Howsie Posted July 20, 2013 Report Share Posted July 20, 2013 As you may have read in the title I am wanting to have a go at keeping Apistogrammas. I have been reading about them online for a while but would like to get some info from you guys. I have a 215L lowtech planted tank in the making(still adding more plants) with 11 lemon tetras, 6 sterbai cories, a bristlenose and a keyhole cichlid (am willing to change). The tank has a large piece of driftwood with a couple hidey holes but more can and probably will be added. The tank will eventually be fairly heavily planted and may add some floating cover if needed. The water has a pH of 7.5 and a hardness of about 8dGH from memory which may restrict my choice of species. Other parameters are NH3 at 0.0ppm, NO2 at 0.0ppm and NO3 at about 0.10ppm (hence why I'm still adding plants). I will not be intentionally be breeding these fish but would be cool if it happened. Basically I would like to know what species do you think would live happily and healthily in my tank and how many should I get? What do i need to add or remove from my tank? Where is the best place to aquire these fish? Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
F15hguy Posted July 20, 2013 Report Share Posted July 20, 2013 pretty much whatever species you like the look of for that tank, for breeding you may have to drop the pH slightly (<7.0 for most common species) you should be able to keep the Keyhole with them. as to where, keep an eye out on here for breedings, I'm sure i saw someone from hawkes bay breeding them a while ago. my fav's are Macmasteri and Trifasciata, although the cockatoos are nice if you can get a good specimen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Godly3vil Posted July 20, 2013 Report Share Posted July 20, 2013 I've kept a keyhole with apistos before with no issues, have you considered adding some peat into your filter somewhere to bring the ph down? Your only restricted on what apistos you want from the availability of them in NZ. Cockatoos are my favourite type that we have available quite often but as fishguy said it's hard to find a really nice specimen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Howsie Posted July 22, 2013 Author Report Share Posted July 22, 2013 How hard is it to keep/find A. hongsloi? there is a female at the lfs thats been there forever and I kinda want to buy it but would like to keep it with a male Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danval Posted July 23, 2013 Report Share Posted July 23, 2013 Hi Howsie. Hongsloi are a beautiful Apisto but you may not be able to find a male to go with the female. I see Hollywood's have Trifisciata pairs on their stock list so maybe try for some of those. They are an elegant small Apisto with plenty of character. I have got a small spawn of these free swimming today. Out of all of the Apisto's I have found the Macmasteri the easiest to keep and breed. I have a few of these that will be ready in a month or two. Sieve through previous threads on this forum on info on Apisto's and you should be able to gather plenty of valuable info on keeping any of these great little dwarf Cichlids. Good luck Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the-obstacle Posted July 23, 2013 Report Share Posted July 23, 2013 I've had double red cockatoos and a couple of others. I found that as long as you give them some caves (small clay pots works real well) they're really happy. As others have said you'll want to get a pair but once they've got their cave and their eating well they'll start breeding without much effort on your behalf. If you want more than a pair just add more females and spread the caves about so they can keep away from each other. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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