what kind of eartheater?

[devder1]

Excellent advice. The heckelii do seem to saty pretty much mid level in tanks. Steiny's are sort of all over the place and are tough little suckers so that might be a great combo. They are not aggressive, just hardy.

ok great thank you, can't beat hardy+attractive

 

[japes]

ok great thank you, can't beat hardy+attractive

They can be very con-specifically aggressive though, which ended up being the sole reason I sold mine. Be prepared to possibly need to sell some or all of them, although I imagine 6' might be just enough room for them to establish separate territories.

 

[devder1]

They can be very con-specifically aggressive though, which ended up being the sole reason I sold mine. Be prepared to possibly need to sell some or all of them, although I imagine 6' might be just enough room for them to establish separate territories.

Ok I'll think about that, I have a fair Amount of rock work so hopefully it's ok

 

[japes]

Ok I'll think about that, I have a fair Amount of rock work so hopefully it's ok

If you're keeping Eartheaters you're going to want to have as much open sand as you can get, mixed with driftwood and a few rocks here and there.

From my experience no amount of cover will stop the onslaught of an angry male Heckelii either. I ended up having fish cowering in the dark top corners of the tank. Mind you these were 6" sub-adults in a large 4 foot, so as I said 6 foot may provide -just- enough room.

 

[peathenster]

For some reason eartheaters don't seem to like to hide that much, so like Japes said, more rocks wouldn't necessarily help.

I grew out a group of 6 heckelii from 2", and sold them at 5" when I run out of room. They were in a 6' 220g, and hadn't shown any aggression yet. There weren't the dominant fish in the tank though.

A. heckelii does have a reputation to turn aggressive when they reach adulthood, but you should have enough time to spot the trouble makers and remove them as things progress.