Dither is better. Rocket Pencils (I'm at ssuming Nannostomus eques) are great tank mates as they don't even contemplate fry predation.
The dithers serve as more than just a way of getting shy Apistos to come out more. The dithers are a way to have other fish to spread aggression around to. Sometimes males get too aggressive when they are in breeding mode and can stress a female out, or when a female is protecting her eggs sometimes she can turn aggressive towards the male (or more likely the other females when you have a harem). Dithers allow another target of aggression, easing the overall tank.
As an added plus. Who doesn't want to have more than just 2 fish in a tank
***EDIT***
Another thing. You may want to contemplate smaller pots. The large openings of those pots may not provide the female with enough feeling of security to lay eggs. Either that or try getting those pots as far below the substrate as possible to make the opening smaller. It may not be an issue (sometime Apistos don't care to be honest) but it depends on the fish.
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. Lesson learned, so I went and ordered 100 IAL's off amazon, and as of today *should* arrive by the end of the week. few weeks pass and i had started to cycle that tank which, might I add, had been 100% emptied, refilled, and the started to cycle again so there was 4ppm ammonia in there and what do i find? A baby Fry alive and well!!! I guess I was doing something right until the toxicity got out of hand. I siphoned it out and acclimatized to my other tank and popped it in a breeder box. The fry is a few weeks old and is being fed live BBS 3x per day. The apisto tank is cycling the new bubble filter (which i love) and it should be fish ready by next week. Also i have been experimenting with earthworms to raise as a live fish food and its working great and is completely free now all i need to see is if the fish will like them.
