New tank, looking for recommendations on geophagus

[Sonofthunder]

Just picked this up used today. 125 gallon tall. I’ve always wanted to try a group of geophagus. I’d like to include a school of tetras (probably Colombian) and maybe one or two other large cichlids to keep things interesting (maybe severum or angel fish). Have any ideas for me?

For now I’m testing for leaks and trying to convince my wife that it will go well in the living room. (Otherwise it’s going in the basement).

I live in St Louis, so I’ll start looking for some interesting driftwood as our floodwaters recede!

 

[tlindsey]

Just picked this up used today. 125 gallon tall. I’ve always wanted to try a group of geophagus. I’d like to include a school of tetras (probably Colombian) and maybe one or two other large cichlids to keep things interesting (maybe severum or angel fish). Have any ideas for me?

For now I’m testing for leaks and trying to convince my wife that it will go well in the living room. (Otherwise it’s going in the basement).

I live in St Louis, so I’ll start looking for some interesting driftwood as our floodwaters recede!

View attachment 1377590

A group of Geophagus Redhead Tapajos would look nice with the Columbian Tetra. I personally would go with one Severum.

 

[Charles E Washington]

Nice looking piece......

 

[Ogertron3000]

I'd go for the red heads too, I had them with Colombian tetras and it all went well. For the other cichlids I had electric blue acaras, again with no hassles. If I did the same tank again I probably would switch the EBAs for the natural type.
Good luck convincing your wife to put it in the living room, I am having a similar problem myself.

 

[duanes]

To me, my choices of the type Geophagines to get, would be based on the normal St Louis tap water quality parameters.
So I googled the local water quality report to see.
Based on some of the normal water parameters i see below like high pH, alkalinity, and other mineral content, some of low pH, sensitive soft water loving species, would seem to be a less than stellar choice, of course there are other more robust species available from northern S America.
But if it were me, the less forgiving would be those I'd stay away from.
Species from west of the Andes would be a good fit, especially since you are suggesting Colombian tetras, the Colombian Geophagine pellegrini would be a good choice.
Also the Geophagines from southern Brazil where waters are more alkaline, like those of the Braziliensus group, or of the Gymnogeophagines of Uruguay and Argentina would also do well in St Louis water, although if I chose those, Buenos Aires tetras might be more apropos, if you wanted to be geographically correct.

Department of Public Utilities 1640 S ... - City of St. Louis Water Divisionwww.stlwater.com/ccr.pdf
Other apropos cichlids might be the Central American versions of Geophagus, like earth eaters Cribroheros, and Thorichthys, these also work well in shoals.
Cribroheros rostratus below

 

[Jamie H]

I like redhead tapajos. I currently have a tank with them, Congo tetras and a couple severums.

 

[twentyleagues]

Alot of red heads and quite a few other geos are captive bred now so I dont think water type is so much an issue with those. I do have a couple a red head and a heckelli my water is pretty hard with a 7.4 to 7.8 ph they both do stellar. I also have a 50lb bag of crushed coral distributed to keep up on with demands from all the anubias, aponogeton, and cryptocorns. When you get a really good growth on aponogeton they eat calcium, magnesium and phosphorus right up as do anubias. So they use up the ions that allow higher kh and that allows the acid creating effects of the biological filter to erode the gh resulting in lower ph.
Why did I just add all that....? Well if you have harder water there are "natural" ways to help drop the hardness and there for effectivly keep softer water fish in more appropriate environments. But I think overall as long as water quality is good and you acclimate the fish properly it will be fine.

 

[duanes]

Checking the St Louis water quality report, the average pH, is about 9.
So to me, although a few decades of captive breeding might help, the millions of years of evolution in pH 6 or less might be a more important factor in some of the Amazonian Geophagines.
Although a pH of around 9 might not be acutely letha a few months down the roadl, chronic diseases might be the end result, so just when an aquarist is expecting the individual to look good as an adult, diseases like HLLE or some of the more insidious ailments may start to arise.
Sure liking one species another is a factor, but tailoring the fish to your natural conditions seems to me, more reasonable.
I've always wanted Uaru fernandezyepezi, but with my water, keeping them would be have been like Sisyphus trying to push that boulder up a hill.

 

[adamsfishes]

I personally like geophagus pellegrini. Cool looking fish. Also, I wouldn't run any eartheaters unless I was using sand as the substrate. Not sure if that's your plan.

Look how pretty this one is:

 

[Sonofthunder]

Thanks for the thoughts here. Still working on the setup so I'm a ways away from actually getting fish. Looks like the tank will live in the basement...oh well, less algae growth I suppose. Tonight I'll be finishing up slate tile background and I plan to use pool filter sand as the substrate. I've checked some local shops and it looks like I can get red head tapajos pretty easily, but geo brasiliensis are a lot cheaper. I might go that route just for the cost factor. Anyone have thoughts on which is hardier?