Split off - Earth eater disccussions

[nvcichlids]

Hey, would you be willing to post pictures of your Geos you have. You have some species I am not overly familiar with (trying to get for my 180 gallon show tank)

[Mod edit: Split this topic off from the L204 for sale topic --Mats]

[retroculus]

no probs

Guinacara geayi(left) & Guianacara sphenzona(right)


Geophagus taeniopareius



i will added some more latter on

regards

tom

[retroculus]

biotodoma warvini




all 3 fish are no rgrowing bigger than 5-6 inches,guianacara & biotodma are quite placid fish,so very good for comunity tanks.

rest fish which i had listed below are growing over 7 inches,some of them even 1ft or slightly larger

but most of them is quite placid,so is no problem to keep them in comunity tanks,but satnopercas,A.hecklii & retroculus xinguensis required tanks over 100 uk gals,so make sure youm provide them enough space.

if you need any more pictures,let me know.

good luck

tom

[nvcichlids]

I absolutely LOVE the fish, and the retroculus xinguensis are simply unheard of here in the states. I am thinking (if I could find them) of getting some of the r. xinguensis and the Guinacara geayi (which are available from time to time.) I have a 180 gallon show tank for earth eaters.

[Martin S]

no probs

Guinacara geayi(left) & Guianacara sphenzona(right)


Geophagus taeniopareius



i will added some more latter on

regards

tom

Sorry to stay off topic with this, bu can anyone tell me what these are like to keep - are they disruptive with the base/plants? I know they are called earth eaters, but having never kept them am not sure if they will be suitable.
Thanks
Martin
Thanks

[MatsP]

I have Satanoperca leucosticta in my indoors tank, and a few G. surinamensis (or at least that's what they were sold as) in one of my fishroom tanks. Neither have caused any problem with plants. However, there are earth-eaters that do "constructional digging" - someone had a Geophagus sp. that would dig out every plant in the tank - can't remember it's species name right now.

S. leucosticta is often available in the LFS under the label G. jurupari.

--
Mats

[Martin S]

Thanks Mats - think I'll give them a miss then.
Martin

[MatsP]

Thanks Mats - think I'll give them a miss then.
Martin

I wouldn't go as far as that - most earth-eater species are perfectly fine in planted tanks.

--
Mats

[nvcichlids]

Martin, I have never had problems with eartheaters digging up plants. My Gymnogeophagus balzanii and gymnogeophagus sp el norte's do not disturb plants, and the tapajos do not either ( and everyone I have heard from say they do, ppppsh, whatever I highly doubt what they say.) If you want to try an eartheater sp that is smaller and LOVES completely planted tanks, try the microgeophagus ramerzii (Blue Ram) or the altospinosa (bolivian ram.) They are great smaller planted tank fish, have great color, and are still considered earth eaters.

[Marc van Arc]

Martin,
Ime all bottom orientated cichlids are going to clash with catfishes sooner or later, even gentle fish like earth eaters. I've tried this combi (too) often.

[grokefish]

Wanna breed eartheters feed them this.



I will garuntee if everything else is correct, ph, temp etc this will trigger them to spawn.

Matt

[nvcichlids]

I have actually found something better, (IMO). I got some 4 month old Gymnogeophagus sp El Norte to breed successfully. I would be willing to suggest the food if you would like via PMs only.

[Martin S]

Martin,
Ime all bottom orientated c*****ds are going to clash with catfishes sooner or later, even gentle fish like earth eaters. I've tried this combi (too) often.

Thanks Marc - I had already decided against them anyway, but it just confirms that i will have to keep looking...
Thanks again
Martin

[Marc van Arc]

it just confirms that i will have to keep looking...

In order to avoid a silly question - what are you looking for - : what set up (in general) are you interested in?

[Martin S]

Marc
I guess I want some movement during daylight hours - what I have now I can live with, but the wife would like to look at the tank and not just see plants and the 'dead fish' (T.wallacei). I understand her comments, and she also does not understand why I keep the 'dead fish' when it eats everything - not quite true, but again, I see her point.
It's difficult to find any Tetras large enough to not end up as dinner (as I found out with 2 of the 3 columbians, which I thought would be OK ).
I have little problems with growing plants, especially vallis and java moss (both of which need a good haircut at the moment), so whatever fish, they would need to be happy in a planted tank and not destructive. I would also like something that will add a bit of colour too, but that's something I could live without as long as the movement was there.
Martin

[Marc van Arc]

I guess I want some movement during daylight hours - what I have now I can live with, but the wife would like to look at the tank and not just see plants and the 'dead fish' (T.wallacei). I understand her comments, and she also does not understand why I keep the 'dead fish' when it eats everything - not quite true, but again, I see her point.

