catxx
Fish Gatherer
Catxx - You can't make a general sweeping statment about apistos like that. There are many many different species. Also crystal red shrimp aren't fragile...no more than any other shrimp anyways. And dwarf gouramis shouldn't be kept in pairs. Males often bully other dwarfs regardless of gender. 60l is suitable for a single male and 80l or more is ok if you want to start adding females.
CRS are more fragile than Cherries, everyone who keeps them round my way has a harder time keeping and breeding CRS than Cherries who we just plain can't STOP breeding! It all depends on the suppliers really. I would love some of the new Sulawesi shrimp but they ARE fragile, the one store that could get them had given up getting them as they kept arriving dead, they could only find one importer!
And when you're dealing with someone who is a fish newbie, an Apisto in a small tank is still a bad move. Sure there are many different species but if you're not a pro at keeping that tank healthy they ARE going to keel over. They are not as forgiving as a Betta in terms of whoops poor water quality. That and you'd have to get lucky to find the smaller more unusual species if you don't have a decent knowledgeable store near you. Cockatoos are pretty common but they really need 60L plus.