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30 gal Apisto. tank

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Tool13x

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I have been looking for something to do with a 30 gallon tank thats been sitting empty for a while, and I have been leaning towards an Apistogamma tank. I was really hoping to find Cacatuoides around but no such luck. I have been able to find:

Apisto Tefe
Apisto Agassizi
Apisto Nijsseni
Apisto Macmasteri

Are there any of these species that are more difficult to keep than the others?
Id like to pick up a few of the Macmasteri, I have read that you can keep them in pairs or in a harem. Is the 30 gallon (36"x12"x16") big enough to keep a male with 2 or 3 females as long as I try to give the females different territories? I will be setting this tank up with driftwood, rocks to form caves, I have some floating water sprite from another tank I am going to add to diffuse the light, and some low light plants like java moss, anubias, and java fern.
Also what kind of tankmates would be ok with this setup? I want the Apistos to be the focal point of the aquarium soI was just thinking of maybe adding some dither fish like cardinal tetras, neons, rummynose, or perhaps some sort of pencilfish.
My tapwater parameters are 6 dGH, 5 dKH, and around 7.6 pH
 
If you talk to your local petshop they can order A. cacatuoides in but you might have to wait until some are available.

Your tank is big enough for a male and 3 females, just put a half flower pot on each side and one in the middle. Alternatively just have a pr.

If you want to breed them to sell, then don't have any tank mates besides the breeding pr. If you don't care about producing them, have 1pr and some tetras or other fish that live in the upper half of the tank.

They are all the same to keep and breed as long as they are not wild caught. Wild caught fishes will not breed as readily and need more live food to bring them into breeding condition. Wild caught will also need a lower pH.

You can plant Water Sprite on the surface and in the substrate where it grows into a nice shrub :)
 
I'm a week into owning my first pair of Macmasteri.
They struggled to settle in at first, especially the male. He's scared of his own shadow. But his confidence is building by day by day, and in a weeks time I think he'll be right at home. The female is happy in her own little world at the minute, she's absolutely tiny, she's about the same size as my smallest Rummy Nose Tetra.

Good luck on finding the Cacatuoides, here in the UK they are probably the most common Apisto in shops, mine was a beauty (in sig)

All the best,
James.
 

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