Hey Chris,
We talked at the fest and I don't care what you do with your fish. It's all good but this post doesn't figure with your original. Those midgets could never hurt your Discus and, since you obviously couldn't care less, so what if they cross. Be assured, the Discus would certainly eat them.
Maybe I shouldn't try to be flippant in posts, it always seems to get me in trouble, LOL.
I *do* care if they will cross, which is why I asked the question in the first place. I wouldn't want to inadvertently generate hybrids through my ignorance, because that would be irresponsible.
To clarify my comment about "discus snacks", I was referring to the fry, not the adults. Not sure if that was clear, or if it changes your interpretation of my comments. I wouldn't want my discus to eat the adult apistos I purchased (I didn't buy them as discus food, after all), but if the apistos (or any other fish in my tanks, including the discus) were to breed and generate fry, well, the fry are on their own.
It does seem too bad you only feel at home with the lower life forms. Maybe that's why we got along.
LOL, I don't know if that's a compliment or an insult!
Maybe I should buy you a beer after the next CCA meeting so we can discuss it.
Oh yeah, that's right...plants first fish second.
Well, I wouldn't go that far! (Again, my flippant comment gets me in trouble) I keep plants and fish together because I like trying to replicate nature (as futile as that really is in a small glass box). I don't have any pure plant tanks, nor do I have fish tanks without plants. For me, fish and plants are a package deal; if you have one, you need the other. I don't mean to imply that someone keeping fish in completely empty glass bottom tanks is doing anything wrong; there are a lot of good reasons to keep fish in otherwise empty tanks. It's just that my preference is to keep fish and plants together. The nice thing about this hobby is there's room for a lot of different approaches.
However, we just want for you not to waste your money when the fish start to breed and start to annihilate each other.
And I really appreciate that you're taking care of me, Francine. That is exactly the kind of info I needed when I posted my question. If the apistos will get super nasty should a pair happen to breed, I don't want the tank turning into a war zone.
I'll end by answering my own question ("Did we do a bad thing?"), based on what I've learned in this thread. Yeah, probably. Well, maybe not "bad", but probably unwise. I should have learned by now that I should do more research *before* buying fish, about what environment they need, their behaviors, etc. I was not completely ignorant about apistos before I bought them, but now I know more (and thank you everyone for the education). I will probably separate the three pairs, and put each in separate tanks. Live and learn (but hey, at least I'm *learning*!)
