# Is my tank suitable for pair apistogramma cacatuoides



## Hooky (29 Nov 2016)

I am looking at a pair of apistogramma cacatuoides for my tank, but unsure if they are suitable. I have soft water but not sure if there is enough hiding places for them. I am also concerned that these bulky fish will uproot my plants. what do people think?


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## dw1305 (29 Nov 2016)

Hi all,





Hooky said:


> I have soft water but not sure if there is enough hiding places for them.


Yes, you would need a lot more structure.

What size is the tank? You really need a 60cm tank minimum for a pair. 

cheers Darrel


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## Hooky (29 Nov 2016)

dw1305 said:


> What size is the tank? You really need a 60cm tank minimum for a pair.



Its 80x36x50 approximately 125ltr, maybe if I take some rocks out to the side and add some wood or coconut shell?


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## dw1305 (29 Nov 2016)

Hi all, 





Hooky said:


> and add some wood or coconut shell?


<"Coconut caves are good">. Have a look at <"Dwarf Cichlids - Good Habitat">.

cheers Darrel


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## Hooky (29 Nov 2016)

Thanks Darrel

Looks like i need to rescape my tank a little and add some more plants.


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## castle (29 Nov 2016)

Lots of branches; and a sandy substrate would have been preferable. Also, plants aren't overly important with the SA apistos from my experience; so maybe consider other fish? They won't moan about the plants either tho 

If you're concerned with uprooting (males take a good 6 months to go from shop bought 4cm fish to full size) then wait a while for plants to root in a little more. And try and get a couple of heavy root feeders, an echinodorus maybe.


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## dw1305 (29 Nov 2016)

Hi all, 





castle said:


> Lots of branches; and a sandy substrate would have been preferable. Also, plants aren't overly important with the SA apistos from my experience;


It doesn't have to be plants, it just needs structure to break up line of sight. Some _Apistogramma_ species come from water with plenty of plants, some come from water with no plants but a lot of leaf litter and fallen branches. If you look at <"TomC's pages"> you can see the actual environments where the different _Apistogramma_ spp. came from. 

This is my kitchen tank when I had_ A. cacatuoides, _this was about 2010_._
_


 
_
The tank now has _A. agassizii, _but it still has most of the same plants. 

cheers Darrel


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## AverageWhiteBloke (29 Nov 2016)

Most apistos I've had need somewhere to escape when they're not getting on. All's good when they're both in spawning mood but if the female isn't the males tend to bully them quite a bit. Plenty of places to keep out of each others faces is the key. The males will chase the females every time he sees them in the hope that another female that is responsive will come along. Plenty of plants and caves gives her somewhere to hide.


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## Hooky (30 Nov 2016)

Are German Blue Ram a better alternative?


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## roadmaster (30 Nov 2016)

Hooky said:


> Are German Blue Ram a better alternative?


Same issue with providing retreat's for the female(s) should they not be in the mood from males advances.
Sometimes more females to one male can help, but still need room and places to retire to for females or subdominant males.


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## AverageWhiteBloke (30 Nov 2016)

Hooky said:


> Are German Blue Ram a better alternative?


Generally speaking all members of the Cichlid family are the same. They are mostly all territorial and like to side off a bit of space for themselves. Most of us don't have tanks big enough to provide that space, even the smallest fish will try and own a metre square and chase everything that roams in it. Definitely no species same sex, same species opposite sex tolerated if they are playing ball and all others are seen as a potential threat to any eggs or fry. Best we can do is to provide somewhere to hide within that space if needs be.


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## Lilou789 (30 Aug 2018)

Hi,

We are newbies and have just purchased a pair of apistogramma cacatuoides for our 60L tank. The male is swimming around but the female just hides away all the time, and  the male tries to find her and chases (so she hides again). Clearly she is not interested. Would adding another female be worth a try?

Thanks


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## alto (30 Aug 2018)

Are you certain this is a male/female “pair”?
- some tank bred lines have strongly coloured females, wild-type fish usually have excellent control over coloration displays (spots, banding, intensity, color etc) & subdominant males can appear as females ...

Were they displaying any signs of a pair bond in the purchase tank?

Arbitrarily combining one male & one female cichlid in a relatively small tank is seldom the best method of obtaining a successful pair

I suggest going over to Apistogramma.com 
Search term “cacatuoides”  will provide loads of information


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