# of Rams in my 16 gallon?

[Samfoy]

I will listen to all your advice - thank you. I won't add any fish for at least another 3 to 4 weeks when I'm at 0 amm. and 0 nitrite and below 40 nitrate. How about an Apisto as a center?

 

[I Like Rare Fish]

Apistos are the same as rams. They need much larger tanks.

 

[Samfoy]

Should I be thinking about a smaller/less needy sized tank fish like a Gourami?

 

[Bruce Leyland-Jones]

Should I be thinking about a smaller/less needy sized tank fish like a Gourami?

Read up on fish you're interested in here, at Seriously Fish.

 

[Samfoy]

I've done a lot of research and notes - just trying to make info stick. I might even be forcing things a bit. I'll read Seriously Fish now! Thanks. Keep the ideas coming tho!

 

[anewbie]

I will listen to all your advice - thank you. I won't add any fish for at least another 3 to 4 weeks when I'm at 0 amm. and 0 nitrite and below 40 nitrate. How about an Apisto as a center?

Depends on the specific species of apisto and dimension of the aquarium (width/length). I saw it was 16 gallon but not sure if it is long or tall. There are smaller species of apisto that might be a reasonable option if the tank is long/wide enough.

 

[anewbie]

Should I be thinking about a smaller/less needy sized tank fish like a Gourami?

Again it depends on the width/length of the aquarium but likely the only gourami that would be suitable are sparkling; and they should be in a group but even a group might be feasible. Another colourful fish that might appeal is peacock gudgeon.

 

[Byron]

I won't add any fish for at least another 3 to 4 weeks when I'm at 0 amm. and 0 nitrite and below 40 nitrate.

Missed this earlier...you want nitrates below 20 ppm, and as low as you can possibly keep them. Nitrate does impact fish, and the smaller "nano" type that will be suited here are more sensitive than much larger fish when it comes to issues like nitrate. Test you tap water for nitrate, and if it is zero, good. That makes it much easier to have very low nitrate in the aquarium, with good maintenance, not overstocking, not overfeeding, and live plants even if just floating plants (which are frankly necessary for small fish anyway).

 

[kribensis12]

Some good advice being dispensed here and there; just wrapping up a couple things I see:

Rams & Apistos are not great tank mates. Rams are more active, less shy and in my experience more aggressive. You will not get full enjoyment of your apistos with a ram running about.

16g is not too small for a bonded pair of dwarf cichlids such as rams or apistogramma. I breed my apistogrammas in a 10g tank - but I am meticulous about water quality and ensure that they feel safe. The larger the tank, the more room they have for enjoyment and the more room for error you have as far as water quality goes.

I may have missed it, but what is your pH, kH and gH of your water?

 

[anewbie]

Some good advice being dispensed here and there; just wrapping up a couple things I see:

Rams & Apistos are not great tank mates. Rams are more active, less shy and in my experience more aggressive. You will not get full enjoyment of your apistos with a ram running about.

16g is not too small for a bonded pair of dwarf cichlids such as rams or apistogramma. I breed my apistogrammas in a 10g tank - but I am meticulous about water quality and ensure that they feel safe. The larger the tank, the more room they have for enjoyment and the more room for error you have as far as water quality goes.

I may have missed it, but what is your pH, kH and gH of your water?

I'll repeat what I said: There are many species of apistogramma some more aggressive than others; depending on the exact dimension of your tank there might be a suitable species of apistogramma. A bonded pair has a significant advantage over a harem breeder in that the male won't attack the female when she is not ready to breed.

 

[kribensis12]

I'll repeat what I said: There are many species of apistogramma some more aggressive than others; depending on the exact dimension of your tank there might be a suitable species of apistogramma. A bonded pair has a significant advantage over a harem breeder in that the male won't attack the female when she is not ready to breed.

Most easily found, commercially available species of apistogramma would not be a good fit - there are over 400 known species of apistogramma and sure, there may be some that can handle ram cichlids. I would never place rams with cacaoutides, agassizi, boreli, macmasteri and the like,

What species are you thinking of?

 

[anewbie]

Most easily found, commercially available species of apistogramma would not be a good fit - there are over 400 known species of apistogramma and sure, there may be some that can handle ram cichlids. I would never place rams with cacaoutides, agassizi, boreli, macmasteri and the like,

What species are you thinking of?

As to which species as I said it depends on the dimension of the aquarium - if it has low surface area no cichlid; if it has sufficient surface area borelli would likely be a good fit which are commonly available; smaller and less aggressive than most of the other commonly available species.

Btw I think you are confusing two different issues - mixing ram with some species of apistogramma and putting a species of apistogramma in a 16 gallon aquarium. There are a few spieces of apisto that can be kept with at the temp of a gbr but the ones that come to mind are a bit on the aggressive side and need a bit more space.

Btw there are not 400 species of apistogramma; the number is closer to 100. There are over 400 forms but this includes likely colour variation as well as geological variations.

If you know what you want you can mostly find the species - I think i've seen over 30 species available via various methods.

I mentioned borelli above because they are particularly hearty and can handle a wide range of water conditions and temp; at least more so than some other species and they are not quite as inbred as cockatoo though they are probably getting there...

Anyway without knowing the dimensions of the aquarium it is hard to say much - my guess is that it is probably a stock 15 gallon which is 25x13x13 which is not bad - a shallow 20 high. However it could be one of those funky hexagon which is tall and very little surface area; kind of useless at least for this application.

 

[Byron]

The tank dimensions were given back in post #4 as 22L x 12D x 17H [these are presumably in inches]. This is not sufficient space for more than one species of cichlid.

 

[Samfoy]

So, what would you do with a Fluval Spec 16? What accent fish with movement and color would you guys go with? Just 1 or 2. A small group of dither schooling fish? Cories and snails to help clean up?
Dims 22L x 12D x 17H
PH 7.6
Cycling won't be done for another 2-4 weeks.
Plants are doing ok.
7500k lights
Lights on 8 hrs/day
Temp at 81-82

Would love to hear your ideas

 

[Byron]

So, what would you do with a Fluval Spec 16? What accent fish with movement and color would you guys go with? Just 1 or 2. A small group of dither schooling fish? Cories and snails to help clean up?
Dims 22L x 12D x 17H
PH 7.6
Cycling won't be done for another 2-4 weeks.
Plants are doing ok.
7500k lights
Lights on 8 hrs/day
Temp at 81-82

Would love to hear your ideas

Upper water fish, what are termed "dither" fish here, will make the smaller cichlids must less reticent. The first thing to sort out though is the cichlid species, as temperature is an issue. Not all fish can tolerate higher temperatures if these are necessary as for example with the blue/common ram. Beyond this, the tank size means you should be considering "nano" fish or slightly larger (but still quite small) shoaling fish. Characins (tetras, pencilfish, hatchetfish) have species that meet these criteria. Corydoras do not like warm water and I would not look to these if the cichlids need the 80+F temperature.