Bottom Feeders For A Dwarf Cichlid

[Bebobb]

I am planning on haveing a pair of Cockatoo Cichlids, of the apistogramma family, and I was wondering if there would be a bottom feeder fish that would be able to clean up the bottom. There will be a school of 6 neon tetras in the tank also. I don't want anything that will grow over 3-4 inches. My tank has no algae so oto's are out of the picture. I don't want anything that might get hurt when they are in their breeding season as I know that they can get terrotorial of their nests. I don't want corries due to that, would maybe cherry shrimp work? Sorry I am kind of a newb in this section.

Also I am wanting to add live plants to the setup and I was wondering what plants would FIT a 14 gallon tank thast are native to the amazon river. Any help will be greatly appriciated.

 

[minxfishy]

I would have suggested corydoras, whilst being cichilds apistos are territorial when spawning, they are unlikely to do any harm to cories.

Cant advise on plants, they are not my thing.

 

[Bebobb]

Are you sure they won't get hurt??? I read that they are great tankmates, but when spawning that they arre very prone to getting hurt...

 

[minxfishy]

Plenty of people keep corys with apistos and Ive not heard of any problems. Sure they might chase the corys away but wont actually hurt them.

 

[Bebobb]

Thank you then I guess I will about 3 corys, would that be adequate?

 

[minxfishy]

They prefer larger groups, but your tank size doesnt allow it, pygmy corydoras would be ok though, a group of 5/6

 

[Bebobb]

Yeah I know that they love larger groups, as all shcooling fish do. I have always wanted the pygmy cories. I will need to order them off of the internet as none of my lfs carry pygmy corries, or apistogramma cacatuoide.

 

[ALW]

Yeah I know that they love larger groups, as all shcooling fish do. I have always wanted the pygmy cories. I will need to order them off of the internet as none of my lfs carry pygmy corries, or apistogramma cacatuoide.

Can they not get them in for you?

 

[Bebobb]

They say they can get in fish, and they have for me a few times, but when they say they will call me and they are in the store on display, and they only ordered how many I asked for, they are usually gone, so I usually order fish they don't have off of the internet.

 

[ALW]

OK fish wise, you should be ok with a pair of Apistogramma cacatuoides, i would up the Neons to 10, and for the bottom 4-5 Corys would be fine. What is the LxWxH of the tank. Plant wise Amazon Sword, Brazilian Water Ivy are the only ones i can think of now!

 

[Bebobb]

I'm not sure of the dimensions, as I do not have the tank because I am taking everything from my 10 gallon (it has been up and ready for about a year but I just now got to thinking of the fish I want to have in it.) The tank is 14 gallons, if that helps.

EDIT: I found a sight that specializes in corries and they sell pygmy cories, Corydoras pygmaeus, but they only sell them in groups of 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50. Would 10 of them be okay in this tank with 6 neons, or would that really be pushing the tank limit.

 

[meguro]

Just ask your lfs to order them in and hold X amount for you.

 

[Bebobb]

Just ask your lfs to order them in and hold X amount for you.

That would make me seem rude, I think that is. But I'm not downing the quality of the lfs, but I usually get better quality fish from the internet from breeders and Aquabid.

 

[ALW]

I'm not sure of the dimensions, as I do not have the tank because I am taking everything from my 10 gallon (it has been up and ready for about a year but I just now got to thinking of the fish I want to have in it.) The tank is 14 gallons, if that helps.

EDIT: I found a sight that specializes in corries and they sell pygmy cories, Corydoras pygmaeus, but they only sell them in groups of 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50. Would 10 of them be okay in this tank with 6 neons, or would that really be pushing the tank limit.

Yeh 10 corys would be pushing it (really we need to know how long the tank is, longer the better)

 

[Bebobb]

Well, it is longer than tall and longer than wide if that helps. It will be larger than 20x10x11, my 10 gallon size, as I am buying it from the same company. I expect it to be a little over 2 feet if not exactly 24inches long.