Beginner needs help! (Was: High density fish tank)

["Lean Oric" <LeanOric@deusystems.cz>]

Hello everybody in this great mailing list!

I'm working on my first aquarium and your comments to my post would be
really helpful for me. I would like to have as much Apistos as possible in
my 30 gallon aquarium so I would like to hear more on concept of "High
density aquarium" (especially your species recommendations and counts). I'm
able to obtain these species and maybe some others too: A. cacatuoides, A.
borelii, A. agassizzi, Microgeophagus/Papiliochromis ramirezi (Ram), P.
pulcher (Krib).

Is it better to have more fish of one specie or pair of each? What about
male/female ratios in these high density tanks?

Thank you very much for your time!
Lean Oric

p.s. I didn't get any replies to my original post below

----- Original Message -----
From: Lean Oric
To: apisto@listbox.com
Sent: Monday, May 20, 2002 12:22 PM
Subject: High density fish tank


Hi fellow aquarists,
I've recently bought 130 litre aquarium (45x55cm footprint, 70cm high). Last
two weeks I've been searching on the internet for fish I like and find that
I really like Apistogramma and Pelvicachromis sp. I saw that everyone
seriously interested in breeding uses 10 gallon tanks for single pairs. But
breeding is not my main goal (though succesful spawning would be a bonus)
I'm mainly interested in keeping attractive fishes so I thought of high
density fish set-up to which I found few references in archives.

quote:
>"I have always kind of thought that those high density wetups work because
>there is no opportunity to establish territories in the normal sense.
There
>just isn't enough space, and there are too many intruders to keep them all
out
>of your turf."

I'd like to hear anybody's experiences with such set-ups. Is it really
solution to aggression of dwarf cichlids? I'll appreciate any tips for
particular species that would fit into this set-up. I thought about five to
ten pairs of really different species- one or two pairs of each. At the end
of week I'm going for a visit to my local fish supplier so I would like to
hear your comments beforehand. I could also add small school of some dither
fish to cover also upper strata with fish, what do you think?

I plan to have fine white sand on the bottom and two sides as walls from
lava rocks to provide as much caves and slots as possible. I plan lots of
plants but haven't decided on particular strains- I would love to hear your
input on this. What are right plants into this setup?

I count with extra care for additional filtering, cleaning and massive water
changes that are associated with high-density aquarium.

Thank you very much for help!
Lean Oric



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