have you guys found that geophagus die when not given sand?

[djsaltynuts]

i had 5 geophagus die in a bare bottom 20 long
the fish were less than 2” the water was clean. they were all jurapari. they would try to sift through mulm and would often sift the brineshrimp through their gills like it was a substrate.

the dominant one bullied the rest to death but what i found confusing is i have a group of three in a larger tank that i grew out like a year ago and theyve been relentlessly bullied by other geos texas cichlids and a starrynight with no deaths but this tank has sand.

i read geos may stop feeding if not given sand so im posting this to see if anyone else had mysterious deaths with geos without sand.

i just put a female redhump in an empty tank with no sand because shes holding do i need to add sand?

 

[tlindsey]

i had 5 geophagus die in a bare bottom 20 long
the fish were less than 2” the water was clean. they were all jurapari. they would try to sift through mulm and would often sift the brineshrimp through their gills like it was a substrate.

the dominant one bullied the rest to death but what i found confusing is i have a group of three in a larger tank that i grew out like a year ago and theyve been relentlessly bullied by other geos texas cichlids and a starrynight with no deaths but this tank has sand.

i read geos may stop feeding if not given sand so im posting this to see if anyone else had mysterious deaths with geos without sand.

i just put a female redhump in an empty tank with no sand because shes holding do i need to add sand?

I personally would never put Geophagus in a bare bottom aquarium because that's how they survive sifting through substrate. What type of Brine Shrimp fed to the Geo's?.

 

[djsaltynuts]

I personally would never put Geophagus in a bare bottom aquarium because that's how they survive sifting through substrate. What type of Brine Shrimp fed to the Geo's?.

probably san francisco bay but ive been buying hikari lately.

 

[djsaltynuts]

slightly off topic question but ive had all my heaters off and my geos bred i seperated the female out into a 10 gallon. should i put a heater in her tank? id assume the temp is around 69-75. normally id keep them at 78-80 but they bred at a lower temp.

 

[C. Breeze]

Roll with it. I’ve had handful of fish spawn indoors here at 68-70 this year. Fry grew slower. Eggs took a LONG time to hatch. Fry took a LONG time to use up egg sack. They grow a little slow but nothing too noticeable after that. Keep her at the temps she was at

 

[djsaltynuts]

Roll with it. I’ve had handful of fish spawn indoors here at 68-70 this year. Fry grew slower. Eggs took a LONG time to hatch. Fry took a LONG time to use up egg sack. They grow a little slow but nothing too noticeable after that. Keep her at the temps she was at

were they cichlids? im trying to decide on what ill use to feed fry if you have any suggestions. my normal fry foods wont really work because i have a power filter on the tank thats a little stronger than id like but it has a sponge over the intake.

 

[C. Breeze]

Yeah cichlids. But Central Americans. Which are prolific- but the bottom line is - if she was good let spawn no need to warm it up.


Indoors I use crushed flake and decapusalted brine shrimp eggs- which you feed directly. Especially in a tank with a power filter. I use a medicine dropper and mix up crushed to powder flake food and the eggs, get it all soaked down and sinking and draw it up and squirt it into to the fry. The parents quit attacking the medicme dropper after the first few days

 

[ryansmith83]

68 is too cold for Satanoperca (which is what your fish are — not Geophagus). They should be in the mid to high 70s at least. They will not die without sand as I have raised eartheater fry to 2” in bare bottom tanks. It’s very difficult to control water quality in a small tank. I would say either something happened with the water (that includes the temperature) or they were sick when you got them from the store. If they’re sifting their food through their gills instead of eating it, that’s a problem. Healthy fish should eat, not spit out food.