Apistogramma Hybrid Risk

[gwand]

Can a. cacatuoides and a. hongsloi be kept in the same tank without risk of creating hybrid offspring?

 

[Colin_T]

Fish will normally try to breed with their own kind but sometimes they hybridise. It's best to keep cichlids in single species tanks if you are breeding them.

 

[GaryE]

Your Apistos are breeding - so hongsloi, as a newcomer, wouldn't get to live long enough to breed. They can be a more robust fish than cacatuoides, but either way, Apistos, when they breed, don't share.

 

[gwand]

I figured as much but thought I’d ask. Interestingly my a. cacatuoides produced fry soon after their arrival in water with GH of about 175 ppm.

 

[GaryE]

You can divide Apistos into groups, and I wouldn't be surprised to someday see the Genus broken up.
cacatuoides are what I would call "generalists". They can breed in harder water, though fry numbers will be lower. They aren't specialists.

hongsloi, from the mcmasteri group are specialists adapted to an extreme softwater environment. Unless there has been a solid series of mutations among linebred ones, they are harder. I had to go to quite soft water to get any results with my wild caughts. Now, most of what you get are linebred colour sports chosen for you by whichever breeder thinks his are better looking than wilds.

cacatuoides, the eunotus group and borellii tend to be the most adaptable to medium hard water.

Apisto territorial fights usually leave you with neither species. Two die from one species, one from the other.