Geophagos scratch?
- Thread starter Maged atef
- Start date
What species of Geophagus?
There are At least 50 different species, and if you add the related genera, many more.
Some come from hard alkaline water, (even brackish, some of the Geo braziliensis clade) many more come from soft, mineral poor, black water.
Some are good inneutral water.
Some from "southern" S America are from cooler temperate zone water (some like the Gymnos that even do best with a colder water seasonal cool down), some from northern tropical S America prefer quite warm water.
Its hard to advise on such a widespread group without knowing the species.
Although Geo's will survive without a substrate, its kind of counter to how they live. Most prefer sand.
And as a rule Geo's don't do well being over fed, you may get them to grow faster, but also bring them to an early death, they generally grow fairly slow, so unless you have patience, and accept the reality, you may have chosen the the wrong path.
What kind of tap water do you have? Hard....soft..... in between. pH .....
In the opening post did you say they appeared to have white spots? If so, and they are scatching, that sounds like Ick to me.
There are At least 50 different species, and if you add the related genera, many more.
Some come from hard alkaline water, (even brackish, some of the Geo braziliensis clade) many more come from soft, mineral poor, black water.
Some are good inneutral water.
Some from "southern" S America are from cooler temperate zone water (some like the Gymnos that even do best with a colder water seasonal cool down), some from northern tropical S America prefer quite warm water.
Its hard to advise on such a widespread group without knowing the species.
Although Geo's will survive without a substrate, its kind of counter to how they live. Most prefer sand.
And as a rule Geo's don't do well being over fed, you may get them to grow faster, but also bring them to an early death, they generally grow fairly slow, so unless you have patience, and accept the reality, you may have chosen the the wrong path.
What kind of tap water do you have? Hard....soft..... in between. pH .....
In the opening post did you say they appeared to have white spots? If so, and they are scatching, that sounds like Ick to me.
Mine are red head tapojos if youcould help me with the information about that fish you will help me alot, they do not show anywhite spot my tap water is 7 ph
Tapajos river pH usually 6.2-6.8, with no measurable hardness, and conductivity is usually < (less than) 50uS/cm.
Water temps average around 80-82'F. Slightly varying according to rainy season, dry season differences.
Since this Geo has been bred in the hobby for a while, it may be able to handle pH into slightly above the neutral range and a little hardness may not be a problem. for aquarium raised fish, wild type may not be a forgiving.
The substrate in the area they come from is mostly sand.
I kept an aquarium raised group in my tap water with a 7.6-7.8 pH, and they did OK, although I never thought they looked as good as others kept by aquarists who mixed RO with tap, or who had naturally softer water than mine..
When I did mix tannin infused water with water changes, they seemed to do best.
I found with my alkaline, semi hard water(250ppm general hardness (7 grains)), the Geo types that did best in my tanks, were those from west of the Andes, and south of the Amazon basin.
Types like G. steindachneri, from western S America.
Those of the Braziliensus clade from southern Brazil.
And Gymnogeophaus from Uruguay and Argentina.
Water temps average around 80-82'F. Slightly varying according to rainy season, dry season differences.
Since this Geo has been bred in the hobby for a while, it may be able to handle pH into slightly above the neutral range and a little hardness may not be a problem. for aquarium raised fish, wild type may not be a forgiving.
The substrate in the area they come from is mostly sand.
I kept an aquarium raised group in my tap water with a 7.6-7.8 pH, and they did OK, although I never thought they looked as good as others kept by aquarists who mixed RO with tap, or who had naturally softer water than mine..
When I did mix tannin infused water with water changes, they seemed to do best.
I found with my alkaline, semi hard water(250ppm general hardness (7 grains)), the Geo types that did best in my tanks, were those from west of the Andes, and south of the Amazon basin.
Types like G. steindachneri, from western S America.
Those of the Braziliensus clade from southern Brazil.
And Gymnogeophaus from Uruguay and Argentina.
I bred F1 red head geos for several years-- see my avatar photo-- pH mid to upper 7s, temperature upper 70s to 80-ish, medium hardness, and they did quite well. In fact, they're quite pH adaptable, more than some eartheater types-- ime they have no problem up to 8. You don't want to feed them heavily, they grow just fine with moderate or even somewhat light feeding of a quality food, feeding 'extra' is counter-productive. If you're feeding enough to require extra water changes it's too much-- there's a lot of science out there on this, it boils down to overfeeding (or too much protein) results in less efficient digestion and utilization of nutrients, extra waste, as a higher % of the 'extra' food is turned to waste rather then used by the fish, and a fatter fish with a higher fat to muscle ratio. Better than feeding a lot is clean water and a quality food, fed moderately.
Do you add salt with water changes? That can cause fish flashing/scratching in some cases-- I used to see it sometimes after water changes, when I stopped adding salt with water changes (years ago) I stopped seeing the flashing. Other possibilities are water changes stirring up stuff from the bottom of the tank, little bit of ammonia or another irritant in fresh tap water. A dirty filter can also cause flashing.
Do you add salt with water changes? That can cause fish flashing/scratching in some cases-- I used to see it sometimes after water changes, when I stopped adding salt with water changes (years ago) I stopped seeing the flashing. Other possibilities are water changes stirring up stuff from the bottom of the tank, little bit of ammonia or another irritant in fresh tap water. A dirty filter can also cause flashing.
I have 1 as I've not been able to find more at a suitable size/price point. My water is hard and above 8 out of the tap. I use mostly pfs a little black diamond mixed in. He looks good, eats well (sifting), has put on decent size since I moved. Would he breed given the chance I don't know the pH/hardness may inhibit that, hopefully 1 day I'll get to find out.
Iadded salt with the water change as i suspected white spot the nest water change o will not add salt and see what will happen
Sorry i posted it wrong at another comment i added salt as if it was white spot the nest water change i will not add salt and see
