20 gallon dwarf cichlid biotope

HI all,

I would like to set up my 20 gallon tank as a biotope for a certain type of dwarf cichlid. I would also like to make it a biotope for that fish, as I have always been interested in trying to mimic the natural environment of fish. Does anyone have any ideas what cichlid I could try? Ideally I would want them to breed in the tank as well. Also what decor/plants/dither fish etc.? Any input would be appreciated.

 

dutch gold rams

 

20 long or 20 high? A 20 long gives you more options. A 20 high would be nice for shell dwellers from lake Tanganyika.

 

Shellies and cave dwellers Easy biotope to build and you'd have a really hard time keeping them from breeding in the tank since they spawn just about as easily as guppies.

 

Oh sorry I forgot to mention some details: it's a 20 gallon long and I want it to be a planted tank. I already have the fluorite substrate and a piece of driftwood. Also not too interested in rams as they're too sensitive I've found.

 

Lyretail Checkerboards. Kribensis. Golden eye

 

Apistogramma, lots to choose from, are what I would go for in your set up. They come from South America. So if you are wanting to do a bio type, plants and fish from there is what you should start looking for if you go with apistos.

 

I like the idea of apistos for sure, it's too bad my LFS doesn't carry them. Does anyone have any experience with ordering them online (any of the subspecies?)

 

I've ordered a lot of fish online. It is kind of expensive to have fish shipped overnight. But in the grand scheme of things, a necessary expense sometimes. And with everything else you have to spend money on to keep fish, it's not that bad. It's worth it in my opinion.

For apistos, I would start here,

You can also try, Wet Spot It might be easier to call The Wetspot. That's what I did when I got some fish from there.

I have gotten fish from here too with no problems. What they have in stock can be hit and miss sometimes.

I have gotten all my African cichlids from here. Never had a problem. I think they are hit and miss with South American cichlids. You might send them a message if they don't have what you are looking for. I think I also called them one time as well.

I hope this helps. Sounds like you should have a great tank.

 

Thank you! After some research I believe I have decided on apistogramma agassizii. They are absolutely gorgeous it seems from the pictures. From what I gather they are native to the Amazon basin and its tributaries, so I assume I will need a blackwater setup? I have a nice piece of driftwood for a centrepiece,and fluorite substrate for the plants as well as a fluorescent bulb the guy at the store suggested for planted tanks. Should I mix sand with the fluorite substrate or would that endanger the impeller on my HOB? Beyond the obvious ones like amazon sword and dwarf chain sword, what are some plants I could get to stay true to the biotope?

By the way marie that is a gorgeous green terror in your icon. They are one of my favourite fish. I want to breed them in my 55 gallon as I mentioned in my other thread, do you have any tips? I figured I would buy 5-6 juvies and let them pair off naturally, select the best looking pair and return the others. What do you think?

 

My experience with sand and HOB filters is they don't mix very well. I bet someone here has had success doing it, but every time I've done it I've ended up replacing the impeller at some point. Hopefully someone else can advise you on that.

Apistos do like black water. Something I have no experience with other than having driftwood stain the water. I know there is a recent thread here about someone doing it. I believe adding peat moss to the filter is the easiest way to get black water on a more permanent basis.

Cabomba, Pennywort, Sagittaria, Riccia, Vallisneria, and Java moss are some more plants that are from South America.

I've never breed green terrors. Mine is a single in a 55. He is 7 years old now. If I were to breed them, I would do it how you are planning on.

By the way, you have me thinking of a SA bio type for some Apistos now! I've got a 20 long I've been debating on what to do with. I think I've made up my mind finally

 

You can mix sand and a HOB. Just add a prefilter and IME no sand can get inside to hurt the filter.

 

Beautiful! Maybe we can keep each other posted as our tanks develop. I think I'll err on the side of caution and avoid sand, and just use fluorite which is a clay-based substrate. So for plants, I believe my LFS only carries Amazon swords and cabomba. I know they (and the other plants you listed) are South American, but are they native to the apisto's actual range? I want to be really true to nature (kind of OCD about it lol). Also for tankmates/dithers for the apistos, I was thinking neon tetras. Would this work? What else?

As for your green terror, what kind of tank is he in (in terms of decor, substrate, plants, etc.? My 55 gallon that is waiting for them is a mix of sand/fluorite, with several pieces of driftwood that have anubias nana/java fern attached. I also have some hygro angustifolia in there. I know that none of these plants are actually native to where green terrors come from, so could you suggest some plants that are? The main reason I went with these is because (the anubias and java fern) are not in the substrate so there's no danger of them getting dug up.

