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Just wondering how many apistos i can keep in a 120g?

wow, that is a very vauge question! Do you mean just by themselves? with other fish? Apistos in general get to about 2 inches, so in a 120, about 40 to keep down on territory dispute when they start breeding!

this is with other fish, but i want apisto's to be my main fish, i will have the ocassional scavenger and surface feeder but thats it

Start of with a trio (1m/2f) for every 2 square feet of space. Since they live at the bottom, it's not a question of gallons, its a question of real estate.

I'm assuming your 120 is 72x18. That gives you about 9 square feet of space.

I'd start with 9 males and 18 females and let them all get well established. Then, either through breeding or purchase, you can add more fish. Just watch the aggression levels once the numbers go up.

If you intend on breeding... I'd get otos for your bottom feeders.. they won't touch the eggs. Some pencil fish will fill out the top part of the tank nicely.

I think that would be a great sight with all those apistos.! I would probably suggest starting with around 5 males and 10 females and building up from there keeping an eye on the territorality. Be careful if you intend mixing apisto species that they don't cross-breed.