Will my fish get killed ?

[Irv]

Hi All,
I currently have a 55 gallon tank going with 1 fully grown angel fish, 1 honey gourami and 3 (i believe all male) bolivian Rams. I have a 20 long I am using as a quarantine tank at the moment that currently has a young male/female pair of cockatoo apistogramma. They are still somewhat small. I wanted to move them into the bigger tank but had a few concerns and couldn't find any answers for them on the internet. 1st is a small female apisto small enough to be eaten by an angelfish ? He's very mellow and shows no aggression to anyone else in the tank, so I don't think he'd bully them but i know fish don't turn down meals, how big should a fish be to be confident my angel can't eat it?
Secondly, the male bolivians are very rambunctious and are constantly bickering amongst themselves and it sort of seems like they've divided the tank into thirds and sort of have territories they've claimed. If I put the apistogramma in there i have a nicely planted spot that I will add a couple of caves to that I was hoping they would turn into their territory, my worry is that one or all of the Rams will beat up on the apistos as they are still kinda small, especially the girl , how likely do you think they are to hurt my apistos? One guy tried to pick on
my honey gourami in the first couple of days of going there but he fought back and they're all cool now and only the bolivians play rough with each other, if that's any indication of their personalities. Thanks for any insight you have !

 

[jake37]

The rams will likely leave the apisto alone. They probably mostly bicker among themselves to determine an alpha. As for the angle eating the female apisto it depends on her size - as a rule cichlid will eat anything that fit in their mouth. However, if she is small enough to fit in an angel mouth then it is likely she is too young to sex and is just as likely to be a he.

Hi All,
I currently have a 55 gallon tank going with 1 fully grown angel fish, 1 honey gourami and 3 (i believe all male) bolivian Rams. I have a 20 long I am using as a quarantine tank at the moment that currently has a young male/female pair of cockatoo apistogramma. They are still somewhat small. I wanted to move them into the bigger tank but had a few concerns and couldn't find any answers for them on the internet. 1st is a small female apisto small enough to be eaten by an angelfish ? He's very mellow and shows no aggression to anyone else in the tank, so I don't think he'd bully them but i know fish don't turn down meals, how big should a fish be to be confident my angel can't eat it?
Secondly, the male bolivians are very rambunctious and are constantly bickering amongst themselves and it sort of seems like they've divided the tank into thirds and sort of have territories they've claimed. If I put the apistogramma in there i have a nicely planted spot that I will add a couple of caves to that I was hoping they would turn into their territory, my worry is that one or all of the Rams will beat up on the apistos as they are still kinda small, especially the girl , how likely do you think they are to hurt my apistos? One guy tried to pick on
my honey gourami in the first couple of days of going there but he fought back and they're all cool now and only the bolivians play rough with each other, if that's any indication of their personalities. Thanks for any insight you have !

 

[jkkgron2]

1. I don’t think you’ll have any issues, my fully grown angelfish is doing fine with some juvenile endlers, which are probably much smaller than your apisto.

2. You could have some issues with that, although the rams are fine with the gourami it may be different with the apistos. My krib is fine with my angelfish, but the moment I added in my peacock gudgeon (who has similar coloring and is also a bottom dweller) The krib started chasing the gudgeon, and has not stopped. Granted, it’s only been a day and a half, but it’s still being chased. While I doubt you’ll have issues with aggression, I would keep the qt tank up and running for a week or so after you add in the apistos, just in case.

 

[jake37]

My personal experience is kribs are far more aggressive than their reputation suggest and i would not mix kribs with other bottom dwellers but the rams are much more mellow. At worse they will claim an area as their own and chase a bit but i doubt there will be any nipping whereas the kribs seem to enjoy a good fight.

2. You could have some issues with that, although the rams are fine with the gourami it may be different with the apistos. My krib is fine with my angelfish, but the moment I added in my peacock gudgeon (who has similar coloring and is also a bottom dweller) The krib started chasing the gudgeon, and has not stopped. Granted, it’s only been a day and a half, but it’s still being chased. While I doubt you’ll have issues with aggression, I would keep the qt tank up and running for a week or so after you add in the apistos, just in case.

 

[Kribensis27]

My personal experience is kribs are far more aggressive than their reputation suggest and i would not mix kribs with other bottom dwellers but the rams are much more mellow. At worse they will claim an area as their own and chase a bit but i doubt there will be any nipping whereas the kribs seem to enjoy a good fight.

Really? I wish my kribs were more aggressive. They’re the sweetest little fish, but other fish bully them too easily. Maybe my kribs are just wimps lol.

 

[jkkgron2]

Really? I wish my kribs were more aggressive. They’re the sweetest little fish, but other fish bully them too easily. Maybe my kribs are just wimps lol.

Yeah, so far my krib has been very peaceful, so the gudgeon attack kind of surprised me. Probably just cause of the similar coloring. Overall she’s been good though and besides the bit of establishing territory at first, I haven’t seen any major fighting and I’ve seen barely any chasing and fin nipping, besides the gudgeon.

 

[jake37]

My kribs murdered 2 pygmy 1 orange laser and tried to bully a nannacara twice his size. The nanna beat the whatever out of him so he got his wife to give him a hand. The nanna wasn't interested in fighting so he did a tactful retreat but made it clear that if the krib was alone he was gonna get smacked. The nanna isn't very aggressive but he did not take kindly to being nipped out of the blue.

 

[jkkgron2]

My kribs murdered 2 pygmy 1 orange laser and tried to bully a nannacara twice his size. The nanna beat the whatever out of him so he got his wife to give him a hand. The nanna wasn't interested in fighting so he did a tactful retreat but made it clear that if the krib was alone he was gonna get it.

I wonder if it’s because they were a pair? IME pairs tend to be more aggressive and territorial, even if they aren’t breeding.

 

[Irv]

The rams will likely leave the apisto alone. They probably mostly bicker among themselves to determine an alpha. As for the angle eating the female apisto it depends on her size - as a rule cichlid will eat anything that fit in their mouth. However, if she is small enough to fit in an angel mouth then it is likely she is too young to sex and is just as likely to be a he.

Thanks for the response! I'm pretty sure it's a girl. Maybe I'm just over estimating how big a fish my angel could actually fit in his mouth. She's probably close to an inch

 

[jkkgron2]

Thanks for the response! I'm pretty sure it's a girl. Maybe I'm just over estimating how big a fish my angel could actually fit in his mouth. She's probably close to an inch

She should be fine then, but I would monitor for aggression, just in case

 

[Kribensis27]

I wonder if it’s because they were a pair? IME pairs tend to be more aggressive and territorial, even if they aren’t breeding.

I have an entire breeding colony, and they’re all friendly. What kind of weird kribs do I have ???

 

[jkkgron2]

I have an entire breeding colony, and they’re all friendly. What kind of weird kribs do I have ???

I don’t know, but they’re certainly interesting!

 

[Lebeeze]

I have 1 krib in my 60 gallon with angelfish ,gouramis 2 schools of corys, EBA and 1 gold severum that will be moving once he gets gig enough to not get immediate destroyed by my oscsr. My krib had shown less than 0 aggression. I'm just putting this here to voice my experience with kirbs.

As for the OPs question. I had 6 GBR in the same 60 a year ago or so and they really only ever showed aggression with each other. They would let the cory cats and angels come in their space but the second another ram came within a foot of their territory they would flare up and dice bomb lol. They have such great personalities I just couldn't keep them alive. All 6 just died randomly one day for apparently no reason.

Bolivian rams I hear are alot hardier so hope you have better luck.