Finnaly Time for a change up

[SugarBassJoe]

The home owner I rent from is finally tearing out the carpet, and putting hardwood floors in, been waiting for a while. So unfortunately ill have to break 4 tanks down, which I'm not looking forward to, but like some say "In difficulties, comes opportunities" so since ill have to move everything out the room, ill take the opportunity to rearrange and streamline my set ups.  Instead of having each tank in different spots in the room, ill have a wall dedicated to them. I'm also going to go ahead and make some housing adjustments, as of now the plan is this: the 10G halfmoon tank with the guppies will be retired ( I actually liked this tank more than I thought I would, but I still prefer the standard rectangular tanks). I'm goin to keep the three best males, six of the best females, and the last batch of fry (ill be giving the rest (about 40 fish) to a friends 55G community tank) they'll be moved to my standard 10G.

Mugger, the Clown Killis and the RCS'S will stay in their own 4G cubes, just moved closer together so I can run air from a single air pump to each.

The big upgrade will be for my pair of Apisto's, its finally time to get them in some proper housing, so ill be setting up a 20G Long for them, (wanted to do at least 29, but its hard to convince my room mate, her mother is the home owner so I aint going to push my luck, pick your battles) and this where I have some questions. If any one has read this far I would appreciate some insight.

Would it be a bad idea to find another female to add? As of now my current female seems to be the boss, so I don't know if adding another female is a bad idea, or if there would be enough room. Tank will have some hard scape and will be fairly well planted.

If there is enough room, would adding another species be problematic? would like to add some neon's or something similar later on, maybe a small pleco (if there is a small enough species, still doing research). I would like to get some breeding started eventually, but I'm still a lazy breeder, I don't have the room to dedicate empty tanks for this purpose, so for now id like my tanks to be breeder as well as show tanks if possible.

I'm also going to have a empty 10G halfmoon style tank, as much as id like to keep it, I don't have much room for storage, and also prefer the standard style of tanks, so I'm willing to part with it. I've had no issues with it and has worked well for the guppies, so if anyone is interested in taking it off my hands in the near future (its still up and running for now, ill be taking it down closer to the end of the month/beginning of next month), it will be completely free, I'm in San Diego county, but I work in a warehouse, with lots of boxes and packing materials, so if your willing to take a chance with shipping, I'm willing to ship it to you (shipping would be free for you) if interested let me know. AGAIN this will be closer to the end of the month/ beginning of next month, don't have an exact date yet. Thanks all.

[Fish Folk]

Nice stock! Hope all moves go well. Beware of bringing in illness with new fish, especially if you skip quarantining. 

[nabokovfan87]

On 1/20/2023 at 8:46 AM, SugarBassJoe said:

Would it be a bad idea to find another female to add? As of now my current female seems to be the boss, so I don't know if adding another female is a bad idea, or if there would be enough room. Tank will have some hard scape and will be fairly well planted.

For a 20, no I would have just the one pair, not anything additional.

On 1/20/2023 at 8:46 AM, SugarBassJoe said:

If there is enough room, would adding another species be problematic? would like to add some neon's or something similar later on, maybe a small pleco (if there is a small enough species, still doing research). I would like to get some breeding started eventually, but I'm still a lazy breeder, I don't have the room to dedicate empty tanks for this purpose, so for now id like my tanks to be breeder as well as show tanks if possible.

Adding a pleco is generally almost always fine.  They know how to avoid things and come out at night.  Adding other fish as well, something small, I would think is perfectly fine.  I would be careful of anything they deem a snack, but generally anything is going to have a different section of the tank, avoiding a lot of issues.

 

[Rube_Goldfish]

What species of apistos? @Fish Folk and @anewbie , do you have advice on which apistos can live in harem situations?

That said, if your apisto pair is happy together, my inclination would be to leave well enough alone there, or at least have a Plan B if the new female isn't accepted.

[anewbie]

Most of the common ones are harem breeders 'cept nijjensi/panduro. there are other non harem breeders that are less common. Would be easier if you ask about a specific species since there are over 100 known.

[Rube_Goldfish]

On 1/21/2023 at 12:57 PM, anewbie said:

Would be easier if you ask about a specific species since there are over 100 known.

Haha, touché! Thanks!

[SugarBassJoe]

they are an appistogramma caucotoides pair.

[anewbie]

cockatoo are harem breeders if that matters 😉

I forget but macs might be more pair forming; not sure with them. borelli are harem and agassizi are also harem breeders. The big thing about harem breeders is  m/f aggression when the female is not ready to breed. The male will chase her out of his territory; conversely the male doesn't help with raising the frys so the female will chase the male away when she has frys. Lots of m/f aggression.... can be quite deadly in a small or poorly structured aquarium.