Suggestions for stocking some 3'x 2 x 2' tanks

[Noddy65]

Hi everyone
Ive managed to get my hands on three 3x2x2 tanks.
Two will be set up to house a pair each of Nanochromis transvestitus (an African but a black water acid liking African).
Any suggestions on the number of Apisto's that could be housed and bred in the tanks?
Im thinking of using one as a grow out tank as in being overrun with fry at the moment.
But the other two I would love to fill with lots of hiding places and house a few trios/groups of apistos.
The Nanochromis are aggressive to each other but so far appear to be ok towards apisots (Ive got them seperated at the moment and housed in 2' tanks, I tried them as pairs and they beat each other up)

What would you people suggest? And it has to be fish available in Aus of course :D

Mike

[fishgeek]

nice harem/coloy tanks for something like a couple of males and 4 females
lots of species to choose from i wuld like to see my trifasciata in this kind of set up
i have aggies in a colony on a smaller scale

andrew

[Robdog]

I was thinking exactly the same thing. Something like a colony of baenschi in a 3ftr. Maybe 1m 4f if possible. If spawning the female would probably use 1ft of the tank so caves would need to be spread out and ideally not facing each other or have a visual barrier at least.

I reckon with the black Amazonia ADA soil the baenschi would look awesome

[Noddy65]

Thanks guys...I was thinking along the same lines...Id like to try 2 species in harems using very different lineage of course, with maybe the odd single pair of something else in there...Im hoping to pick up some baenschi in Melbourne and Sydney in Jan.
Mike

[Nathan]

the baenschi are looking good mike, starting to colour up an becoming a bit braver an definitely growing!!

ill cya then!

[fishgeek]

i would have thought baenschi may not be suitable for colony being nijesseni group, most of these form strong pair bonds and have a tendency to being more aggressive

andrew

[Noddy65]

Hi Nathan
Do a Google search for them...the males and females are very different and you may be able to get some idea of sex before too long...Im not sure how big the ones you have are but someone else here may be able to give some indication of age of sexing...

Trip east is confirmed....Ill be there at the end of Jan ...will see you then...

Mike

[Merrilyn]

I've got three pair of trifasciata in a 3 x 18 x 2ft high tank. Heavily planted with lots of driftwood, some of that wonderful ADA amazonia soil as substrate, 4 spawning pots and a few neons as dithers.

One pair are already parading around their week old fry, and another pair have eggs.

The tank has only been set up for 4 weeks, so we'll see how things go, but so far, no agression, but they certainly seem to like the setup.

Now to hope that the darn neons don't knock off too many of the fry. :P

[fishgeek]

merrilyn, it has been my experience that as soon as the fry start to swim higher in the tank the neons are very good at picking them off

often this agitates the parents who scatter the fry in an attempt to deter attacks

if you want best chances then i would try and pull the tetra's
you may be luck if the fry stay low and there is good plant cover

any chance of some photo's????
:wink:

[Nathan]

hey mike ive been able to sex 4 of them an so far 2 are male an 2 are female (i think!)

the others im not to sure yet cz they were hiding the last time i looked, also some are smaller then others.