breeding tank size

[Donald Nute <dnute@aisun1.ai.uga.edu>]

All my successful spawns of Apistos so far have been in 10 gallon planted
tanks, often with other fish present. I now have a pair of A. caetei with
a large batch of two-month old fry all by themselves in a mulmy 10 gallon
with plants, gravel, and a box filter. I have a very small pair of A.
borelli that spawned last night on the glass side of a similar setup that
also contains a dozen or so adult Aphyosemion gardneri. These guys spawned
before and the female was herding a small school around for a few days
before they disappeared. I think I'll try to remove at least some of the
killies this time. I had several spawns of an unidentified Apisto. in a 30
gallon with a few other fish about a year ago, but never saw fry. I have
Papillochromis altispinnosa that have spawned for the second time in a 55
gallon community tank. These are my recent experiences; I changed focus
from killies back to dwarf cichlids only about a year ago. In southern
Indiana about 25 years ago, I had success with A. cacatuoides, A.
aggassizii, and P. ramirezi in 10 gallon tanks with plants and undergravel
filters. As I recall, I incubated the ram eggs artificially, but in all
other cases I left the eggs and fry with the parents.  It is probably
coincidence, but I haven't had Apistos raise any "litters" successfully 
in anything larger than a 10 gallon. In most cases, other fish have been 
present. The population density has been about the same in the 10 gallon, 
30 gallon, and 55 gallon setups, but of course a larger total number of 
fish were present in the larger setups. I've never tried Apistos in tanks 
smaller than 10 gallon, but I believe the A. caetei and A. borelli I have 
now would probably do okay in a smaller tank. At worst, I'd have to 
remove the male after he had done his bit.

- ------------------------------------------------------------------
Donald Nute
Professor and Head, Department of Philosophy        (706) 542-2823
Director, Artificial Intelligence Center            (706) 542-0358
The University of Georgia                       FAX (706) 542-2839
Athens, Georgia  30602, U.S.A       http://ai.uga.edu/faculty/nute