Geophagus sveni stocking qiestion.

[Nyrkorey]

I currently have a 6 foot 150 gallon tank ready to go. I love the geophagus sveni. I wanna do a tank around them. Looking to make sure these combinations will work/not to over crowded.

6 geophagus sveni
12 clown loaches
2 blue acaras.
Maybe some cardinal tetras or cherry red Barbs

I could do without the tetras or barbs. But I like the look of different sizes.
Is that to crowded? If so what should I cut out?

 

[stiker]

The sveni will quickly make a snack out the Cardinal tetras.

The stocking may be ok when the fish are small, but once larger the aquarium will be very over stocked considering the loaches get to 12” each!

 

[duanes]

The sveni will quickly make a snack out the Cardinal tetras.

The stocking may be ok when the fish are small, but once larger, the aquarium will be very over stocked considering the loaches get to 12” each!

Agree.
The loaches being bottom dwellers, and the G.sveni also being bottom dwellers leaves very little room in that area of the tank.
Even the Andinoacara will be vying for a derath of bottom space, and come from a separate part of S America with different water parameters.
IMO the perfect tank mates would be S American Tetras that would inhabit the mid and upper areas in the tank, and are large enough not to be eaten, and appreciate the same type low pH, low mineral content water parameters, (i.e. Colombian or similar) tetras, and if you must have other bottom dwellers, equatorial Corydorus would less apt to compete for space than large growing clown. Then again, I tend toward biotope, and see any Asian species like loaches with S Americans as a mismatch.

 

[Nyrkorey]

The sveni will quickly make a snack out the Cardinal tetras.

The stocking may be ok when the fish are small, but once larger the aquarium will be very over stocked considering the loaches get to 12” each!

That's what I figured. I know it will take a couple years for the loaches to get big but i may just leave them out then so i dont run into an issue.
I'll take a look at the S American tetras thank you! Is there a specific tetra I should look at?
Maybe I'll do a severum, I know my local exotic fish store has 2 nice gold ones.
My main thing is I don't wanna be overstocked I want them to he comfortable so if that means I can only do 6 geos and the blues then so be it, that'd why I figured I pose the qiestion, you guys know what would be best.

 

[Nyrkorey]

Would this work.
6 geophagus
2 acaras
2 severum
Then MAYBE a little group of s American tetras.
Would that be overstocked?

 

[stiker]

Would this work.
6 geophagus
2 acaras
2 severum
Then MAYBE a little group of s American tetras.
Would that be overstocked?

I wouldn’t add any other cichlids, if you end up with them trying to spawn the lower levels of the tank will be a ‘thunder dome’, plus Geophagus don’t have the mouth structure/ dentition to compete with the other species listed when it comes to arguments or territorial disputes.

As mentioned above, I would choose a cichlid species you are set on (it seems like the G. sveni) and devise tank mates around them.
Personally I would do them with a group of tetras (I have kept many species with Geo’s, some of my favourites being bleeding hearts and lemons) and a group of Brochis or other small catfish. Just be careful with majority of Corydoras as majority won’t thrive long term at the temperatures you sveni require.

 

[Nyrkorey]

I wouldn’t add any other cichlids, if you end up with them trying to spawn the lower levels of the tank will be a ‘thunder dome’, plus Geophagus don’t have the mouth structure/ dentition to compete with the other species listed when it comes to arguments or territorial disputes.

As mentioned above, I would choose a cichlid species you are set on (it seems like the G. sveni) and devise tank mates around them.
Personally I would do them with a group of tetras (I have kept many species with Geo’s, some of my favourites being bleeding hearts and lemons) and a group of Brochis or other small catfish. Just be careful with majority of Corydoras as majority won’t thrive long term at the temperatures you sveni require.

Perfect information I was looking for! So I'm set on geo sveni 100% I think they are beautiful. So if I get 6 of them is that a good number for them?
And for the tetras what species of S american tetras would you suggest and maybe how many?

 

[stiker]

Perfect information I was looking for! So I'm set on geo sveni 100% I think they are beautiful. So if I get 6 of them is that a good number for them?
And for the tetras what species of S american tetras would you suggest and maybe how many?

For tetras my personal choice would be; Hyphessobrycon erythrostigma (bleeding heart tetra) or Hyphessobrycon pulchripinnis (lemon tetra).

Another option would be some of the fish in the closely related family Anostomidae. I would stick to the smaller species like Anostomus ternetzi. Some members of the genus Leporinus could work but I’d stick to the smaller species and do thorough research as some are notorious fin and scale eaters (like the commonly available Leporinus fasciatus).

If I was you I’d choose a species not too large (to not take away from the showpiece of the aquarium the Sveni. As well as, not too small to be eaten.

 

[Nyrkorey]

For tetras my personal choice would be; Hyphessobrycon erythrostigma (bleeding heart tetra) or Hyphessobrycon pulchripinnis (lemon tetra).

Another option would be some of the fish in the closely related family Anostomidae. I would stick to the smaller species like Anostomus ternetzi. Some members of the genus Leporinus could work but I’d stick to the smaller species and do thorough research as some are notorious fin and scale eaters (like the commonly available Leporinus fasciatus).

If I was you I’d choose a species not too large (to not take away from the showpiece of the aquarium the Sveni. As well as, not too small to be eaten.

Okay awesome I will take a look at those tetras! How many would you suggest in a schooling?

 

[neutrino]

You'll always get varying experiences, preferences, and opinions on stocking questions, but I've never had a geo tank, including sveni, without a Heros species in the tank, about half the time also including wild Peru scalare, at other times Aeuquidens metae, Guinancara, even Andinoacara rivulatus. There are other possibilities I haven't gotten around to doing. A simple solution is to keep singles of the other cichlids and avoid breeding, which I've also done, though less than half the time. When I had breeding pairs of the other cichlids in the same tank it didn't remotely resemble a thunder dome. I will say there are nuances to doing that, including species selection and tank arrangement, so singles of other species is one way to approach it if you want to keep things simple.

Being a fancy pleco fan, I've always had one or more nice plecos in their tank, also.

Nothing wrong with a geo tank and schooling tetras but it's not the only option.