geo. surinamensis questions

klmt

Fire Eel
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Jun 4, 2007
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Ok so i just picked myself up a trio of these surinamensis. Ive never owned any eartheater species before but ive always admired them. Finally ive had some tank space open up and i kind of bought them on a whim. they are around 1.5-2" with decent colors and great personality for their size. Super active and seemingly very healthy. Ive been feeding them bloodworms, mysis shrimp and some krill.For now they are in a 45 gallon hexagonal tank with a small school of buenos aires tetras, a small senegal bichir, and a mellow 3" convicit male. So i mean ive read a little on them and they seem to be not too difficult to care for but any information that anyone thinks would be important for a new geo. owner would be much appreciated. Also feel free to post pics of your own if you would like. Thanks...klmt
 

EarthEaterBob

Feeder Fish
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Apr 24, 2011
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Convict might kill them, when I was a begginer, I had a convict female take out some Geo conspecifics. I suggest switching them to a high quality dry food, other then that they are pretty easy to take care off. What substrate do you have? They'll outgrow that tank as well.
 

Loves severums

Feeder Fish
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Apr 27, 2009
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Get rid of the convict and they will be fine
 

ryansmith83

Silver Tier VIP
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Where did they come from? Chances of them being actual G. surinamensis are slim. A lot of Geos are sold in stores, both chain and mom-n-pop, as G. surinamensis but are actually either G. altifrons or G. abalios. Either way, they're all nice fish.

They enjoy sand (they're eartheaters, after all), so a sandy substrate is recommended. They will sift it all day. I feed mine pellets with occasional treats like frozen bloodworms, mysis shrimp, krill, or plankton. They also like freeze-dried bloodworms. I find they do best in groups, so you may want to consider at least 4. I usually do my Geos in groups of 6 if possible. (I follow this rule with a lot of SA cichlids, though.) I keep them warm in the low 80s and give them frequent water changes to avoid HITH. They tend to do best with other peaceful SA types. Mine don't really pay attention to other fish but they do quarrel and fight amongst themselves, which is why it's nice to have a group to spread the aggression around.

Make sure you have a bigger tank for them in the not-too-distant future. They can get pretty large. I've seen people here with 8"+ altifrons.
 

luvinbluegills

Gambusia
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Feb 26, 2011
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EVERYTHING not jurupari or very like it is labeled surinamensis in some stores! :) I got my S. daemon from a tank labeled surinamensis.
 

klmt

Fire Eel
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Jun 4, 2007
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from the research ive done and the pictures i looked at i think these actually could be the real deal. I got them from a small fish place near me that has the best stock of any fish store ive ever seen. Because of the amount of other rare species i would not be surprised if they really are surinamensis. Ill try to get som pictures up for you guys to make an ID. But nice suggestions, I really like them becaus ethey are always doing something and very responsive to me, not shy at all.
 

abarilot

Fire Eel
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Mar 4, 2009
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Sorry but I'm 99.9% sure even before I see the photos that they are not true surinamensis. True G. surinamensis are extremely rare and fetch a high price mainly cuz they not imported. Also at 1.5-2" its going to be hard to ID them, once they get to some size we'll be able to give you an accurate ID.
 

klmt

Fire Eel
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Jun 4, 2007
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I might as well post some up now and then when they are older. here is what ive got.Also threw in a picture of my bublebee cat where he got stuck for a while cause he ate too much haha006.JPG005.JPG004.JPG003.JPG002.JPG001.JPG

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