Apistos with Neons?

[Bailey_C]

I have a 55 gallon planted tank with a pair of apistogramma cacatuoides super red in it. I want to fill it with some neon tetras and/or guppies. Are the apistos going to eat any of the neons or guppies though? TIA

[Lennie]

It shouldn't be safe for guppy fry, but otherwise I believe they would leave the adults alone. I would still lean towards short fin fast ones like pandas. That being said, even guppies themselves aren't fully safe for their fry.

 

I used to keep panda guppies in a tank but they had an increase in their popualtion over time so I swapped their tank with my Apistogramma Erythruras, and I obviously forgot one fry there. They didn't touch him ever and he grew up there with them, still living there with the trio 😄 He even steals white worms from them

Edited January 14 by Lennie

[Bailey_C]

On 1/14/2024 at 3:58 PM, Lennie said:

It shouldn't be safe for guppy fry, but otherwise I believe they would leave the adults alone I believe. I would still lean towards short fin fast ones like pandas. That being said, even guppies themselves aren't fully safe for their fry.

 

I used to keep panda guppies in a tank but they had an increase in their popualtion over time so I swapped their tank with my Apistogramma Erythruras, and I obviously forgot one fry there. They didn't touch him ever and he grew up there with them, still living there with the trio 😄 He even steals white worms from them

I had some koi angelfish and four neon tetras that the angelfish grew up with. Then I added 20 new neons the other day, and all the neons ended up as snacks. I want to switch my 55g planted tank to a nice colorful community tank and have gotten rid of my angels, but would like to keep my apistos but wanted to make sure I wouldn’t end having another masacre if I decided to add more neons and/ or guppies. 

[Lennie]

On 1/15/2024 at 1:05 AM, Bailey_C said:

I had some koi angelfish and four neon tetras that the angelfish grew up with. Then I added 20 new neons the other day, and all the neons ended up as snacks. I want to switch my 55g planted tank to a nice colorful community tank and have gotten rid of my angels, but would like to keep my apistos but wanted to make sure I wouldn’t end having another masacre if I decided to add more neons and/ or guppies. 

Angels can do that yes. They are known to eat small fish in general. 

I think it should be fine. I know people keeping neons with apistos myself. Neons are a common dither choice for apistos from what I know.

You can also check pencilfish. They are also popular as apisto dithers

[Seisage]

Yeah, apistos and neons should be fine together. Like Lennie said, neons are a common dither fish for apistos and many people keep them together. The one thing you'll want to look out for is aggression from the apisto pair when they spawn. The females can be incredibly protective of eggs and fry and will chase and nip other fish in the tank, including the male apisto. That's why it's recommended to have a separate tank to put the apistos in for spawning. It'll help if your tank is heavily planted and/or scaped in a way that breaks up lines of sight.