Very interesting convo thanks. I have juvenile Balzani at 72 degrees currently and planning a cooling off once they settle for a few months, and am getting some Threadfin Acari so wondered about future community possibles. Assuming they should not go together with the temp differences? They are getting their own tanks initially.
I'm wondering if Threadfin Acara (Acarichthys heckelii) is good to mix with my other tank mates???
Other than the geographically differences, I find cichlids that look radically
Kribensis and Geo's fit this dissimilar description to me, so may be compatible, although I have never tried the combination.
And even though they are from two different continents, the water chemistry is very much the same in each of their habitats, soft, mineral poor, and tannin infused.
I find cichlids that look radically different from each other (in body and mouth shape)often do very well together, better than similar shaped cichlids, because they don't see each other as competition.
Kribensis and Geo's fit this dissimilar description to me, so may be compatible, although I have never tried the combination.
And even though they are from two different continents, the water chemistry is very much the same in each of their habitats, soft, mineral poor, and tannin infused.
Temporarily yes, but IMO, not permanently.
The first time I kept Balzani, I misguidedly tried to keep them at constantly tropical temps, they suffered, becoming prone to fungal and bacterial infections.
And the much higher temps Acarichthys need, are definitely out of the norm for the cooler water preferring Gymnogeophagus.
I would put them in two different tanks, one with a heater for the Acarichthys, one at room temp for the Gymnogeophagines.
My Acarichthys were fine with other eartheaters, whether the the Guianacara a few posts above, or one from a braziliensus group here.
Acarichthys heckelli prefer fairly warm water, high 80s. In the book South American Eartheaters by Weidner, it is suggested that during certain seasons in their natural habitat, 90sF are not out of the norm.
Gymnogeophagus balzani are from much farther south, and prefer much cooler temps.
Temporarily housed together could work, but I find my balzani did much better without any heaters in the tank at all. They seemed prone to bacterial and fungal diseases when kept constantly warm.
Doing some research on the threadfin and ran across this post. Is the book you mentioned here worth picking up if I can find it, duanes? I may do it just to add it to the library.
Also that was a gorgeous threadfin ypu pictured in that first reply. Beautiful
I find the book, South American Eartheaters is a great book.
Because it was written fairly long ago, the nomenclature is not quite up to date, but the basic info is apropos, and if you are aware of location variants, its easy to judge the current names with locations.
Because it was written fairly long ago, the nomenclature is not quite up to date, but the basic info is apropos, and if you are aware of location variants, its easy to judge the current names with locations.
