75 gallon Eartheater options

Etan

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Feb 2, 2011
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I recently moved and decided to restart my 75 gallon. I've been looking around at a bunch of different options and considered africans but I have decided against it and have decided I want to give Geos a shot.

After looking around at geos all day and decided I like the Heckelii, Tapajos the best. I believe the Heckelii are probably too large for my tank though.

How many would be an appropriate number? I can't find any local so I'm going to have to order online. I was thinking I could do 4.

As far as other fish I will probably get a school of some sort of tetra: buenos aires/columbian/penguin. Are there any other fish I could put in the tank. Perhaps any 3" or so midwater fish?

Thanks
 

ryansmith83

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Start with six. The orange heads are slow growing so you have time. Once they start spawning you can cut the numbers back and keep one or two pair in that tank.

Any deeper bodied tetra should work well. I know they're not South American, but Congo tetras are one of my favorites. I think they are really showy when you keep a school of them. You could keep a few angelfish with them if you wanted a mid-water fish, but you'll want to avoid the more nippy tetras because they will definitely go after the long angel fins.
 

Etan

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I'm not really a fan of Angels, any other suggestions. I've had congos in the past and I really did enjoy them, good suggestion.
 

vishwa.J

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I agree with ryansmith83...you can't go wrong with RH tapajos...

I'd do Colombian tetras over BA and Penguin..
 

Etan

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I've never tried discus but they always seem a little boring to me.

Think I'd have enough room for a pair of Festivum?
 

ryansmith83

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Others may disagree, but I'd skip it. Male Mesonauta are pretty large and boisterous. Mine dominated 6' tanks with other large cichlids (severums, chocolates, larger geos, etc.).

Discus need to be in groups of at least four but preferably six, so a group of discus and a group of Geos would really crowd that tank fast. I'd only mix discus with other tankmates if you had previous experience with discus and knew the ins and outs of keeping them. They come with their own requirements that need to be met. Having said that, I have kept discus with orange heads and usually all is well until the orange heads spawn. All the chasing and nipping from protective parents make the discus nervous, and stressed discus will go south really quickly.
 

Etan

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Always been interested in Festivum and I thought they were mostly peaceful but you have experience so I'll take your word for it.

A chocolate cichlid also crossed my mind but they're really dull compared to geos who I want to be the centerpiece of the tank.
 

ryansmith83

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Another option is a couple of Electric Blue Acaras, if you're looking for flashy and colorful. I have mine with orange heads. The iridescent blue and the bright orange make for a pretty colorful tank.

Don't knock a chocolate cichlid until you keep one in person. They constantly change colors from a pretty green to a deep wine red, and everything in between. It may not be as bright or flashy as the orange heads, but they are still pretty in their own right. Given that they grow into large fish, you'd probably only want to keep a single one, and even then he may feel cramped if he grows into a particularly large adult. You could probably make it work for quite a while, though.

You could do Laetacara which can be colorful in spawning colors and stay small enough to keep a small group. I'm partial to all the acaras so they may not be your taste.
 

Etan

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Laetacara araguaiae are beautiful but holy crap they're tiny!

I'm lookin on the wet spot, since they have tapajos in stock, and they have Laetacara Aragualae and Laetacara Thayerie. The Thayerie look quite a bit bigger.

I do like the looks of electric blue acara, for some reason I thought they were more aggresive than I thought they were.
 
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