Spiny Eels With Dwarf Cichlids

[KajukiKing]

I am planning a tank around dwarf cichlids (Rams and Apistos) and i am intrested in a spiny eel. Will the spiny eel eat or harrass the cichlids?

Also i understand that you need sand for the eels. I have a very fine light gravel (aquariumplants own), can this work?

 

[nmonks]

I am planning a tank around dwarf cichlids (Rams and Apistos) and i am intrested in a spiny eel. Will the spiny eel eat or harrass the cichlids?

Rams (Mikrogeophagus ramirezi) and Apistogramma cannot be kept together. As you should soon learn as you research these species, rams need very warm water (between 28-30 C) whereas Apistogramma need regular water temperatures (around 25 C). If you keep the Apistogramma too warm, they will be stressed, and if you keep the rams too cold, they quickly develop opportunistic infections such as Hexamita. There is no "happy medium". This is an insanely common mistake, hence the ridiculously high mortality rate of rams in captivity. Rams need their own, very specific aquarium containing very warm, very soft water. If you can't offer these things, don't keep them. Bolivian rams (M. altispinosus) are different, and do fine at normal tropical temperatures and actually need water a little on the hard side.

Also i understand that you need sand for the eels. I have a very fine light gravel (aquariumplants own), can this work?

Nope. Small spiny eels need sand. If the substrate you're using isn't sand, it isn't the right stuff. Gravel damages the skin of spiny eels, making them sensitive to bacterial infections. It just isn't worth taking the risk. In terms of behaviour, spiny eels and Apistogramma may work out all right. The main issue is feeding, but since Apistogramma are pretty shy, if you settled the eel in first, got it feeding, and then added the Apistogramma, I'd expect this combination to work. Obviously you'd have to choose a small spiny eels species such as Macrognathus siamensis; the larger Mastacembelus would view dwarf cichlids as food.

Cheers, Neale

 

[KajukiKing]

alrite then no spiny eel for me. But by rams i meant the golden ones. These are bolivian one's correct.

 

[nmonks]

Nope, not correct. Standard issue "golden" rams are a golden (xanthistic) morph of Mikrogeophagus ramirezi. As stated above, this species requires very warm, soft conditions and is not in the least compatible with Apistogramma.

Feel free to waste your money on them if you insist, but the majority of specimens die quite quickly after being brought home. At the fish farm they're "juiced" up with antibiotics and colour-enhancers, but once at home they very quickly succumb to all sorts of infections, particularly if not kept in warm/soft conditions. The only people who buy them are inexperienced aquarists. Anyone who's had anything much to do with the industry or the hobby knows to avoid mass produced rams in favour of locally bred or wild-caught specimens.

Cheers, Neale

alrite then no spiny eel for me. But by rams i meant the golden ones. These are bolivian one's correct.

 

[KajukiKing]

I just constulted with many people who keep both dwarf cichlids and rams together. It can be done. Both are found in a habitat that reaches above 80 Degrees in water so both are comfortable around 80.

 

[nmonks]

I suggest you spend a little time on Fishbase reviewing the needs of the specific species you're interested in. Then pick up a book like Baensch's Aquarium Atlas. For example, Baensch states that A. borellii prefers 24-25 C, A. cacatuoides the same, A. steindachneri 23-25 C, and so on. This broadly matches what you'll find on Fishbase. Yes, there are Apistogramma that tolerate warm water for a certain length of time, particularly during the breeding season. But Paul Loiselle's advice to go for 23-27 C for maintenance and 28-29 C for breeding is the best approach.

Mikrogeophagus ramirezi is completely different. To quote Loiselle in The Cichlid Aquarium, a must-have book for anyone even half-serious about cichlids:

The ram is a warm water species that does not appreciate temperatures lower than 78 F and spawns most freely at 85 F to 88 F. At the other end of the scale, dwarf cichlids native to the Rio Parana basis, such as Apistogramma borellii, are quite cold resistant and can withstand temperatures as low as 60 F for brief periods.

You'd ignore advice like that at your peril. In any case, no sensible aquarist mixes dwarf cichlids together. The risk of different levels of aggression is not worth it, and the possibility of hybridisation makes any attempts at breeding meaningless. So why the heck bother? What possible point is there to mixing Apistogramma with Mikrogeophagus ramirezi? Far better to optimise the conditions in the tank for the dwarf cichlid in question, keep a decent harem of one male/multiple females, and watch them behaving naturally.

I'm not trying to cramp your style. I do worry when people cast about for opinions, and then plump for the one that agrees with their preconceptions, no matter the source of that opinion. When you have the likes of Fishbase, Baensch, and Paul Loiselle all saying that Apistogramma and Mikrogeophagus ramirezi need different conditions, you should at least treat any advice to the contrary as potentially risky.

Cheers, Neale

I just constulted with many people who keep both dwarf cichlids and rams together. It can be done. Both are found in a habitat that reaches above 80 Degrees in water so both are comfortable around 80.