Apistogrammes good or bad for discus

[Bilbo_wh]

I have kept apisto's with discus also or more correctly because I have way more apisto’s than discus so I should say I kept some discus with my apisto's.

Be careful of some of the nastier females like agassizi because if they have young they will attack anything of almost any size. I had one that would bite larger fish in the gills under the gill plate and attack from underneath.

[zamboniMan]

I have kept many Apisto's with Discus, they do quite well together.

Some of the Apisto's I used to have:

What type of apisto is this?

[bs6749]

Judging from the mouth, it is an Apistogramma cacatuoides, AKA the "big mouth apisto". There are at least 20 color variations of this particular species. It is also a male.

[poconoboss]

What type of apisto is this?

That is the front view of this fish:



Which is an Apistogramma Agazzi

bs6749: The second and third pics I posted were of the Cacatuoides genus.

[zamboniMan]

Thanks!

Probably some of the nicest Apistos I've seen.

[bs6749]

That is the front view of this fish:



Which is an Apistogramma Agazzi

bs6749: The second and third pics I posted were of the Cacatuoides genus.

I will agree that it is a male agasizzi. I didn't realize that they too had larger mouths than most other apistos. The flame shape of the tail is a dead give away to it being an agasizzi though.

[akumastew]

My experience , apistogramma caucatiodes.

Spawned, Adult Discus interested in Spawn.

Apisto, attacked, got bitten a few times, resulting in Apisto dying.

Only one pair of Apistos and one pair Discus owned, so maybe it wouldn't happen every time.

[KEWX]

Great Pics!

[danyal2]

My female caucatiodes went MIA the other day so I took back my male and got a new pair of hongsloi today

Overall they get along fairly well.

[TankWatcher]

poconoboss, those are beautiful apistos. One of the nicest male aggies I've ever seen

[poconoboss]

poconoboss, those are beautiful apistos. One of the nicest male aggies I've ever seen

Thanks, I really liked having the Apistos, but I'm a Discus guy now.

It was fun watching them grow and see their colors develope.

Here are pics from how he colored up:

Before:



During:





After:





When he was getting agressive, he would darken up like this:

[Apistomaster]

Many Apistogramma species are best kept in pairs not harems. You need to learn that not all Apistogramma species are the same. many are best kept in harems. Some thrive in warm water some do better in cool water. They aren't like Discus species where there is more overlapping of acceptable conditions even then, each species of Discus has a preferred environment. Heckels need very soft acid water but Brown/Blues do better at a higher pH and a bit more mineral content. Still similar; the differences are relatively small.
The A.hongsloi, viejita and macmasteri do best in pairs.
And A.borelli, agassizi and trifasciata do better in trios.
These are just a small set of examples.
None of the Apistogramma live much more than one year in the wild so anything more than that in captivity is just extra mileage. Most should be bred in their first year of life.
No Apistogramma is going to over power and intimidate a Discus anymore than a fly buzzing around your head. So what if a brooding female pecks at a discus that dares to intrude into their space? Like a Discus cares.

One of the best SA Dwarf Cichlids to keep with Discus is not an Apistogramma species but is Dicrossus filamentosus, Checkerboard Cichlids. They will live for several years in a planted Discus tank and they also spend more time off the bottom out of hiding than the majority of the Apistogramma species.

Rams are often picked but they can be boring when compared to the behavior of many other dwarf Cichlids. They are mass produced and are a naturally short lived fish. They are very common. Too common.

Apistogramma species and Dicrossus filamentosus have more interesting behavior. Checkeboad Cichlids in good conditions can be incredibly beautiful and they thrive in warm water. Virtually all Dicrossus filamentosus are wild caught imports and do not have the weaknesses many of the more highly bred color varieties of Apistogramma species exhibit
They are perhaps the best bargains out their among the SA dwarf Cichlids. You can often find them on line for as little as $4.00 each and to me a high price in a fish shop would be $8.00 each. They do well in harems or one male with 3 females. If your tank wasn't already so crowded you could keep 2 trios along with a variety of small tetras, Pencilfish and Hatchetfish. All dwarf Cichlids are going to be at their best when they are kept as the center pieces of a display rather than as an adjunct to a discus tank although I am fond of keeping D. filamentosus along with Heckel Discus. They both need the same conditions to be at their best. Photo of breeding pair of Checkerboard Cichlids in black water.

Photo of the female with new spawn on the clay pot.


I feed my Apistogramma and other SA dwarf Cichlids live blackworms and do not associate the practice with any negative outcomes. I use them as a conditioning food. My only frustration is that sometimes a female will decide to treat escaped blackworms waving their tails out of a patch of sand as if they were brooding fry. Dwarf Cichlids are strange but interesting little fish. I now condition them on blackworms but only prior to setting them up to spawn to avoid the faux brood care behavior. Then I feed them mainly newly hatched brine shrimp, Grindal worms and frozen blood worms although they also like a beef heart blend as well.

[poconoboss]

Nice post AM.

Another dwarf cichlid that I used to keep with my Apisto's that I like very much was Laetacara dorsigerus. Some call it "Smiling Acara"

They are very peaceful, nice color/shape and was very interesting watching my pair interact.

Here is a pic of the ones I had:

[David Rose]

I've never seen either before this thread...very cool looking, but I have to wonder if any LFS here stocks them.

[poconoboss]

I've never seen either before this thread...very cool looking, but I have to wonder if any LFS here stocks them.

I always bought mine from David P. Soares: http://apistogrammaidiots.com/David_...p__soares.html

He goes by ApistoDave on Aquabid and other fish sites.

Here is another place with a decent variety:

http://www.cichlids.net/pages/fish.p...nd+West+Africa