Gymnogeophagus sp. 'Norte' arent too shabby looking either. There are far too many of these things I like.
What is the smallest eartheater
- Thread starter Timthedrifter
- Start date
Bolivians seem to do it more than blue rams, but not all eartheaters sift sand. But they do have the gill modification that allows them to ... which makes it odd that they don't since they are evolved too.
yeah my blue rams rarely mess with the sand but the bolivians are constantly, when they arent chasing each other around (need to weed out some of the males)
Now to really mess with you ... Retroculus aren't Geophagine!!!! Kullander published DNA testing that showed they are Geophagine at all and indeed are closer to 'base-line' cichlasomines like port cichlids and Smiling Acaras. 
But I wouldn't care, they look like Satanoperca and they sift sand, that's good enough for me!!
And you are also missing (techincally) Apistogramma, Apisogrammoides, and Biotoecus.
But I wouldn't care, they look like Satanoperca and they sift sand, that's good enough for me!!
And you are also missing (techincally) Apistogramma, Apisogrammoides, and Biotoecus.
But they sift sand like crazy and look really cool 
. Speaking of which, they stay relatively small right? See if you can find one Tim 
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And what about Taeniacara?
. Speaking of which, they stay relatively small right? See if you can find one Tim .And what about Taeniacara?
I think they get 8-9" if I remember right, not many ask about them!
And Taeniacara was an acara subfamily, not Geophagine much like Guinacara was. But Kullander, after first moving Guinacara out of the Geophagine and putting them in Acara, has now with DNA reversed this and they are back in Geophagine. I haven't seen any studies on Taeniacara DNA yet, but they weren't listed in a recent work up combining and reassigning various cichlasomines and acaras.
And Taeniacara was an acara subfamily, not Geophagine much like Guinacara was. But Kullander, after first moving Guinacara out of the Geophagine and putting them in Acara, has now with DNA reversed this and they are back in Geophagine. I haven't seen any studies on Taeniacara DNA yet, but they weren't listed in a recent work up combining and reassigning various cichlasomines and acaras.
When I said Rams I meant Bolivian rams, Basically Microgeophagus are recognised as Mini Eartheater as they share many anatomical simularities. Microgeophagus ramerezi were originally placed in the genus Apistogramma untill they were observed cleaning a rock for spawning and moving sand. It was then they were placed in Microgeophagus/earth eaters genera as they share more common traits with geo's and Microgeos then with other dwarf new world cichlids. Apistogramma are Cavespawners and not in any way Eartheaters , Anatomically they have different gills. Bolivian rams Microgeophagus altispinosus in the right setup actively sift sand, but only if they dont feel exposed in the aquascape and the sand is fine enough. Microgeophagus is also spelled Mikrogoephagus.
