Advice on South American Species

[kulvero]

I've always had a fascination with fish from the Rio Negro and for a many years have had a dream of setting up an "ultimate" blackwater tank with medium-large cichlids. Since my fish wishlist is unrealistically large and my budget doesn't allow for the ~45,000 gallon tank I'd need to house them all , I've paired the list down to a few species I think would be reasonably easy to care for, would coexist without too much quarreling, and still have some "cool" factor.

I've read a lot about all of them, but have experience with only one of the the species.
1) Astronotus Ocellatus (I know this one pretty well)
2) Hoplarchus Psittacus
3) Hypselecara Temporalis
4) Caquetaia Spectibilis (seems rare in the hobby and therefore hard to find)
5) Geophagus Altifrons

I'd like very much to hear from anyone who has experience keeping one or all of these species, especially if you've kept them together. Based on what I've read they all tend to have similar temperaments and similar distributions (in the wild).

What would be the recommended tank size for all 5 (1 of each)?
Would these species be able to thrive together?
Any thoughts, advice, opinions or nuggets of wisdom you can offer about them?

 

[Wills88]

Hi of those fish its still going to be a pretty big tank I am unsure of how the C.Spectabilis would work with the other fish as I have not come across them that much, just always assumed that they were too aggressive but would be interested to know how it goes?

I have seen similar mixes of the other fish you are wanting to keep though, the Geophagus Altifrons are best kept in a small group say 4 or 5. So to do a tank with
1 x Astronotus Ocellatus
1 x Hoplarchus Psittacus
1 x Hypselecara Temporalis
4 x Geophagus Altifrons

I would look to get something around a 6x2x2, its about 180 gallons and would be able to manage the 3 big cichlids with a group of Geos.

Im interested to see what people say about the C.Spectabilis

Wills

 

[smitty03281964]

I would want a tank of 200 gals or more.

 

[ceeej31]

I would aim for a tank of at least 300 gallons with
1x oscar
1x psittacus
1x temporalis
5-6x altifrons
(I don't have any personal experience with spectabilis)
I would also add some large characins such as chalceus or hemiodus to act as target fish for the big cichlids

If you want to make the tank look like the rio negro decorate it with a sand bottom, lots of driftwood and some leaf litter

 

[buddha1200]

I have had all the above except the psittacus,altifrons always fought each other but left everyone else alone,spetrabilus was agressive when it got older and one of the messiest fish i ever own(keep the tank dirty,seemed to waste more than any fish i have except my kruassii)got tired of siphoning out massive amounts of waste every other day so i ditch them,beautiful fish though,i have temporalis as we speak great fish but can be agressive when it want to be,but over all they are great fish with lots of personality(in a nut shell they act like greedy little pre schoolers)but i wouldnt trade them for anything right now very entertaining to watch.

 

[kulvero]

I have had all the above except the psittacus,altifrons always fought each other but left everyone else alone,spetrabilus was agressive when it got older and one of the messiest fish i ever own(keep the tank dirty,seemed to waste more than any fish i have except my kruassii)got tired of siphoning out massive amounts of waste every other day so i ditch them,beautiful fish though,i have temporalis as we speak great fish but can be agressive when it want to be,but over all they are great fish with lots of personality(in a nut shell they act like greedy little pre schoolers)but i wouldnt trade them for anything right now very entertaining to watch.

Very interesting feedback about the H. Temporalis. All the literature I've read suggests they're pretty peaceful fish, but I suspected they might have a bad attitude. I once kept H. Coryphaenoides and was caught off guard by how aggressive they were. Ended up having to move them out of the community because they were thrashing my (beloved) oscar too badly.

Do you keep your H. Temporalis with conspecifics or in a community with other species?

Thanks for the feedback too, by the way.

 

[kulvero]

I have had all the above except the psittacus,altifrons always fought each other but left everyone else alone,spetrabilus was agressive when it got older and one of the messiest fish i ever own(keep the tank dirty,seemed to waste more than any fish i have except my kruassii)got tired of siphoning out massive amounts of waste every other day so i ditch them,beautiful fish though,i have temporalis as we speak great fish but can be agressive when it want to be,but over all they are great fish with lots of personality(in a nut shell they act like greedy little pre schoolers)but i wouldnt trade them for anything right now very entertaining to watch.

Other than the messiness of C. Spectibilis, would you be willing to tell me more about your experience with them? I'm particularly interested in their personality, water parameters (read they're very sensitive to HITH from poor water quality), types of food you gave them and how they behaved with other species.

Also where did you buy them (LFS, online, hobbyist breeder, etc)?

 

[buddha1200]

they are kept in a community
temporalis(4 of them right now)
regani(3 of them)
t passiones(3 of them)
i thought i would have a problem withe the regani becuase they are vieja(conspecific)and the temporalis(also read they are peaceful)but it turns out that the regani are pretty mild and the temporalis are like the school yard bullies, btw also had a. lysoni in with them but the temporalis would spare with them constantly.
They get along with each other pretty well,the larger male throws his wait around from time to time,but other than that they are pretty cool with each other,just like to bully the tank mates alittle.(not to the point of damage or anything,i think they do it because they can) BAD KIDDIES

 

[kulvero]

they are kept in a community
temporalis(4 of them right now)
regani(3 of them)
t passiones(3 of them)
i thought i would have a problem withe the regani becuase they are vieja(conspecific)and the temporalis(also read they are peaceful)but it turns out that the regani are pretty mild and the temporalis are like the school yard bullies, btw also had a. lysoni in with them but the temporalis would spare with them constantly.
They get along with each other pretty well,the larger male throws his wait around from time to time,but other than that they are pretty cool with each other,just like to bully the tank mates alittle.(not to the point of damage or anything,i think they do it because they can) BAD KIDDIES

How would you compare their nature to that of an oscar?

Sorry if I'm asking too many questions, but I can't find nearly enough accurate information about these species and I think asking people with experience is going to be the best way to learn about them.

 

[buddha1200]

Other than the messiness of C. Spectibilis, would you be willing to tell me more about your experience with them? I'm particularly interested in their personality, water parameters (read they're very sensitive to HITH from poor water quality), types of food you gave them and how they behaved with other species.

Also where did you buy them (LFS, online, hobbyist breeder, etc)?

Actually ran across them in my lfs some one turned them in there.
personality wise not much would beg for food but not much interaction with much else .
ph i keep them at was 7.4(all my fish are kept at this ph)
they eat almost anything(believe thats why they are so messy)will out eat any fish in the tank and eat until there is no food left.Even if i feed on opposite ends of the tank they will try to get all the food at both ends.
I also got kraussi(same genus) and they are the same way when it come to food,they eat like they are starving and will never get another meal.
Dont have any pics of the spectrabilus but they looked like my kruasii with a little veriation in color.
my current kraussi(this trio will be sold next week)