Hi and welcome to the forum
What are the tank dimensions (length x width x height)?
What is the
GH (general hardness),
KH (carbonate hardness) and pH of your water supply?
This information can usually be obtained from your water supply company's website or by telephoning them. If they can't help you, take a glass full of tap water to the local pet shop and get them to test it for you. Write the results down (in numbers) when they do the tests. And ask them what the results are in (eg:
ppm, dGH, or something else).
Depending on what the
GH of your water is, will determine what fish you should keep.
Angelfish, discus, most tetras, most barbs, Bettas, gouramis, rasbora, Corydoras and small species of suckermouth catfish all occur in soft water (
GH below 150ppm) and a pH below 7.0.
Livebearers (guppies, platies, swordtails, mollies), rainbowfish and goldfish occur in medium hard water with a
GH around 200-250ppm and a pH above 7.0.
If you have very hard water (
GH above 300ppm) then look at African Rift Lake cichlids, or use distilled or reverse osmosis water to reduce the
GH and keep fishes from softer water.
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Mollies need hard water, the other species you listed need soft water.
Having 2 pairs of cichlids in the same tank can be an issue when they breed. They will attack each other and any other bottom dwellers (Corydoras, bristlenose, khulis) if those fishes enter the cichlid's nest site.
Female cichlids will still breed but none of the eggs will hatch, and the females are much less territorial than males. You are extremely unlikely to find female Apistogramma borelli in most countries because the breeders in Asia prefer to only sell males. You might find a female but they aren't as colourful as the males.
Bolivian ram cichlids are hard to sex. Normally if you want a breeding pr you buy a group of 8-10 young fish and grow them up and let them pr off naturally. Trying to find 2 females, good luck telling what sex they are. Young males and subordinate males can resemble females until the dominant males are removed, then they colour up.
If the tank is big enough, you could get 1 pr of cichlids and they might breed once every month or two, and you could sell the young fish to a shop and use the money/ store credit to get food, plants or other items you want.
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