Acarichthys heckelii

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barley pop

barley pop

Jack Dempsey
MFK Member
Oct 14, 2006
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looking for some info on these guys...

i googled them but i am gettting diffrent info from diffrent sites. some say agro some say not some say 5.5" some say 8" some say picky about PH some say not.... what info do you guys have for me ???


i am thinking about changing up the 220 some now it is

5 x Uaru
2 x festivum
4 x angels
1 x jupari
1 x green sev

and i am tinking of going

5 x uaru
4 or 5 x heckelii
3 x angels

what do you guys think ???
 
I know japes has some, maybe he'll pop in. I think that would be a great looking setup with the uaru and heckelii...though I'd probably keep the festivums too.
 
I wouldn't see any problem adding them to the 220 as it currently stands. If the fish you have in there are happy, they'll be. The biggest heckelii I've ever seen was probably 9-10"...but seeing one more than 6-7" is really unusual.

I have a group of 5 wild ones in a 4' 40g. They aren't particularly picky about water (clean), ph, or food.
 
Hey Barley,

Just picked up 3 more A. heckelii today myself actually. They're definitely an 8-9"TL fish that are quite conspecifically aggressive and should be kept either alone, in a functional pair, or in a group of 4+ (in my experience) - either way you'll need to find a combination that works, which is what I'm in the process of doing as I've had big problems with aggression. As I'm sure you've seen from the photos, these fish are all about the fins so finding a good combination is vital to ensuring they remain display quality fish.

They'll probably work with Angels, but personally I wouldn't do it.5 Uaru/5 Heckelii sounds like a good mix for a 220 but you could probably fit more in there like a shoal of 3 smaller Geophagus species, or like CTU2fan suggested, Festvium would work really well.

They're a very sleek, agile fish and they can also be quite skittish - when they were smaller they would often freak out and cause the rest of the tank to follow them bouncing around off the glass, and I've been informed by others that they had similar problems.

Beautiful fish though and I'd recommend them to anyone interested in peaceful South Americans.
 
thanks guys !!!!!!!!!

maybe i will keep the festivum and lose the angels... i just hought keeping the angels would be nice due to the diffrent body shape and they are very active.

maybe i will just move out the sev and jupair and do

2 x festivum
3 x angels
5 x uaru
5 x heckelii

the tank has PLENTY of filter on it. it is 2 x XP3 1 x FX5 and 1 X mag 400.
 
I have had one since Sept and added 2 more slightly smaller ones last week with no issues so far. They pretty much ignor each other. Be interenting to see what happens as they mature. I also have had a geo altifrons with the heck since Sept along with a Robertsoni with no issues. Last week when I added the heck I added another Geo. So far, so good. I have a 240 gallon so I have plenty of space for them to spread out which is key. I also have 4 red hooks and 3 flagtails that keep them all occupied as well.
 
They are actually listed as 12"/30cm SL max in many referance books. I personally have never seen on this large however. I have seen one at 10" SL only once, a traded in when I worked at the LFS. Yes it was measured, but as with the others, most are much smaller.

I'd do a larger group of festivums though, they are more scrappy with each other than angels.
 
trashcan;2800850; said:
How about heckelii and Geophagus sp. redhead Tapajos? Is this a good combo?
Click to expand...

Will work fine. Orange Heads will come off second best if there are any issues though, but I highly doubt it if theres a multiple number of both species.
 
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