 

Aquaticclarity.com is a great online place for apistos. Its all he deals with. Jeff is a moderator. He knows his stuff!! I have ordered fish from him and they are great. An easy starter apisto would be cacatouides or agassizii. A pair or a mff trio would work fine in a 20 long. The caca's are more tolerant to different water types then most other apistos.

Neons are fine.

 

Thanks for the tip! I'll definitely check it out.

 

My GT's tank has changed a lot over the years. It has gone from HEAVILY planted, to a few rocks with a few plants. It's always been a low light tank with black sand. To be honest I have no idea what kind of sand it is. Nothing special, probably something I picked up at the LFS. If you can think of a low light plant, it has probably been in the tank at one time or another. As much as I like plants, I'm horrible with knowing the names of them. I got lucky with mine. He doesn't dig. I have several pics, but don't want to spam your thread with tank pics

 

By all means, go ahead. I don't mind. Yeah that's the reason I chose anubias and java fern for my upcoming GT tank, they're low-tech, low-light, and can be attached to driftwood/rocks (even though they're not biotope-specific). I figure they'll have a chance to put down some roots before the Terrors get big enough to mess with them too much. I'm probably gonna remove the hygro angustifolia; it's beautiful but kind of delicate and rooted in the substrate so it wouldn't last. Would you suggest crypts for a tank like this? I know they put down really strong roots so they might be ok even with diggers.

 

Lol, I guess it did have black gravel at one time...
Right now it has a piece of driftwood with a huge java fern growing on it with black sand, 1 Eheim 2217 and a Emperor 400. Total over kill on the filtration, but meh.. It works
These are all pretty old pics too. I don't even live at that place anymore..

 

That looks fantastic! It looks like it was really heavily planted at one time. Did he destroy all those plants is that why you went back to sparsely planted? And are those amazon swords in the last incarnation?

 

Those are swords in the last pic. He's never touched the plants. I just get bored with the set ups and change things around.

 

Great, I think I'll go moderately planted for my tank then cause I really like the look of it, and I already have the sand/fluorite substrate in there. I was thinking crypts, since it's low-light.

I went out and bought 5 juvie GT's for my 55 gallon today, and when I was there I looked around at what else the LFS has. Because of the lack of availability of biotope-specific plants for the apisto's (not to mention the apisto's themselves), and my relative inexperience, I'm starting to rethink the biotope thing for my 20 gallon. Additionally, I always envisioned my 20 as being heavily-planted, which would compromise the integrity of the blackwater biotope typical to the apisto's I had my eye on.

I did see gorgeous little cichlids called african butterfly cichlids while I was there, so I was thinking of creating a little mixed community around these guys instead. I did a bit of research and found that they do well with small characins and anabantoids, as well as corydoras sp. So I'm thinking I'll get a trio of the cichlids, and add a small school of neons, a sparkling gourami, and a trio of cories for the bottom. Anyone who has experience with these fish please chime in on whether this stocking plan will work?

For the plants I'm thinking Anubias, Java fern, Hygro Angustifolia and Compacta, Crinum Calimastrum, and maybe some rotala and an amazon sword. I know they're from all over the place but I just want that really green look and my LFS's plant selection isn't the greatest.

 

I know nothing about the African Butterflies. I would leave the gourami out myself, and get 6 cory instead of 3. They do better and are more active with a larger school. The plants sound good to me.

 

Any particular reason for leaving out the gourami? My thinking was this: since the bottom will be pretty heavily populated with the cichlids and cories both being bottom-dwellers (that's also why I was thinking only 3 cories, might get crowded with 6), and the neons also being mid-bottom, I wanted to add some movement to the top with the gourami. They say the sparkling is one of the smallest and most peaceful anabantoids, and its range would never really overlap with the cichlids, it being primarily a surface swimmer.

 

My thinking was you need more Cory and you'd really filling up that tank with fish. But maybe some otocinclus would work better with the cichlids than the Cory anyway. Maybe 5 Otos and the gourami with the cichlids and tetra? But since you have found the cichlids and Cory should get along, maybe it will work. I do know that Cory are more active with more numbers of them.

 

Ok, I will round out the numbers of cories a bit more if I can!

 

Well, it's up and running for a couple days now, I have 3 african butterfly cichlids (not sure of the sex of any of them, hopefully I have at least 1 male and 1 female), 5 neon tetras, and a sparkling gourami. Haven't added the cories yet, gonna wait a bit for that. Got all the plants in there too, it looks nice, I'll take pics and upload them when I can.

 

Cool! Can't wait to see it!