New 300G South American Cichlid Advice

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
aquaticeye said:
That's an awesome looking fish! Thank you!

May I ask what bottom dwellers you have in your 220G?

And how many eartheaters of a certain species do you think would be minimum to have an ideal population.
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Well, so that is kind of a toss up. Most of the Geo keepers on here don't have Geos that care to school. They all either pair up or do their own thing. My Geos on the other hand, all group together, eat together, and follow each other around the tank. This also depends on the type you pick. Geos are easily my favorite cichlid type, they are entertaining, hardy, and I am not stressed out all the time over who is beating up who and who needs to be separated. The numbers I always seem to come across suggest 5-8, but I don't like odd numbers of fish and I didn't want 6, so I ended up with 4 of each instead. But there isn't really an absolute number. For months I only had 2 Abalios and the tetras in the tank. They were fine like that, they do seem to enjoy having more friends now.

My current stocking was based heavily on the Geos being the main focus of the tank. I had more planned, but decided to go stingray instead, so I dialed it back and removed my order for additional Geos.

I currently have:
4x G. Abalios
4x G. Dicrozoster
10x Hyphessobrycon anisitsi (Buenos Aires Tetras)
3x Giant Danios

The Danios are kind of an oddball fish. I bought them first to cycle a tank months ago, but didn't have the heart to get rid of them. They are very entertaining fish, as are the Buenos Aires Tetras. If you haven't thought of BA tetras, might look into them. These guys are feisty little SOBs that compliment the aquarium well. I have not had any issues with fin nipping yet, but everyone stays well fed and enough space to spread out that I haven't had any issues with it.
 
BMac91 said:
Well, so that is kind of a toss up. Most of the Geo keepers on here don't have Geos that care to school. They all either pair up or do their own thing. My Geos on the other hand, all group together, eat together, and follow each other around the tank. This also depends on the type you pick. Geos are easily my favorite cichlid type, they are entertaining, hardy, and I am not stressed out all the time over who is beating up who and who needs to be separated. The numbers I always seem to come across suggest 5-8, but I don't like odd numbers of fish and I didn't want 6, so I ended up with 4 of each instead. But there isn't really an absolute number. For months I only had 2 Abalios and the tetras in the tank. They were fine like that, they do seem to enjoy having more friends now.

My current stocking was based heavily on the Geos being the main focus of the tank. I had more planned, but decided to go stingray instead, so I dialed it back and removed my order for additional Geos.

I currently have:
4x G. Abalios
4x G. Dicrozoster
10x Hyphessobrycon anisitsi (Buenos Aires Tetras)
3x Giant Danios

The Danios are kind of an oddball fish. I bought them first to cycle a tank months ago, but didn't have the heart to get rid of them. They are very entertaining fish, as are the Buenos Aires Tetras. If you haven't thought of BA tetras, might look into them. These guys are feisty little SOBs that compliment the aquarium well. I have not had any issues with fin nipping yet, but everyone stays well fed and enough space to spread out that I haven't had any issues with it.
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i'd love to see pix of both Geo species......we have been trying to figure out what mine is for a while now....narrowed down to 1 of those 2
 
BMac91 said:
Well, so that is kind of a toss up. Most of the Geo keepers on here don't have Geos that care to school. They all either pair up or do their own thing. My Geos on the other hand, all group together, eat together, and follow each other around the tank. This also depends on the type you pick. Geos are easily my favorite cichlid type, they are entertaining, hardy, and I am not stressed out all the time over who is beating up who and who needs to be separated. The numbers I always seem to come across suggest 5-8, but I don't like odd numbers of fish and I didn't want 6, so I ended up with 4 of each instead. But there isn't really an absolute number. For months I only had 2 Abalios and the tetras in the tank. They were fine like that, they do seem to enjoy having more friends now.

My current stocking was based heavily on the Geos being the main focus of the tank. I had more planned, but decided to go stingray instead, so I dialed it back and removed my order for additional Geos.

I currently have:
4x G. Abalios
4x G. Dicrozoster
10x Hyphessobrycon anisitsi (Buenos Aires Tetras)
3x Giant Danios

The Danios are kind of an oddball fish. I bought them first to cycle a tank months ago, but didn't have the heart to get rid of them. They are very entertaining fish, as are the Buenos Aires Tetras. If you haven't thought of BA tetras, might look into them. These guys are feisty little SOBs that compliment the aquarium well. I have not had any issues with fin nipping yet, but everyone stays well fed and enough space to spread out that I haven't had any issues with it.
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This is awesome info thanks so much. As an aside what ray are you planning on!

And also hilarious about the odd numbers thing.... I definitely relate haha.
 
Also, I realized I skipped the bottom dwellers question, my Geos are my bottom dwellers. I thought about a nice pleco, but after the Ray my stocking was completed.

So I already have the Ray, he is just in a 110 gal stock tank at the moment. He is a wild caught Peruvian p. Motoro so I was advised to treat for parasites, get acclimated to new and different types of food., etc.
 
Frank Castle said:
i'd love to see pix of both Geo species......we have been trying to figure out what mine is for a while now....narrowed down to 1 of those 2
Click to expand...
So, my Abalios are more of a neutral color with a dominant black spot on their side. My dicros are pretty young still, but they seem to always have a trace of their stripes showing up, they also have a small marking on their face that the Abalios do not have.

I can't get good pictures of the dicros, but my abalios look like this:

IMG_4086.JPG
 
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BMac91 said:
So, my Abalios are more of a neutral color with a dominant black spot on their side. My dicros are pretty young still, but they seem to always have a trace of their stripes showing up, they also have a small marking on their face that the Abalios do not have.

I can't get good pictures of the dicros, but my abalios look like this:

View attachment 1184118
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it LOOKS almost identical to mine, but I swear the spot is slightly further back, like when the pelvic fins are folded under it, the spot comes right to the tips of the pelvics, basically
 
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