Group size/gender ratio for apistos

[Snagrio]

Considering how I'm going to go about stocking some apistos for a 125 gallon (according to my research Borelli would be an ideal fit) and the online store I'm looking at sells them either in a pair, one of each gender or three of each gender. I've heard that one male with a harem of multiple females is best in general with apistos but given the size of the tank and my budget, would just a singular pair be okay or would the female be endlessly harassed?

 

[Colin_T]

I prefer to keep them in prs (1 male & 1 female).

You have a big tank so you could get 1 male and 3 females but I wouldn't add more than that.

 

[Snagrio]

Ah, that actually works fine then. Just a pair was the plan but I wasn't sure if they were the kind of fish where a male needs several females or else the one would get harassed too much.

Not concerned over raising fry either as it'll be a community tank, but if some babies somehow survive the gauntlet it'll be a nice bonus I suppose.

 

[Wills]

I think this is a bit conservative for a tank that big. Guessing its in the 5 foot region? I'd be comfortable putting in 2-3 males with 2-3 females each. You would have to watch them and have a good, dense scape but dont see a reason why it wouldnt work. They are hareem breeding fish so 1m 1f can cause more issues than 1m 2-3f. In the wild they have been found very densly packed into small areas because they often live in the smaller lakes that are prone to drying up. Check out Alf Stahlsbergs blog for his field reports on them its really fascinating.

Wills.