Pet Forum / Aquaria / Cichlids / April 2005

Hi,

Dorsigers and curviceps are both quite peaceful - my preference of the two
are curviceps as they are typically more colorful and have more outgoing
personalities.  I've also kept Apistogramma borelli, which is one of the
more peaceful apistos and tolerates harder water than most of the others.
I'd also highly recommend the smaller varieties of checkerboard cichlids
(Dicrossus filamentosus and D. maculatus) - they're very pretty and a lot of
fun, but you should make sure your water conditions are very good if you
want them to thrive.

That said:  even though many apisto species can be relatively aggressive,
you can probably do very well with almost any of the them if you keep the
numbers and male-female ratio correct (most are harem breeders, but it's
reasonably easy to sex them with all but the youngest specimens, as most
apistos have pronounced sexual dimorphism).  I've kept several varieties in
the past - always in a lagely S. American community tank.  I had a number of
dither fish, including cardinals, and there were no real problems with
aggression, and the cichlid squabbles that did occur were generally for show
and were highly entertaining.  Apistos that you may want to avoid if you are
really concerned with aggression would be A. nijsenni (although it's one of
my favorites - also called "Panda" apisto), but if you don't overcrowd or
have too many males you should be fine.

As a rule:  with any of the dwarfs a planted tank is highly appreciated by
the fish, and pretty much necessary for some of the shyer species like
dorsigers to be comfortable.  With apistos: be sure that the fish look
robust and healthy before you buy them - I've had a few bad experiences with
imported fish that came in with hollow bellies and never recovered.  Very
sad...

Good luck, and enjoy getting back into the hobby!

- Rob