Geophagus altifrons

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divemaster99

divemaster99

Dovii
MFK Member
Jan 10, 2014
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Pittsburgh, PA
Was at my local fish club party today and put 35 raffle tickets in a cup to try to win 12 G. altifrons (F1 from Rio Tocantins) but somebody who put 2 tickets in still won, of course :). However I am friends with the guy who is breeding the wild caught parents and he said he'd be happy to give me as many fry as I want for free. I'm not a huge cichlid fan but I do love Angelfish, Geophagus, and Cichla so I think I might get a half dozen or dozen fry and try to get a breeding group going for my Fishroom. I have a few questions for you guys who've kept them though.

1) What is the growth rate on these guys and how long would it take a breeding group (5-6) of adults to outgrow a 75G (48"x18"x20") either size wise or aggression wise?

2) What're the best foods for these guys? (I can feed anything from flake to live blackworms and everything in between)

3) How difficult are they to breed?

4) What are ideal water params for breeding? (My tap pH is 7.6 and I'd prefer to keep it at that but I could add oak leaves if needed)
 
If you get juvies it will take a while to reach adult size, although they breed as small as 4"-5", mine maxed out around 10".
I didn't consider them difficult to get to spawn, although in a large community, it was hard to get fry.
So when spawning was eminent, it seemed best to remove the pair to their own tank, there, they were great parents the male and female would share holding, and a fair number fry survived.
They spawned in water with a pH of 7.8, and a total hardness 250ppm, and seem to prefer small foods, so I fed a variety of small pellets.
 
Thanks Duanes! I was considering just leaving the whole group to spawn in a 75 without removing the spawning pair, would that be a bad idea?
 
I believe it is best to grow them out together, and only remove the pair when they are bonded, and they show signs of spawning. After spawning, and the fry are independent enough to take care of themselves, I would return the pair to the group until ready to spawn again.
 
You'll find that a group of 6 in a 75 is very cramped when it comes time to spawning. You can grow them out in a 75 for probably a year or so, but then you'll need to upgrade or thin the herd. I had some brachybranchus which ranged from 6 - 8" and I put a pair in a 55, and that was too small. You could probably do the pair in a 75 with a bunch of dithers and smaller tankmates, but they'd probably be rough on conspecifics in a 4' tank.
 
ryansmith83 said:
You'll find that a group of 6 in a 75 is very cramped when it comes time to spawning. You can grow them out in a 75 for probably a year or so, but then you'll need to upgrade or thin the herd. I had some brachybranchus which ranged from 6 - 8" and I put a pair in a 55, and that was too small. You could probably do the pair in a 75 with a bunch of dithers and smaller tankmates, but they'd probably be rough on conspecifics in a 4' tank.
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Id be fine with just a pair, I just thought that geos did best in larger groups between spawning.
 
I also thought they form a colony and breed with different females?
 
Id be fine with just a pair, I just thought that geos did best in larger groups between spawning.
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As adults, I've had them be perfectly content as single pairs with varying tankmates of other species (tetras, angelfish, severums, etc.).


I also thought they form a colony and breed with different females?
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Not all geos. You might be thinking of steindachneri and its close (hump head) relatives that do better with a harem.
 
I am also newbie to geos, I picked up 3 wild altifrons and they are about 5" now, the male have very long fin extentions. Im hoping they will also breed some day.
I also picked up couple of surinamensis from a lfs, they seemed to have grown much faster and bigger compare to the wild.

Anyways thanks for sharing your greay infos.

Sent from my D5803 using MonsterAquariaNetwork App
 
lmt6600 said:
I am also newbie to geos, I picked up 3 wild altifrons and they are about 5" now, the male have very long fin extentions. Im hoping they will also breed some day.
I also picked up couple of surinamensis from a lfs, they seemed to have grown much faster and bigger compare to the wild.

Anyways thanks for sharing your greay infos.

Sent from my D5803 using MonsterAquariaNetwork App
Click to expand...

Your "surinamensis" are most likely altifrons as well, of maybe abalios, but they are very unlikely surinamensis.
 
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