I currently have a single Geophagus Steindachneri in my 120 gal setup. He is about 2.5 to 3 inches long. I have noticed he is a little feisty, it seems to be all in bluff (or play?) as there are never torn fins on any fish sharing his territory. My question is, I wanted to get a group of G. Tapajos. Is that a big no no, or with enough space will everyone be relatively chill. I feel bad, I bought him from a LFS, was told he was a Tapajos but as he grew it was evident he was a Steindachneri. It is not his fault, I love him, I do have my heart on those Tapajos though. Please help, advise for or against keeping them as tank mates.
Mixing Geophagus species
- Thread starter Fish_on_the_Brain24
- Start date
When I kept steindachneri they seldom seemed to bother non-geophagine cichlids, but males took exception on any other geophagines in the tank.
In a 120 you might get away with those more docile and social, soft water, species from east of the Andes kept with the west of the Andes more alkaline water Steins, but I find the western Geo's a bit more harder core than their eastern cousins.
As a general rule, I find all cichlids from west of the Andes seem more like their aggressive Central American cousins, than their east of the andes more social cousins, good examples might be cichlids from west of the Andes like Festae, or Green Terrors, neither being considered your average community tank species.
In a 120 you might get away with those more docile and social, soft water, species from east of the Andes kept with the west of the Andes more alkaline water Steins, but I find the western Geo's a bit more harder core than their eastern cousins.
As a general rule, I find all cichlids from west of the Andes seem more like their aggressive Central American cousins, than their east of the andes more social cousins, good examples might be cichlids from west of the Andes like Festae, or Green Terrors, neither being considered your average community tank species.
In the past I have kept a group of G. Tapajos sp Orange Head and a group of G. Steindachneri together in a 180G tank.
I found that most of the time their aggression was between their own species except when one of the species / both species were spawning. When the Steindachneri spawned with them being immediate mouthbrooders (apologises the correct term has slipped my mind) and not guarding a spawning site the females would become extremely aggressive when holding eggs wherever they were in the tank.
If you try mixing the two species you may not have an issue considering you only have one Steindachneri but I’d be watching when the Tapajos are spawning.
I found that most of the time their aggression was between their own species except when one of the species / both species were spawning. When the Steindachneri spawned with them being immediate mouthbrooders (apologises the correct term has slipped my mind) and not guarding a spawning site the females would become extremely aggressive when holding eggs wherever they were in the tank.
If you try mixing the two species you may not have an issue considering you only have one Steindachneri but I’d be watching when the Tapajos are spawning.
There is a 4" Severum mix( Gold/green?), 6 "Koi" Angelfish, 8" Black ghost and a couple bristlenose.
Thank you, I know every fish and tank are different, I could only hope for it to go as smoothly if I do add these fish together. I have mixed South American cichlids before with little issue, but I am cautious since this is the first I have ever owned this particular species of Geophagus. I used to have a Satanoperca jurupari. He was my baby and sadly I lost him, after having him for over a decade.
I may try to rearrange the tank when/if I add Tapajos, just to shake up territory lines.
Thank you very much for your insight. If he were a she it might not have been an issue, I heard male Steindachneri are just grumpy butts. He is currently in with some angels, a severum, a black ghost and a couple bristlenose. I want to round out my tank but might need to go back to square one.