"Mike" ..
I am looking to start breeding apisto's. I currently have some agasizzis.
I also have blue rams. Both species are healthy in my tanks. I have heard
that agasizzi are harder to breed than others. what would be some species
of apistos that would be best to start off with. I have been successful
with kribs. Water parameters are pH 6.8, KH 3, and GH 7 using peat water.
Tap water is 8.2, KH 7, and GH 10. I have tried breeding the rams for the
past weeks, but so far no luck.

With those water parameters A. cacatuoides would be hard to beat
beyond the A. aggasizzi. Get a group of one male to three or four
females, plunk them in a 20long or so with good water, good foods and
plenty of hiding spots and its hard to get them to stop spawning.

My first was A. cf. eunotus Orangeschwanz, pretty fish, also very easy
to work with. Any of the whitewater Apistos would probably be a good
bet. You might also get away with A. sp. carapintada and A. borelli.
Stay away from the nijsenni complex species, such as A. panduro, A.
sp. Inca, A. payaminonis, A. nijsenni.. as these are quite aggressive
fish and require pH's near 5 and under to trigger breeding in most
cases. Also stay away from the blackwater species like A.
diplotaenia, A. elizabethae and possibly A. bitaeniata (although its
easier to get tank bred specimens of the bitaeniata, and these usually
aren't so fussy with their water.)

Check out http://www.aquabotanic.com/complex.html. This lists the
species of Apistos (not all are shown in this article since its old)
by complex. If you stay within the regani complex of fish it's hard
to get anything that are very hard to maintain or to breed.

Good luck!
Sarah