What Nannostomus species are safe around Apistogramma fry

[gwand]

I have been lucky breeding a. cacatuoides in the presence of n. beckfordi but I don’t want to press my luck. What Nannostomus species are safe around Apistogramma fry? Aquatic Clarity has quite a few wc species.

Moving to another genus, are m. kubotai safe around Apistogramma fry?

 

[anewbie]

The only one i've heard negativity is beckfordi but trifasciatus can be quite aggressive. I like margitas and marylin (which are pretty cheap in usa) the best (of the species i've own); uni are ok but huge. To be truthful there is so much colour in marginatus and they are relatively inexpensive...

Also espei are quite nice and stay near the surface but rarely availalbe and expensive. I have a set of morthenthaleri that have gotten very deep red after a couple of years but don't esp recommend them also they are the only group that 'took' the otehrs did not list much more than a year but these are now 2 1/2+ years old - i have no clue why as my water condition and temp are similar across the various tanks.

I know some people swear by eques but i've never seen them for sale nor have i owned them.

I have one group i'm not sure of the species - i think erythrurus but they are in a 180 which i can't evaluate well for various reasons - they have been in there for a couple of years and mostly hang out away from other fishes so i guess they are a little timid.


I can't remember if these are plain or gold:

 

[GaryE]

I think the keys are mouth size and tank niche. I had beckfordi and marginatus in with Apistos when I used to breed them. I had no problems. The niches are different, and the pencils weren't effective fry eaters.

kubotai? Good question. I don't keep Asian fish, but they look to me like fish that stay midwater or lower, and those I never combine with dwarf Cichlids. I have a 20 gallon tall of Nannostomus marginatus and rarely see the pencilfish below the top six inches of water. They like the surface zone in this single species tank, and that makes them reasonable companion fish for Apistos. Any mutual hatred is weakened by their rarely meeting.

To me, a good companion for Apistos has to be small, fast and not interested in the bottom half of the tank. It has to have a small mouth.

Cardinals and neon shaped bottom half of the tank fish have picked off fry here, even if they have smaller mouths. Cory group fish have been painfully harassed, and should never be in there. Pencils have had a nice balance of ease of escape, but limited 'crimes' to escape from.

I've had eques with Apistos too. And then, with time, I started prioritizing the 'dithers' and lost interest in the Apistos...

 

[anewbie]

I think the keys are mouth size and tank niche. I had beckfordi and marginatus in with Apistos when I used to breed them. I had no problems. The niches are different, and the pencils weren't effective fry eaters.

kubotai? Good question. I don't keep Asian fish, but they look to me like fish that stay midwater or lower, and those I never combine with dwarf Cichlids. I have a 20 gallon tall of Nannostomus marginatus and rarely see the pencilfish below the top six inches of water. They like the surface zone in this single species tank, and that makes them reasonable companion fish for Apistos. Any mutual hatred is weakened by their rarely meeting.

To me, a good companion for Apistos has to be small, fast and not interested in the bottom half of the tank. It has to have a small mouth.

Cardinals and neon shaped bottom half of the tank fish have picked off fry here, even if they have smaller mouths. Cory group fish have been painfully harassed, and should never be in there. Pencils have had a nice balance of ease of escape, but limited 'crimes' to escape from.

I've had eques with Apistos too. And then, with time, I started prioritizing the 'dithers' and lost interest in the Apistos...

I keep kubotai and keep them with dwarf cichild; they stay near the top constantly in motion. However i've moved away from them and mostly buy sa dithers these days. I guess after 6 or 7 years i just go tired of them. After all if you seen one swarm of kubotai you've seen them all as they look and behave the same.

 

[Innesfan]

Cannot speak from personal experience since I don't use Nannostomus as dithers but I know TomC in Norway keeps all species and populations of Nannostomus with all of his Apistos without issue. His favorite is N. unifasciatus in that regard. I seem to recall you've explored his website. Might be worth another look to see if he's updated anything on this subject

 

[Back in the fold]

Fry are not safe in the company of any other fish except parents , like cichlids , that take care of the young . It’s just that simple . And now a word from our sponsor : Species Only Aquariums .

 

[anewbie]

Fry are not safe in the company of any other fish except parents , like cichlids , that take care of the young . It’s just that simple . And now a word from our sponsor : Species Only Aquariums .

That is not true and some fishes will adopt orphaned frys and care for them though usually it is another female of the same species but not always !

 

[gwand]

Cannot speak from personal experience since I don't use Nannostomus as dithers but I know TomC in Norway keeps all species and populations of Nannostomus with all of his Apistos without issue. His favorite is N. unifasciatus in that regard. I seem to recall you've explored his website. Might be worth another look to see if he's updated anything on this subject

Tom recommends N. unifasciatus and N. cf. marginatus. Thanks for the suggestion. Aquatic Clarity has wc marginatus and marginatus gold.

 

[anewbie]

Tom recommends N. unifasciatus and N. cf. marginatus. Thanks for the suggestion. Aquatic Clarity has wc marginatus and marginatus gold.

The n. unifasciatus of today is not the same as the ones tom has - just an fyi.

 

[gwand]

The n. unifasciatus of today is not the same as the ones tom has - just an fyi.

Oh! Can you expand on that statement? Thanks.

 

[anewbie]

Look at the pictures tom has for his uni and read the interesting statement on attempts to breed them. The ones today might be the same species but they are nothing but black.

 

[Back in the fold]

That is not true and some fishes will adopt orphaned frys and care for them though usually it is another female of the same species but not always !

Re-read what you said . In a left handed sort of way you just agreed with me .

 

[anewbie]

Re-read what you said . In a left handed sort of way you just agreed with me .

Not at all - i just didn't list all the common species like otto that will ignore frys for the most part. It is true that most fishes are opportunistic and most will eat at least a little meat but there are lots that will generally not bother trying to catch a fry.

 

[Back in the fold]

Not at all - i just didn't list all the common species like otto that will ignore frys for the most part. It is true that most fishes are opportunistic and most will eat at least a little meat but there are lots that will generally not bother trying to catch a fry.

Still think you agreed with me .

 

[anewbie]

Still think you agreed with me .

You think too much.