# Apistogramma cacatuoides with red cherry shrimp......??



## redfishsc (Aug 29, 2010)

I have a trio of A. cacatuoides, tank bred/raised, that I want to put in my main community tank. I will be picking them up this afternoon, roughly 1/2" long. 1 male, 2 females.

But they must be grown out before I put them in the community tank, if I ever actually do that. 


Anyhow, I have an 11g rimless GLA (36X9X9) that is heavily planted/overgrown that's full of RCS, a trio of dwarf corys, and misc snails. 


I know the Apistos are only a threat to juvenile RCS while the Apistos are so small, but do you think they, as adults, will be a thread to half-grown and mature RCS?


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## jhunt (May 7, 2010)

Expensive fish food, yes.


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## Mr. Appleton (Jul 1, 2011)

One of my friends got some Apistos and put them in a tank with RCS.... now no more RCS for him.


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## OverStocked (May 26, 2007)

I didn't even read any of this thread. But if you put any shrimp in a tank with apistos, they will hunt them down and eat them. 

The rule of thumb with fish: if they can fit it in their mouth they will eat it. If they can't, they will rip it apart until it fits.


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## ua hua (Oct 30, 2009)

OverStocked said:


> I didn't even read any of this thread. But if you put any shrimp in a tank with apistos, they will hunt them down and eat them.
> 
> The rule of thumb with fish: if they can fit it in their mouth they will eat it. If they can't, they will rip it apart until it fits.


 
Very well put. Shrimp= fish food


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## GeToChKn (Apr 15, 2011)

Yup. My dwarf frogs seemed fine for the past 6 months with my red cherries, then I found 1 dead fire red with a dwarf frog sitting on top of it, and another dead cherry and found the frog eating the shrimp. I'm not sure if it was dead or not and then the frog went for it, but it was the same frog, 2 days in a row, near or eating a dead shrimp. The shrimp had become used to and accustomed the frogs and would even sit on a frogs back and eat the shedding skin, so they didn't feel a threat and I think the frogs took advantage of that. lol. Needless to say, I now have a tank divider in my tank to keep the frogs on one side (and the neons) and the cherry on the other. Its a 20long so they both have lots of room and the divider has small holes so water circulation can still happen. Added a sponge filter on the shrimp side anyways and everyone seems happy.


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## redfishsc (Aug 29, 2010)

Thanks for the info all!

I'll put the Apistos in there for now, since it's the only tank prepared for them, but once they've grown big enough to handle the main tank, I'll move them.


Meanwhile I'll remove and trade off some of the RCS and just accept the damages for what they do in the grow-out. Who knows, maybe the abundant food supply will result in a nice batch of Apisto fry.


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## OverStocked (May 26, 2007)

The damages will be that they are all gone. Cac's are ferocious hunters. They will weave in an out of of you plants until they are gone.


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## Sharkfood (May 2, 2010)

I have only been ever been able to keep Amano shrimp with Apistos as they are much larger than RCS. Even that isn't 100% successful.


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