Dificulty rating

[BigDaddyAdo]

If one of our resident experts gets a little time a quick list of the usual apistos and a dificulty rating from 1-10 for say keeping, breeding, etc would be great.




Ado

[Hassles]

Ado

most of the common / readlily available Apistos are easy to keep and breed. This is why they are common & readily available.

Some Apistos are more difficult becuase of their environmental needs while others are difficult becasse of aggression - for example. You can always get great or less than wonderful parents due to the characteristics of a specific fish. All of my cacatoides have been excellent parents although I have had some nutso females wanting to murder their partners. I have had lousy borelli which is not indicative of the specie.

Perhaps give yourself the Mergus Cichlid Atlas for xmas

hth

[Robdog]

I agree. The Mergus Atlas is your best bet for good in depth info.

Having said that, I'd disagree with some of the things in the book. I'll put it on record that this is from my own incompetent fishkeeping ability and not because of inaccuracies in the book

Regarding A. elizabethae

This species has proven to be relatively easy to maintain in captivity

Be damned if I could keep the bloody things alive

[BigDaddyAdo]

LOL

[jose_vogel]

I´ve only wildcaught dwarf cichlids.

I´ve got at this moment:
Laetacara dorsigera
Nannacara anomala
Microgeophagus altispinosus
A. borellii
A. cf. borellii "opal"
A. trifasciata
A. atahualpa
A. barlowi
A. sp. "Rotpunkt"
A. nijsseni
A. cf. eunotus "orange tail"
A. baenschi
A. bitaeniata
A. eremnopyge
A. cacatuoides
A. sp. "Masken"

In my experience (always with wildcaught), the easiest (for breeding purpose) are:
A. borellii
A. trifasciata
A. cacatuoides
A. cf. eunotus "orange tail"
A. sp. "Rotpunkt"
L. dorsigera
M. altispinosus

And the most difficult (for breeding purpose) are:
M. ramirezzi
A. nijsseni

[gingerbeer01]

Fishkeeping can be funny. I find borellii painful to breed and raise fry.

Agree with Hassles that most of the stuff we get hee is easy to breed - with a few exceptions. The exceptions are mostly cause you gotta go crazy with your water conditions like nijsenni