First of all, thank you for your helpfull reply!
The reason i asked my previous question is that my lfs sells a bunch of S. petricola "dwarf" (which i assume are S. lucipinnis). I really like this species and would love to keep a group of them in a tank. After doing some research i stumbled across A.p. and really liked them too. I read somewhere that they're a hardy species that can handle different kinds of water so i thought maybe they'd be able to live a "happy" life inside a S.l. biotope. I guess i just love how prehistorical and bulky A.p. look.
I don't mean to be rude or anything, nor do i discredit your expertise but lucipinnis's need for stable conditions would also be present without A.p, right? So that's not really an issue here (assuming that i'd be able to replicate these conditions), or am i wrong?
Could you elaborate on why exactly the water conditions differ so much that these species can't live together? Again, i don't doubt what you're saying but i'm trying to fully understand so i can use this knowledge in the future to choose species that can get along. I understand that the pH and temp range given, is just a range and that ideal pH/temp/hardness/etc is not the same thing but why bother posting ranges then?
So far i haven't got any fish and i'm still checking out all of my possibilities. I know lots of people keep S.l. together with other Tanganyika fish but i haven't really found a lot of Tanganyika fish that i like so that's why i started thinking about combining fish from different parts of the world. I like how most catfish look and A.p. has that typical bulky catfish look that i'm after. Ofcourse i could just throw in some Tanganyika fish just to fill the tank but i don't really want that. I only want to keep fish that i really like.
I haven't tested my water conditions yet but it might be a good idea to buy a testkit. I have some tanks and other equipment (heaters, filter, etc) to my disposal but i'd like to have an idea of my possibilities before i start doing all the work ;)
I've searched around for nice (cat)fish species that look similar to A.p. and that can live in a S.l. biotope but haven't really found anything yet. I don't want species that grow much bigger than A.p. I like animals that look like A.p., S.l., Phractocephalus hemioliopterus (obviously a little bit too big), Liosomadoras oncinus, etc. Maybe someone has a nice suggestion?
Anyway, thank you for your help and patience, i really appreciate it. I've been a member on several forums and i know that replying to the same 'beginner questions' over and over can be a bit frustrating
