Apisto fan.

ThOmas & Andrew are the best people to talk to about apisto's.

What ThOmas said is good advice, being that you have a tank with logs & plants will work in your favour in keepng a few trio's of apisto's. Depending on what type of apisto's you will be stocking - a trio is perfect when it comes to the more popular aggies as one male mates with several females (polygyny) it's also good to have a few females to share the breeding agression of the male rather than constantly targeting one female.

When wanting to lower your PH - Ehiem Torf Pellets are an excellent choice in lowering your pH naturally or Peat Moss in a stocking is another common way. Be careful when using these products,(peat moss - make sure the bag is free of fertilizers & chemicals) especially the carbonate hardness - as you lower your PH values your also lowering your carbonate hardness. If you age your water for 24-48hrs when doing a water change then your water has no or little hardness thus the use of peat to lower your PH would be fine.

Keep us informed as to progress & what apisto's you end up getting.

Good luck,
Bubbles aka Karen

Thanks for the advice guys. I have been in talks with Thomas to see what he has in stock and also Mike.

I already have some rams in this tank but am probably going to relocate the bolivian butterflies as they are little large and with 2 breeding pairs in my 5' tank, they almost take all the territory between the 4 of them. Although they're not overly vicious, they bully the smaller fish a lot.

As for the water conditions, my tank is around 6.7 ph and pretty soft. I use rain water only for water changes and test weekly the ph and gh. I have a bottle of peat extract to keep it acidic.