Geophagus Surinamensis at PetSmart

[AOmonsta]

I was looking around petsmart today and saw they had these guys and i was surprised. I don't know much about these guys or geos in general.

I've heard these fish were tough to get because they are only found in Surinam and French Guyana. Is this true?

Could these fish be mislabeled as another geo?

They were at a cheap price and looked very nice.

Anyone own these fish and also is there any way to sex them?

 

[Chrisplosion]

I actually bought one of those a couple weeks ago from them and its labeled the same. They did look nice and for $6 not bad.

 

[GEO QUEEN]

I actually bought two from petsmart about 3 or 4 months ago. To me, one looks like a G. abalios and the other looks like a G. Altifron. I have yet to see anyone have true suris. sexing can be kind of hard. All I know is Males tend to be 1. bigger and 2. grow alot longer trailers than females. I am no expert, but that is just what I've read.

IMO the reason why pet stores dont usually carry Geos is, when they are young, they dont have much color so people arn't as interested in them as they are other bright colored fish. But let me tell you, Geos, again IMO, are one of the most beautiful and peaceful cichlids you'll find.

 

[japes]

Could these fish be mislabeled as another geo?

I absolutely guarantee they are mislabelled.

 

[AOmonsta]

i was also thinking they were altifons at first, but they had all the signs of a suri.

Black spot below the dorsal, black lateral bands, and blue spots on caudal fin.

Oh and do many geos have a black lateral stripe through the middle of their eye? These did.

Another question, sand substrate is a must for these fish correct?

 

[GEO QUEEN]

All the geos that I have contain a black spot, with my g. altifron, he had a bigger spot when he was smaller, but now has a tiny dot ( my avatar). The abalios are the ones that keep the big spot. A. Heckelii are my only eartheaters with a thin black lateral line through it's eye.

They are eartheaters/ sand sifters so they are much happier with substrate. yet they can live without it, it's just better to see them do what they do in the wild, sift sand looking for food.

 

[AOmonsta]

thanks. I definitely wanna inspect these fish a little more and possibly question the staff haha. Great looking fish for only $6.

 

[Chrisplosion]

Staff won't know crap. I have one I bought I could take a picture of and we can all figure out what it really is.

 

[Chrisplosion]

The alleged Geophagus Surinamensis I bought from Petsmart 2 weeks ago. Yes I know they like sand, I realize this now but hes fine and eating.

 

[japes]

Impossible to tell from those shots. looks like a G. altifrons though.

As for black stripes through the eye, A. heckelii are of course one eartheater with it, but there's multiple others. Biotodoma sp., G. argyrostictus, G. taeniopareius for example. I'm not sure what you mean by a black lateral stripe through the eye though. All of the above species are semi-rare and wouldn't be sold as G. surinamensis - so I presume you just mean a black vertical band through the eye itself, and not across the face, which is a trait in almost all species.