Earth-eaters, they don't only eat earth...Unfortunately

[bbortko]

First rule of fishkeeping: if it fts in a mouth it will wind up in a mouth

 

[mr72country]

First rule of fishkeeping: if it fts in a mouth it will wind up in a mouth

i thought the first rule was about water changes and how they suck if you dont have a siphon

Posted on mobile.monsterfishkeepers.com

 

[japes]

why would you put a little fish in with a big one??

It's a perfectly normal setup with Eartheaters.

First rule of fishkeeping: if it fts in a mouth it will wind up in a mouth

That's the first rule? These aren't typical American Cichlids - while some Eartheaters may be inclined to snack on smaller fish such as Tetra and Barbs, the majority will completely ignore them.

I personally keep a setup with over 65 smaller specimens housed with up to 7" S. leucosticta. The Otocinclus and some of the smaller H. rosaceus I keep would most definitely fit into the leuco's mouths - but they don't end up there. I know a fellow Queenslander who keeps 10-12" G. altifrons with H. pulchripinnis (Lemon Tetra) without any issue whatsoever, and I'd hazard a guess that although high-bodied, they're smaller than that barb.

I'd classify this as a freak case, quite unlucky. Although very unlikely, as JK47 has pointed out, it's possibly a result of the barb getting in the way of a mouthful of sand.

Just on an unrelated note, was the upper caudal hard ray always shaped like that, or just clamped down after death?

 

[TrikkyMakk]

I have never had eartheaters and so I thought they were pretty tame. I guess not!

Sorry for your loss.

 

[fisherman1035]

that stinks

 

[CTU2fan]

I wonder if the barb died first and then the geo checked it out? My jurupari will sample krill on occasion. Either way, that sucks.

 

[JK47]

For the record Brian, my satanoperca was incapable of spitting out the small geo once it was lodged in its mouth. I had to net it out and pull out the smaller fish by the tail or I likely would have found mine the same way had I had not seen it happen in front of me.

 

[Bderick67]

Just on an unrelated note, was the upper caudal hard ray always shaped like that, or just clamped down after death?

The ray was deformed and like that when I got it 2.5 years ago.

I wonder if the barb died first and then the geo checked it out? My jurupari will sample krill on occasion. Either way, that sucks.

This could be a possiblity.

 

[6 bar]

That stinks! I'm sorry to see that.

 

[DaveB]

On C-F their profiles for Altifrons said that unlike other geos, it would occasionally eat another fish. I always kept that in the back of my mind. I plan to get some big ones eventually but they'd be in a tank with a black aro, so there'd be no small fish anyway.

http://www.cichlid-forum.com/profiles/species.php?id=430

Possibly the most magnificant looking Eartheater. This species is less interested in green food than other Geophagus and will eat very small fish if they can be fit into their mouth.

Anyway, that sucks that this happened. I didn't know something like this would lead to death. One of my old fish was the one in the 1/06 POTM being eaten by a Dat, but the dat spit it out eventually and it survived...