Apistogramma Panduro And Rainbows

[festo]

Hi all
do you think apistogramma panduros and variouse rainbow fish
would get along in a 160-200 ltr tank.
if so what numbers and sexes would i be looking at.
thanks

 

[elisew]

I know they`re not Panduros but I have Cockatoo Apistos (pair) in my tank along with blue-eyed forktails and Celebes rainbowfish and have no bother at all, they all chill and get on with one another

 

[Wills]

Yeah sounds like a nice plan, depending on which tank you get really. I would probably not go for the dwarf neon rainbows as they look identical to the males haha which I just realised but I would stick to the smaller rainbow species, even though its a big tank lots of small colourful fish would be amazing with these apistos maybe something like blue eye forktail rainbows and cherry barbs?

Wills

 

[festo]

ok thanks
and what is the ratio males-females?
thanks

 

[elisew]

I personally would recommend 6 of each, I`ve got 2 males and 4 females of each

 

[festo]

ok.
would ottos and corys be ok aswell?
or maybe headstanders.

 

[Wills]

This is shaping up to be a very very nice tank If we do it based on a 200 liter tank I would do

4 Apistogramma Panduro - 1 Male 3 Female
4 Spotted Headstanders
8 Cherry Barb
8 Blue Eyed Forktailed Rainbows
12 Panda Cories

And then I reckon you still have a bit more room around the middle/surface maybe a trio of some Panchax?

Wills

 

[festo]

Thanks Wills.
but what about the ottos?i really like them.

 

[Wills]

Yeah sorry missed them but yeah a shoal of 5 or 6 ottos would be fine but they are quite delicate so be careful

Wills

 

[festo]

ok thanks.
and in what order would you suggest putting the fish into
a fully fishless cycled tank,and at what intervals?
also what other rainbows would fit in without over stocking
thanks for your great replies,

 

[Wills]

Personally I would be inclined just to up the numbers of the schools existing one massive school is so much more impressive to see than 5 or 6 small ones. But threadfin rainbows and celebes would also work as would most tetras.

After the fishless cycle I would probably add in quite a few since the fishless cycle is done to train the filter to cope with a heavy stocked tank so adding in just a few small fish first is going to drain the filter a little.

I would probably add the cories, barbs and rainbows straight away then followed by the headstanders and apistos - I would add all the apistos together and when you do have plenty of territories set up even if you dont intend to keep them all just little piles of rocks and caves etc spawning area then once they have chosen where they want to hang out (the females mainly) take the spares out. I would add the ottos a number of months when the eco system of the tank is more alive like all the micro organisms that live around the tank are established and algae has started to take hold for them.

Wills

 

[festo]

ok
the tank i will be getting is the aquaone 980{215 ltr or the 850{155 ltr}
at the moment it looks like the 155 ltr,
so with the same fish mentioned what numbers of these fish would be ok,
also the tank has a trickle filter,do you think it would be a good idea
to also get an external filter to add extra filtration,
thanks

 

[Wills]

I have to admit Ive never used a trickle filter, but I would always go with externals they are just the best by far these days.

Stocking wise in the smaller tank I would cut the female apistos to 3 and then cut the number of cories to 8 and just keep the two ..... like this basically

3 Apistogramma Panduro - 1 Male 2 Female
4 Spotted Headstanders
8 Cherry Barb
8 Blue Eyed Forktailed Rainbows
8 Panda Cories
5 Ottos

I reckon thats a pretty good stocking for now in a 40g. After a while you could look at increasing the cories and other schools to 10/12 maybe?

Wills

 

[festo]

Thats great Wills
thanks for all the info,
really helpfull

 

[Biddles95]

the best thing to do is that because these fish breed you should get 1 male and 2 or 3 females which will help cause less stress for the females as if there was just one female it could die from stress because the male just wants babies ! they are egg layers but they still have babies quite often

Billy