Advise needed: ideal geophagus for a 125 gallon

[DonnyB]

Would love to get some advise from the experts. If you had an empty 125 gallon 6’ tank and wanted to stock it with the most showy South American / geo theme what would you stock it with?

I have a 3d background which I may or may not install as it takes up space... if that would limit my ability to keep something special I won’t use it.

Looking to stock it third week in March. Cycling two canisters for it on my oscar and Midas tanks.

I love the idea of a medium sized group. 6-8 Red headed tapas along with a single threadfin acara is my most mature idea. Willing to spend some money and will be buying online... hopefully with some size to them.

Any thoughts?

 

[Malte81]

I would buy a group geophagus sveni Parana. Very nice colors I had bad luck with red heads, they are sensitive to hith.

 

[duanes]

I kept a group of "Tapajos" in the same size tank with Guianacara, and another with larger members of the altifrons complex. both worked very well.

With the altifrons, I also used a background, I loved the look, but it did take up lots of space.
Another similar size tank worked with well with Gymnogeophagus and some other Uruguayans,


Didn't need a heater for the Uruguayan tank.



One of the things that weighed on my tanks, was that I had fairly hard, higher pH water. The Gymnos did well, also had a tank of Geo from west of the Andes that did well in that hard water (Geo steindachneri) . I think water type might be a consideration for long term health. Any Rio Negro types I tried, never quite did as well as others that fit my water type.

 

[PhishMon84]

What’s the species that loosely resembles a festae in the photos 3 from the last?

 

[duanes]

What’s the species that loosely resembles a festae in the photos 3 from the last?

It is Australoheros sp "Red Ceibal"
male in normal coloration

female

pair in spawning colors

Very cold tolerant, I would put them in my pond in Milwaukee, late spring, and pull them out with hundreds of fry in early Oct.


They also spawned in outdoor tanks, fry feeding on free floating algae

 

[neutrino]

To my way of thinking it depends how many you'd like to end up with of whatever geo species, whether an adult pair, small group, or larger group. (yes, you'll hear that geos like to be in groups; that's true, especially when they're small or juvies; however, adult pairs are often perfectly content without a group ime)

I bred and raised Tapajos red head geos for several years, no health issues at all. Don't know about the red heads with a threadfin. I had mine with some guianacara for a while and the guianacara pushed them around a bit. On the other hand, mine did great with rotkeil sevs and large wild angelfish.

 

[PhishMon84]

It is Australoheros sp "Red Ceibal"
male in normal coloration

female

pair in spawning colors

Very cold tolerant, I would put them in my pond in Milwaukee, late spring, and pull them out with hundreds of fry in early Oct.


They also spawned in outdoor tanks, fry feeding on free floating algae

Thanks- not one I’ve seen on any list- I have looked into the genus.

 

[duanes]

Thanks- not one I’ve seen on any list- I have looked into the genus.

Funny I was giving them away about 10 years ago by the bag full, and bringing bags or ten to cichlid auctions in Milwaukee and Chicago, there were also some people from the Capital Cichlid club breeding them.
And I believe anyone who goes on the Uruguayan collecting trips with Ken Davis probably has them or other similar ones from the genus.

 

[DarylMac]

I'd go with Red head Tapajos I think. I had Winemilleri in a similar sized tank before, and I ended up getting rid of them as they had to be the most boring fish I ever kept. So boring. THe Red Head Tapajos had more personality - and I can concur that they do will with Severums, Guianacara, Key holes, Chocolate Cichlids.

I like Altifrons too - but I have heard they can get like 12" and I think a group of them in a 125 may be a bit of a squeeze. The Tapajos stay relatively small; typically 6" to 8" (I had a male that was pushing 9" though!), so you could keep a larger group and not be so crowded.

 

[ryansmith83]

Go with a group of medium sized fish like Tapajos. Something like altifrons gets too large if you want multiple individuals. My friend was keeping a group of 8 altifrons in a 240g and when they hit 10 - 11” they got so aggressive with each other he lost four and had to rehome the rest.

A. heckelii will do the same to conspecifics once they get large but I did okay with one as a single fish mixed with other geos and Heros. Then one day it got stressed, bloated, and was gone in two days. They seem finicky to me.