Large gravel in Geophagus tanks ???
- Thread starter the_watcher
- Start date
Geophagus or "Earth Eaters" are sand sifters. They spend a lot of time taking in mouthfuls of sand and spitting it back, "filtering" little food particles, detritus, small worms and crustaceans found within the substrate in the wild. In captivity, sand gives them a chance to behave naturally... but they will still get most of their nutrition from whatever you feed em (i.e. sinking pellets). Sand is highly recommended for Geophagus tanks (the whole point of keeping a fish is to watch its natural behavior), but it's not absolutely necessary. They can also do well in tanks with gravel substrate and have been kept that way for several years.
If swapping the gravels out is difficult, you can dump some sand in the tank. A mixture of sand and gravels looks good.
Pls help..... can Geophagus be kept in bare bottom tank .... I mean No sand , gravel or substrate???? Will they survive?
Although it appears Geophagines, and other earth eating cichlids have a cavernous mouth, and would thus eat large particles, but in nature much of what has been found in their stomach contents is very small edibles, tiny mollusks, crustaceans and the like. This may be why aquarists who feed large pellets sometimes have trouble.
In nature they live over sandy expanses where, the way they have evolved to eat works. Of course you can do bare bottom, or large size gravel, but these substrate are " not" natural, and may even cause stress.
Even though the cichlids above are not Geophagines, they are the Central American equivalent. They sift sand, and besides spitting it out, it gets sifted thru the gill area, so if only large pieces are provided, one might consider gill membrane damage a possibility.
There are also sand sifting rift lake African cichlid earth eaters which have evolved in the same manner.
Fossorochromis and Taeniolethrinops come to mind
In nature they live over sandy expanses where, the way they have evolved to eat works. Of course you can do bare bottom, or large size gravel, but these substrate are " not" natural, and may even cause stress.
Even though the cichlids above are not Geophagines, they are the Central American equivalent. They sift sand, and besides spitting it out, it gets sifted thru the gill area, so if only large pieces are provided, one might consider gill membrane damage a possibility.
There are also sand sifting rift lake African cichlid earth eaters which have evolved in the same manner.
Fossorochromis and Taeniolethrinops come to mind
A captive fish raised in gravel, will never know the difference between gravel, and sand. They won't choke on the gravel, they will simply learn to push it around, or pick around it, when feeding. To avoid injury smooth is always better than sharp, no matter the particle size. Back when I was keeping and raising fry I kept all of my fry and juvies in bare bottom tanks, but I painted the outside bottom just to help calm the fish. (cuts down on reflections, adds a sense of security I think)
They will survive but if that is your permanent plan you will miss out on one of the things that makes Geophagus special. Watching them sift through the sand.
Sand or fine gravel is your best bet, but they can be fine with large gravel. I have never understood why so many people keep geos in bare bottom tanks. To me it's denying them of their natural behavior as an "eartheater". They can survive without it sure, but they would probably be happier with sand or gravel to dig in.
