Hello everyone, I am currently stocking a pond in my backyard here in Coastal Southern California, It is fairly large and a few thousand gallons but it is unheated, I was planning to have mostly cichlids in it, there are currently redbelly tilapia in it, and we have Australoheros Facetus and Herichthys caprintis. I was also planning to get geophagus but was unsure on what species to get, and managed to stay stuck between Geophagus Brasiliensis and Geophagus Iporagensis. I am aware that Geophagus Brasiliensis is technically able to survive the thermal extremes in my area (Low temps do not get below 50 on average and it has not gotten below yet 50 this winter) But they can still get into the low 40s for very short periods of time during winter cold snaps. The problem between choosing these two species is availability, While brasiliensis is readily available at my local fish stores and online, I would much rather keep iporagensis because I have seen other people and content creators already successfully keep and breed this species outdoors in my area, and know they will be healthy and active during the winter, I am wondering if anybody has any Geophagus Iporangensis available or any fry, since I have not seen any listed for months. Thank You all.
Does anybody have Geophagus Iporagensis?
- Thread starter Seaclover
- Start date
We also have tons of space for other species, so please feel free to make ay recommendations for the pond if you would like, we might also be consiering some kind of gymno species, such as balzanii.
I kept them in 2014, sorry, gave them away when Imoved to Panama
But alternatives, would be any Uruguan or Argentinian species,
others I kept in a pond in Wi spring thru fall were
Gymnogeophagines, and Uruguayan Crenicichla
Gymno sp Paso Pache above
and below Location Rio Yerbalito
Crenicichla accessed thru member Ken Davis, who initiates collecting trips to that area.
Sounds like an awesome project.
Check with Matt https://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/members/black-tuna.121163/. He can also be reached at the Cichlid Dojo on FB and is based in Cali. I bought iporagensis from him about 5 years ago and his stock is the best I've seen. Kept in a garage tank in MD and they did well in Winters and more importantly, Summers w/ no issues. Bred many many times...
Can also check with D dogofwar who maintains a huge unheated fishroom including many Uruguan Cichlids including many species of Astralaheros and Gymnogeophagus he personally collected.. He's got some beautiful, rare, wild collected cichlids, likely not available anywhere else in the US.
Check with Matt https://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/members/black-tuna.121163/. He can also be reached at the Cichlid Dojo on FB and is based in Cali. I bought iporagensis from him about 5 years ago and his stock is the best I've seen. Kept in a garage tank in MD and they did well in Winters and more importantly, Summers w/ no issues. Bred many many times...
Can also check with D dogofwar who maintains a huge unheated fishroom including many Uruguan Cichlids including many species of Astralaheros and Gymnogeophagus he personally collected.. He's got some beautiful, rare, wild collected cichlids, likely not available anywhere else in the US.
I was considering false eyed pike cichlids, but Crenicichla also throw me off because of their more predatory behavior, I forgot to mention we also have smaller fish in the pond (That have been getting along with the other cichlids so far), such as white clouds, rainbow shiners, bluefin killifish, and green swordtails, I am trying not to risk it with a species that has a fair portion of it's diet being smaller fish. I really liked how colorful the rio yerbalito gymno species are, the problem with these exotic species, is once again, availability, If I can find anyone giving out these species, I will definitely chose them over balzanii, or maybe get both.
Thanks bk - I keep and breed the Geophagus iporangensis from Laguna Molle near Centurion in Uruguay. And keep and breed a bunch of other Uruguayan fish, including Gymnogeophagus, Australoheros, and Cichlasoma among others
In the past I’d bring offspring of my wild breeders to places like TUIC. Haven’t found a comparable outlet and my schedule just doesn’t support retail and shipping
Maybe in the spring - Shipping right now isn’t something I’m up to - way too cold.