Geophagus Tank Help

[Davey_8313]

My wife isnt really the "attached" type, but she'll say that I let her fish die and not mine, lol. Would any of the schooling tetras work like the green fire ones also? How big of a school you think, like 15-20? That doesnt seem like it'd be too many in a 150. A dwarf pike pair? What kind? I might have to get some b/c I miss my old ones. Might just get some emerald brochis instead of pikes...

 

[JK47]

My wife isnt really the "attached" type, but she'll say that I let her fish die and not mine, lol. Would any of the schooling tetras work like the green fire ones also? How big of a school you think, like 15-20? That doesnt seem like it'd be too many in a 150. A dwarf pike pair? What kind? I might have to get some b/c I miss my old ones. Might just get some emerald brochis instead of pikes...

I edited my first post to mention I would avoid the clown loaches. Just personal taste but that's me. The only dwarf pikes I can get my hands on locally are Crenicichla Notophthalmus and that is just fine by me!

I loved rams but they were hard to keep. Not because of effort or anything they just die young. I have a group of 4 in a 46 gallon and loved watching them defend their turf etc... The wife finally got tired of replacing them because mine never made it past about a year and a half.

 

[Davey_8313]

Yeah, I see that now, lol. You think a school of like six emerald brochis would be cooler than loaches? I might set up a separate tank w/ some rams and kribs in it maybe. Any thoughts on the true parrot, chocolate, or sevs working?

 

[JK47]

Yeah, I see that now, lol. You think a school of like six emerald brochis would be cooler than loaches? I might set up a separate tank w/ some rams and kribs in it maybe. Any thoughts on the true parrot, chocolate, or sevs working?

I don't have one but after seeing HiImSean's true parrot I did some reading and they can be pretty aggressive as adults, I wouldn't. Sevs would probably be fine. Have you ever considered Uaru? Mine is really pieceful and could care less about any geo. My $.02

 

[Davey_8313]

I never thought about Uarus, but I will now. I've always thought they were always kinda ugly, lol... have to look into them again. I'll try out a gold sev or rotkeil maybe.

 

[JK47]

I think your idea of the emerald brochis would be better than loaches for this tank. I like the smaller corydora style catfish and they would not take away from the tapajos being "centerpiece" fish. That's my plan too. I never liked the Uaru much either but their adult colors are simple and they have allot of personality. I am hand feeding mine. They do get big though.

Don't get a Uaru or sevs if you plan on having plants for long.

 

[Davey_8313]

I don't think I'll be having plants except for my floating hornwort or some fake reptile plants. I like the peppered corys, might check them out or the laser corys. Have to make up my mind. You have any pictures of your uaru? My LFS has some small 2" ones, might have to go pick one up.

 

[JK47]

Sure thing bro. I would recomend them to just about anyone. I would have posted a pic but didn't want to hijack. Acrylic is dirty because I just took these for you right now.

His colors are a little dark in these because I just closed the garage door. (it sounds like a transformer getting mounted by a bus)

 

[DaveB]

If your tank is 72x18" footprint and the geos are only <2" that's going to be a very boring tank if you put only 6-8 of them in there.

I have the same tank and until this afternoon* I had the following stock:

-12" black arowana
- 8" Uaru
- 5x 4-6" satanoperca
- 10x 2-4" juvenile Orangeheads
- 3x 4-5.5" adult (2m, 1f) Orangehead
- black ghost knife
- 2 pictus cats

Of course, I overfilter the crap out of it (2 FX5s and an Eheim)... But while it's slightly busy, it's not too crowded and the adult orangeheads and one pair of the juvies breed regularly. The tank has plenty of smooth rock and driftwood and territories for everyone.

*- this afternoon I took the 5 smallest orangeheads out and put them in my growout tank with my 6 orange Uaru. This was just because I power feed that tank and I'd like to see them grow up some. I also wanted to see how the main tank looked with fewer fish; so now I'm down to 8 orangeheads in there. But if I come across some nice severums they're getting added.

Ultimately, when the juvies all reach adult size, I'd say 6 would be the right number. But for now, 13 eartheaters works just fine.

The same could not be said of the larger eartheaters, like Abalios, Altifrons, etc, or even massive fullgrown satanoperca. But I have one 6" and 2 5.5" and all the rest are under 4. They don't grow that fast so you can put a ton of fish in there and it'll be a while before you have start worrying about thinning it out.

I initially kept African mbuna so overcrowding is a habit of mine. But it works for me. Right now with the 5 little ones removed the tank seems empty.

Anyway, I'd say get more than 8. A lot more. You can always sell some later. Or get some young Uaru or severums or something - they'll likely occupy a different level of the tank, which is useful. One other variety of eartheater would work too (but I think more than 2 would just be too much variety). Skip the rams. I'd say skip the loaches too and keep it all South American, but if you don't have another tank, just go nuts. Loaches rule. But I will say that when mine were in the same tank as the eartheaters, they always ate the eggs. Now I have them in a different tank. I'd keep cory cats if not for the Arowana being big enough to eat them, and if I didn't have the aro I'd also keep tetras or marble hatchets to occupy the top level of the tank. I used to have a bunch of red minor (or serpae) tetras that looked good and were never bothered by the orangeheads. They weren't all that hardy though.

 

[Davey_8313]

Sure thing bro. I would recomend them to just about anyone. I would have posted a pic but didn't want to hijack. Acrylic is dirty because I just took these for you right now.

His colors are a little dark in these because I just closed the garage door. (it sounds like a transformer getting mounted by a bus)

Looks good man. I forgot I need to go buy some sand for my tank, lol. I'm pretty sure they'll need some. Pool filter sand would work, right? I might go get that Uaru next week.

If your tank is 72x18" footprint and the geos are only <2" that's going to be a very boring tank if you put only 6-8 of them in there.

I have the same tank and until this afternoon* I had the following stock:

-12" black arowana
- 8" Uaru
- 5 satanoperca
- 10 juvenile Orangeheads
- 3 adult (2m, 1f) Orangehead
- black ghost knife
- 2 pictus cats

Of course, I overfilter the crap out of it (2 FX5s and an Eheim)... But while it's slightly busy, it's not too crowded and the adult orangeheads and one pair of the juvies breed regularly.

*- this afternoon I took the 5 smallest orangeheads out and put them in my growout tank with my 6 orange Uaru. This was just because I power feed that tank and I'd like to see them grow up some. I also wanted to see how the main tank looked with fewer fish; so now I'm down to 8 orangeheads in there. But if I come across some nice severums they're getting added.

Ultimately, when the juvies all reach adult size, I'd say 6 would be the right number. But for now, 13 eartheaters works just fine.

The same could not be said of the larger eartheaters, like Abalios, Altifrons, etc, or even massive fullgrown satanoperca. But I have one 6" and 2 5" and all the rest are under 4. They don't grow that fast so you can put a ton of fish in there and it'll be a while before you have start worrying about thinning it out.

Thanks, I just might get a few more or something. Could I stick a few small 1.5-2" Surinamensis in there? I know somebody that's selling some...