Laetacara species - planted tank dwarfs

Great photos.

I had a pair of dorsigera spawn in my 10 gallon planted tank. Very peaceful fish and when they start to spawn the coloring is very cool. Pain the in the butt to sex but a great little fish that once its comfortable is not as shy as I have read.

I may sound dumb, but what exactly is this...a cichlid? If so can you supply some basic info?

Raul-7 said:

I may sound dumb, but what exactly is this...a cichlid? If so can you supply some basic info?

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Dwarf cichlids from Amazon River drainage of Peru.

Jay, can you keep a curviceps and a dorsigera in the same 50 gal. tank?

sjogren1 said:

Jay, can you keep a curviceps and a dorsigera in the same 50 gal. tank?

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I wouldn't. Just like and other cichlid, they will become aggressive while spawning and will try to eliminate others.

What if they are both males and there are no females in the tank?

sjogren1 said:

What if they are both males and there are no females in the tank?

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You can try I guess. But at the same time they are not going to show their best colors without females in the tanks. Both species have spectacular coloration during breeding. In "off-season" they are just another normal looking dwarf cichlid.

where to find them

I live in Atlanta and I am having trouble finding good fish. Is there any place to buy Laetacara dorsigera online?

Look for apistodave on Aquabid. He usually has both curviceps and dorsigera along with a lot of other dwarf spieces. Seems like a nice guy, pretty sure he has helped me a few times on apistogramma.com

Dorsigera are really peaceful fish and when they do spawn the color is unreal.

how big are these fish?

oh yeah, and how long do they live? i really like my apistos but the 2 yr lifespan is a bummer.

Jay,

Do these fish scare, eat, or bother in any way Amano shrimps or Otos?

I ask becasue I have some Apistos that I wish I didn't have because they don't let shrimp or otos do anything else but hide without even moving.

--Nikolay

Mine where about 4 inches in size, just look bigger because of the deep body.

I didn't have a problem with them chesing otos. I did have some cherry shrimp in with them and I do not recall them chasing them, once in a blue moon. Granted the 3 I had eventually disappeared but not sure they ate them. They have pretty small mouths.

niko said:

Jay,

Do these fish scare, eat, or bother in any way Amano shrimps or Otos?

I ask becasue I have some Apistos that I wish I didn't have because they don't let shrimp or otos do anything else but hide without even moving.

--Nikolay

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Niko,

I had them with amano shrimp without any adverse effects. Good luck :wink: