# Mixing Apistogramma Species?



## Ebonbolt (Aug 12, 2011)

Does anyone have experience mixing different species of Apistos in the same tank? I've had rams with apistos before with no problems but I've never had multiple apisto species in the same tank before, and was wondering how that might go. I have a 55g so on paper it seems I shoulder have room for 2 pairs, but I'd like to hear what everyone else's experience has been.


----------



## joeyk (May 30, 2016)

I'm by no stretch an expert, but try to mix species with different body shapes


----------



## rhennessey (Jul 25, 2014)

Hi Ebonbolt, 
You can mix Apisto's in a larger habitat but with caution. Apistos only live in the lower water column so long and deep is a good tank for them. They also like to hide and will do so if stressed or not liking their environment. In nature they are prey species for larger fish so this is natural for them and they get de-stressed if you have dither fish. 
As mentioned in earlier reply different body shapes is a start but when you add breeding to the mix, there will be problems. I've kept aggies with cacas and aggies with borelli but there has always been some fighting but manageable. Actually right now in my community 33g I have wc-macmasteri complex females with bitaeniata male and no problems but with breeding apistos it's different...normally the pair will claim as much territory as possible and be very aggressive towards all other conspecifics as well as all other inhabitants - to the point of death and it happens quickly... If you are going to do this make sure to have lots of upper water column dither fish with small mouths (pencils, embers and neon/cardinal are found naturally with them) and LOTS of obstacles and sight line blocks like wood and plants and almond leaves. In an mixed apisto/community tank you probably not have much success rearing fry but probably 1-2 from each clutch will survive if the mom doesn't eat them first. Females will eat fry if they get stressed or sometimes when they want to breed again. Also in this case you may want to have 2-1 f/m mix so that the female doesn't get to stressed out...
You can also check dwarfcichlid.com or apisto.sites for more information. Cheers and I hope that this helps.
Russ


----------



## Ebonbolt (Aug 12, 2011)

Yea I figured spawning might be an issue. The tank is currently home to a BNP and about 15 bleeding heart tetras. Maybe I’ll stick to my original plan of one pair plus a pair of rams. Have you had any luck/experience with an all male tank? I was talking to someone from class and he said he had pretty good luck with multiple males in the same tank without any females.


----------



## rhennessey (Jul 25, 2014)

Yes multiple males should be ok or multiple females same same. I have tried Rams and Apistos in my 33 and they were ok but the Rams were more aggressive which surprised me. As with other cichlids maybe add your fish at the same time so they don't have pre-established territories and this may help with aggression at the start.


----------



## Ebonbolt (Aug 12, 2011)

On a side note I'm also in the process of dividing the tank roughly in half with driftwood. That plus the fact that it's a 4 foot tank should be ok, but we'll have to see.


----------

