Mixing Geos with lents

[ryansmith83]

I have my two Lents in a 210 gallon with a large psittacus, a Saxatilis pike, and a pair of Atabapo sevs. They are the only fish in the tank. I'd like to add my group of six Geophagus to the tank. They are either brachybranchus or dicrozoster, and they range from 4.5" to 6.5".

Do you think the Lents would give the smaller ones a hard time? I haven't mixed the Lents with anything smaller than 8" with the exception of the sax pike, but he was pretty good at hiding.

 

[clgkag]

I was talking to Jeremy(peanut) about putting Geos with my pikes. He said the biggest issue he had when he tried it that the pikes were always biting off the geo trailers. He didn't mention aggression problems other than fin nipping and I didn't ask what pikes he had them with. I am growing out some G. brasilensis to try with my pikes.

 

[ryansmith83]

After a lot of frustration with the pikes lately, and seeing what they did tonight after I started this thread, I think the pikes will be going. I will stick with my Saxatilis and my dwarves, but the Lents have to go. After months of behaving fairly well, they snapped again and beat up my Atabapo pair. They are gorgeous fish but it's hard to devote a giant tank to two fish.

/rant

Thank you for the reply, though!

 

[Peanut_Power]

Hope it all works out for ya Ryan!!! Lugubris pikes can be tricky for sure, and lenticulata can have some of the most 'tude out of all of them.

Geos with Crenicichla CAN work, but it involes a lot of hit and miss, and there is potential your Geos are never going to reach their full potential. You just have to pay attention to the fish, and make smart choices. Saxatilis group and Dwarfs work fantastic for sure, Lugubris can be tricky.

 

[illumnae]

I had juvenile geos with my small-ish johanna and atabapo IIs. I think the pikes didn't view the geos as a threat so there was no aggression, however as the johanna grew it started locking lips excessively with my 6-8" UFY. The UFY could look after themselves and the pike was still young, but I promptly removed the pikes to prevent future issues.