Bolivian Rams And Cockatoos

[Midnight Rose]

My 'new' tank is 72x20x24 inches, I measured it today before I've just been guessing That's 566 litres/124 imp gallons/149 us gallons. This is the tank I set up about 3 months ago to eventually be a soft, acid water tank. I'm water changing in RO water (I set it up with my very hard, very alkali London water) and it's down to just over pH 7 but I haven't done the hardness this week.

At the moment I have -

14 neons
8 peppered corys, a mix ofyoungsters and adults.
2 clown plecs, they are tiny, about a standard length of 2cm. They are so cute, I could watch them all day.

I love this tank, it's got beautiful dark water from the bog wood, some java ferns and two amazon swords but it's is crying out for some bigger fish. I have a 5x2x2 foot tank of african cichlids and love them, I would love to get some south american ones. The two I like are bolivian rams and cockatoos. I've never kept them and I don't know an awful lot about them, but I read the species index on here.

I like my fish to have lots of space, II don't want to stock this tank up to it's maximum (just so you know)

Would I be able to keep both rams and cockatoos? A trio of each (1m 2f) or do I need to pick just the one species?

Thanks

 

[Phoenixbaby]

pick one or the other

unfortunately a while ago i added a breeding pair of cockatoo's to my tank that already had bolivian rams, silly thing to do, because they killed each other

safe to say always research b4 asking advice from a lfs lol

 

[Colin_T]

that tank is huge and should be fine for a colony of each. Just try to introduce them at the same time so neither has the homeground advantage.

 

[Phoenixbaby]

are you mad???

u cant keep them together, a male cockatoo is quite agressive, i had mine in a massive 4footer, and they killed each other

 

[Colin_T]

I must be mad if we are talking about Apistogramma cactuoides. I used to breed prs in a 2ft tank and had colonies living 3ft tanks. The colonies consisted of 2-4males and up to a dozen females. They never did any damage to each other or anyone else in the tank. They did lots of displaying, (gills flared, mouths open) but they never ripped into each other.

Midnight Rose's tank is 6ft long. That's a good size tank for little fish. If the tank is planted and has caves from wood or rocks you would have trouble seeing them in the tank. However it isn't my tank so it is up to rose.

 

[Phoenixbaby]

hmmm slight hint of SARCASM there, which wasnt needed, in my personal experience i would never place these 2gether again, and on asking for advice after they killed each other i was told by my lfs and other people they should not be kept together

 

[Colin_T]

a lot of it comes down to tank size and hiding places. How big was your tank and how much plant matter, wood, rocks, etc did you have in there?

 

[Phoenixbaby]

it was 4ft long, carnt remember depth width as it was a while ago

sand as substrate, loads of bogwood as plecos were in the tank

heavily planted with lots of hidey holes

 

[xxBarneyxx]

I know people that have kept them together as well and I would be inclined to say they would be ok in a tank that size if there is plenty of cover. On the flip side though both species can be aggresive to other cichlids (and to their own kind) so there is an element of risk to it as well.

 

[Colin_T]

it was 4ft long, carnt remember depth width as it was a while ago
sand as substrate, loads of bogwood as plecos were in the tank
heavily planted with lots of hidey holes

wow, that's unusual for them to rumble in a tank like that. Maybe you just had real nasty fish
It might have been something to do with the plecos. Maybe the cichlids felt stressed by having plecos in the tank and the plecos took all the nice hiding places. Then the cichlids were forced to fight over whatever was left.

 

[Midnight Rose]

I dunno what to do now!

I know what you mean about not seeing them, but I'm happy seeing my plecos only occasionally as they are so happy with all their lovely hiding places. I want the tank to look pretty, of course, but I'm much more concerned about them being happy

I was going to look into coconut caves for them, I read on here that they would like that. There isn't any rock in the aquarium but there is loads of bogwood. It's not a planted tank, not in the way I would think of as planted. It's got java fern on bog wood near the surface and two amazon swords at the back in one corner. I'll try and get you a photo.

Does anyone know of a good place to see colour morphs of the cockatoos? Or could you post some pics of both rams and cockatoos to help me make up my mind if I go for just the one type.

Just a point, my african cichlids are a big mishmash of species. There are about 8-10 species in it (it's actually my boyfriends so I don't know for sure) and other than posturing and some very angry looking fish no one has ever been hurt. The tank is nearly all rock though, there is a lot of swimming space but one side is a big bank of large round stones and there is a smaller pile on the other side. They each have their own hole in the rock formation that they guard. There is one large plec in there too. I love watching them swimming around their own bit of rock and interacting with their habitat and the other fish. There is always someone to see swimming about, especially at feeding time!

Anyway, I waffled a bit there, what I meant to say is that I thought these dwarf cichlids were more peaceful than many other cichlids, why would they attack each other? Are they actually more aggressive?

I was going to keep discus in this tank, and maybe will one day, but I'm probably moving house at the end of the year so I think trying to get it discus ready and then moving in 10 months isn't the right thing to do. Look, I'm waffling again!

*wanders off still talking about her tank*

 

[Colin_T]

all cichlids are territorial to some degree but dwarf cichlids like rams and Apistogrammas are very peaceful compared to their bigger cousins.
Coconut houses are fine or you can use ceramic flower pots or virtually anything to make up caves for the Apistgrammas. Rams usually lay their eggs on top of a flat rock whereas the Apistogrammas lay their eggs in a cave.

Google Apistogramma cacatuoides and look at the different pictures available. The double red cacatuoides is quite nice, they also come in yellow or orange as well. The colour being in the fins and tail. Sometimes you get a white fin which has clear fins with black markings instead of the coloured fins with black markings. And once I saw a pale blue fin variety but never seen it since.
The male Apistogrammas have the colour, the females are usually yellow with black markings.

 

[LolaLouie]

I keep cockatoos and rams they're fine together.. never hassel eachother.

 

[Midnight Rose]

Does anyone know any breeders of these guys? Or should I just go to my lfs?

I've got to wait for my tank to mature a bit more, but I like to make plans


This is a picture of my tank, because I said I'd post one so you could see the plants and wood -

And my teeniest plec -

 

[rocknurworld2006]

Does anyone know any breeders of these guys? Or should I just go to my lfs?

I've got to wait for my tank to mature a bit more, but I like to make plans


This is a picture of my tank, because I said I'd post one so you could see the plants and wood -

And my teeniest plec -

i would add some more plants and i shouldnt see you have a problem!