Welcome to me :)

[k0b0i]

Heya!

I am just looking into some insight/guidance from more experienced aquarists and definately feel i'm in the right place. Ronny from Fishrock is a personal friend of mine and suggested i come here. I am a n00b Apisto fan! and after much reading/research from the forums (and many alternate sites) it seems that i will be in for alot of hard yards...

Let me explain my tank setup and tell you what i am after. This is to be a South American theme.

tank: 4ft x 14" X 20"
filter: Eheim 2217
heater: Aqua one 300W
lighting: none atm - suggestions?
base: 20kg dark gravel (quite thin atm)
misc: 2 (roughly 1ft) pieces of drift wood

Tank is currently in a fishless cycle (has been for over a week now - used 3/4 water new and 1/4 from water change of my other 240L tank) and i don't plan on putting anything in for a good 2-4 weeks.

Now looking at the fish, these are the types i'm interested in:

Apistogramma cacatuoides - Cockatoo dwarf
Apistogramma baenschi - Inca
Cleithracar maronii - Kehole Cich
Pterophyllum scalore - Angels
Mesonauta Festivus - Flag Cich
Nannacara anomal - Golden dwarf
Laetacara curviceps - Dwarf flag
Laetacara dorsigera - Red breast Acara

+ 2 plecos and either loach or some tetra types (depending on the fish)

Size wise (growth), temperment, conditions and needs are all very similar which is why i feel this would make a good community tank. I don't plan on having ALL of those fish in this tank, but these are what i am after (possibly in pairs).

My questions revolve around:

1)compatibility
2)availability - i understand that dwarfs are quite tough to get. esp quality ones in Syd
3)fish setup (am i dreaming about this list)
4)tank setup - plants / pots / hiding places :) and
5)any further input/recommendations you all can provide me

I've found alot of the posts extremely useful already. Look forward to the Q&A's to follow :D

Kevin

[Th0mas]

Hi Kevin,

Welcome to the addition, just a warning - there's no cure for this addition.

Are you going to plant the tank up and fit it with CO2, etc? Guess Ron would have gone through that option with you already.

Fish wise, laetacara and nannacara can be tricking to find around, while apisto will pop up in the market every now and then. I think SLS and BNC have Inka in but I believe these are two different species so I would advise not to mix them to avoid cross breeding.

With cacatoides, pay extra attention to potential deformation as the species has been breed in the industry for years and sometime really bad stuffs do appear in the market.

Put in a school of corydora will help your tank's bottom free of uneaten food.

Some dicrossus filamentosa would be an nice addition, but this species is quite demanding on water quality so don't get them until you're confident on your water.

The rest should be quite easy to find around our LFS, but a 4ft tank does not provide much space if your fish decide to start a family. When that happen, you'll need more tanks, etc.

Cannot say much about their compatibility as never kept all of them. They all seems to be okay in a slight acidic/neutral environment.

Would recommend additional filtration for backup.


Cheers,
Thomas.

[k0b0i]

hehe trust me, Ron has got me hooked and i think he's regretting it!

I did pop by SLS last weekend but i paid no mind to any cichlids. I am a fancy golds fanatic so was just there to check them out (on the look out for some black ranchu's if anyones seen em.. i've been to FR in chats already.. hehehe)

SLS is a great shop. G & M are fantastic hosts and i'll be heading back to pick up some golf balls for the miss's (baby pearlscales.. she can't stop talking about them.. just hope the 2 we liked are still there).

guess I'll see how compatible these can be once i can pick them up. Might start on just angels first as they seem the most hearty. then i'll work my way from there.

just roughly, of the list 4 pairs would be ok? then inlcude say 4 corys and maybe 2 plecs. 4ft is that size which is good to work with... but you could always get bigger to have more! haha it was an absoloute bargain which is why i have it. so i can't complain.

I was going to get a sump done, but i had the eheim already. didn't want it to go to waste...

i'll look into the dicrossus, thanks for that. i'll use the shops for appistos to do my seeking for now. Planning to head down south and east so i'll update if i see(bought) anything.

hehe

[Th0mas]

Kevin,

Not sure if you've been to this place, my guess is you can understand Chinese and a visit to this place will get you further into the addition.

http://www.aquariumfarm.com/phpBB2/viewforum.php?f=25

A Hong Kong based board, this sub-forum is specialised in dwarf cichlids. Some of their members are extremely advance.

I'll probably see your post over there soon.

Thomas.

[fishgeek]

kevin the suggestion of cory/apisto and plec is not, to my mind, a good one
all are bottom dwellers and will be competing for territory on the bottom of the tank

someone will suffer due to this

better to have apisto as the oly bottom dweller and have other fish that prefer higher in the water column to make the apisto more relaxed

andrew

[k0b0i]

Thom,

My chinese is limited to ordering food at restaurants... :oops: I can still research into that forum though so i thank you for that.


Andrew,

Heya! thanks for your comments. I did think about that. So long as their is sufficient coverage for all it should be ok? As the plecs n loach aren't very territorial in younger years (from personal exp), my hope is to have them all tolerant of one another and keep it that way as they mature.

As for Apisto behaviour, i'm really not sure :? which is why you'll find my asking quite abit around here!

Gota love being the boss at work... i've spent the last 3 days online lookin up apistos! lol

Thanks again!
Kevin

[Fish Rock Aquariums]

ai ya Kevin,

slow down man! learn to walk before you run....saying that you will learn how to run very quickly with some of the knowledge on this board.

pay particular attention to what Thomas has to say ;) he is the dwarf guru.

THE BUG HAS REALLY BITTEN KEVIN HARD!

welcome, and im sure il see you very soon!

cheers,
Ron

[Th0mas]

Ron,

There's still much to learn for me - I'm just a small step ahead of Kevin. Guru is for people like Mike Wise, Uwe Romer, etc.

Cheers,
Thomas.

[k0b0i]

Yes Sensei!

:oops:

he he he