A. Cacatuoides And A Small-ish Tank

[jesseoneill]

Howdy folks!

I'm pretty new here, and I'm loving this site. There is so much information here it is unbelievable. Hopefully I can get a little help with a problem of mine.

I have fallen in love with A. cacatuoides; they're so beautiful! Problem is, I currently only have a 10 gallon tank (US gallons). It's a well-planted tank and I keep it very clean. Would I be able to get away with having two A. cacatuoides in the tank (a male and a female)? The way I see it, that's about 6" of fish, which would leave me with some freedom to include a few small tetras as well, but I wanted to check with the cichlid experts first. If two in a 10 gallon tank is too many, do they do OK on their own (ie. could I just get one male)?

Second, the water here is relatively hard, but that hasn't been a problem in the past (I've had versatile fish). I think when I last tested things the pH was around 8.3 and GH and KH were both approximately 300ppm. I'll be adding CO2 pretty soon, so that should lower the pH slightly, but what can I do to make the water softer? I'm not interested in breeding, but I do want the fish to live well and be healthy.

Thanks for your help with this and for all your help in all the other posts I've been reading through!

 

[thegnu]

hi jesseoneill,
thats not water thats liquid concrete.
the best advice i could give (and im no cichlid expert) is look at the small shell dwellers (shellies) with that small a tank and your water they would thrive, the KH of your water is to high to be able to lower the pH imo

 

[jesseoneill]

I can assure you that it is actually water; I'd post a picture but can't find my camera! I've been reading a bit about hard water and I'm starting to wonder if maybe I just have a faulty test kit (I'm just using simple 6-in-1 test strips right now), but the other pads on the strips seem to work OK. Maybe I'll pick up a different type of test during the week just to make sure.

Anyway, any help with my questions would be appreciated.

 

[irishpunk74]

Howdy folks!

I'm pretty new here, and I'm loving this site. There is so much information here it is unbelievable. Hopefully I can get a little help with a problem of mine.

I have fallen in love with A. cacatuoides; they're so beautiful! Problem is, I currently only have a 10 gallon tank (US gallons). It's a well-planted tank and I keep it very clean. Would I be able to get away with having two A. cacatuoides in the tank (a male and a female)? The way I see it, that's about 6" of fish, which would leave me with some freedom to include a few small tetras as well, but I wanted to check with the cichlid experts first. If two in a 10 gallon tank is too many, do they do OK on their own (ie. could I just get one male)?

Second, the water here is relatively hard, but that hasn't been a problem in the past (I've had versatile fish). I think when I last tested things the pH was around 8.3 and GH and KH were both approximately 300ppm. I'll be adding CO2 pretty soon, so that should lower the pH slightly, but what can I do to make the water softer? I'm not interested in breeding, but I do want the fish to live well and be healthy.

Thanks for your help with this and for all your help in all the other posts I've been reading through!

Well this is an ongoing problem not just for you,but nearly most of the country.Hard tap water.One thing you can do is add some peat to your filter and this will help to soften the water and also to lower your ph as well.Just throw in a hanful or so and wait a week or two and check your ph again.Also a small peice of driftwood will also help to soften your water,too.But you should be able to keep a pair in a 10g. but I'm not so sure about breeding them in a 10.But try it and see,you'll never know till you try.Good Luck,Tom.

 

[Katchan]

Assuming you get the tank water to what you think is an fine level for the fish you want, but I've bred a.cacatuoides, a nijsenni (sp?) and rams (not all at the same time ) in a community tank with half dozen tetras and either 3 cories or a bristlenose, the key being water changes 7-10 day, but no more than 10 days

HTH

 

[Griz]

A 15 gal would be better but you might make it work in a very well planted 10gal. Include lots of wood at least 2 caves. Try to soften your water though by using peat or Indian almond leaves. I have had cacatuoides spawn succefully in a pH of around 7.8. You may be better off with A. borelli (if you like them and can find them) as they are a bit smaller. They tend to work better in pairs than cacatuides which prefer a harem situation. If you want to raise fry, tetras and corys will predate fry and eggs very well and I doubt you will be able to raise any. If you want to breed them successfully, choose a few ottos or pencilfish as tankmates.

 

[odannyboy]

IMO get a regular supply of ro water, some sort of co2 set up and a slightly bigger,cheap second hand tank.ull be laughing.

 

[Griz]

r/o is a great suggestion, especially with a 10 gal. If you mix it with your tap water, a 5gal jug would last you a while.

 

[jesseoneill]

Wow guys, thanks for all the responses! I just kind of assumed this thread had died!

Anyways, here's an update as to what I've done:

I got some better testing kits so that I could get better water measurements, then started doing every-other-day 2gal water changes with pure RO water until I dropped the hardness down to where I wanted it. KH and GH both came down from about 16-17 degrees to 6-7 degrees. I also added CO2, which I believe helped me lower the pH to its current level of 7.7.

The tank was already heavily planted, so I just rearranged a few things and half-buried a small flower pot in the substrate. I got a small pair of cacatuoides and made sure to take plenty of time adjusting them to my water. I've had them for a week now and they look healthy and happy.

Like I said in my original post, I'm not interested in breeding (I just think they're beautiful fish and I wanted a few to admire), but I should let you know that the female's belly has turned a bright gold color and there are a few shiny blue flecks around her eyes. I've read that she starts to look that way when she's about to lay eggs, so we'll see what happens!

 

[thegnu]

thats great news brilliant

 

[Captain Retardo]

great post because I have been wondering about getting a pair of A. Cacuatoides for a 10 gallon tank that I willl setup in the summer and will be heavily planted, I was going to ask the exact same thing, but this topic answered for me, can't wait to get those little apistos!

Edit- oops, sorry i forgot that this was an old topic, sorry for bringing it up again