Sure you're not talking about my wife?
I'll come back to this later on; pls allow me some time. Have to make the wife happy by go shopping with her now.

[Richard B]

I guess I want some movement during daylight hours - what I have now I can live with, but the wife would like to look at the tank and not just see plants and the 'dead fish' (T.wallacei). I understand her comments, and she also does not understand why I keep the 'dead fish' when it eats everything - not quite true, but again, I see her point.

Sure you're not talking about my wife?
I'll come back to this later on; pls allow me some time. Have to make the wife happy by go shopping with her now.

Or my girlfriend??? (Actually probably 99% of contributors other halves )

Wharf had some "eartheaters" that i'd not come across ever last week & i really fancied them, just no tankspace. They were well-priced too but cannot remember the name.....

Edit: something similar to Guianacara sp. "Rio Caroni"

[MatsP]

I'm sure that there are several factors involved in mixing eartheaters with plants and catfish, but I can't really say I have any problems with keeping Satanoperca with several catfish species - Ancistrus cf_cirrhosus, Corydoras sterbai, C. similis, Brochis splendens, Megalechis thoracata and Synodontis decora are in the same tank as my Satanoperca leucosticta. I have another tank with Geophagus surinamensis (that was the label on the tank, but Weidner in the "Southamerican Eartheaters" say most of the ones sold as this are actually something else) with Ancistrus cf_cirrhosus, Corydoras sterbai and my three Banjo cats (that I don't remember the species of).

Neither of these show any problems, and there are plants in both tanks.

--
Mats

[Marc van Arc]

Mats,
All your species (except for the banjos) are able to evade the cichlids by swimming away. The banjos could dive into the bottom. I have encountered 2 major problems regarding the combination of my(*) catfishes and bottom orientated cichlids:
- Auchenipterids in general are very defenceless and motionless, especially during day time. Cichlids are very curious and clever, especially during day time..... which is asking for trouble.
- When cichlids are in a spawning mood, the whole area is being cleared from anything, even Auchenipteridae.
The result is that a whole bunch of normally peaceful catfishes are fighting their heads off in order to occupy the one or two remaining hide outs that the cichlids apparently do not need to keep their offspring happy.
It is therefore that I warned Martin - being an auchenipterid fan like myself - about the consequences of this combination.

However, I could have made clearer that I was talking about my kind of catfishes and that my observations don't go for all catfishes in general.

[MatsP]

Marc,

Thanks for the clarification. And I agree that there is a difference between different catfish, and between different species of cichlids.

--
Mats

[Marc van Arc]

I guess I want some movement during daylight hours.
It's difficult to find any Tetras large enough to not end up as dinner

Martin,
As said before I'm most willing to help out, yet as I don't know what's obtainable in the UK atm I would like you to come up with potential assets for your tank. Surely I don't know everything, but I've been around the last 30 odd years. And of course I'm not the only one here
So pls come up with some names of fishes you (and your wife) like and we'll see if they might fit your tank or not. No matter how long it'll take.
Hope to hear from you soon.

[Martin S]

Hi Marc
Actually, I'm really not really fussed to be honest - it must be South American in origin, which was why I wouldn't have minded some large tetra-type fish - looking at the ideas you gave me before (Poptella etc), apart from their obvious lack of colour, as long as they are active, don't eat the plants, and don't overcompete for food, I'd take pretty much anything! Biggest issue is that most fish that can be big enough are only ever small - not sure where the columbians came from but they were unusually large which was why i jumped at them.
As you say, I don't know either what's available in the UK, but working part-time at my LFS gives me the option to try and order in stuff if available. I can't help but wonder if a visit to NHA might give me some ideas...
I think I should do some legwork first, so maybe I'll try ot organise a few days out to other LFS's and see if any of them have anything that looks promising, and report back.
Thanks again for you continued help.
Martin

[MatsP]

How large were your Columbian tetras. I have found mine to grow quite quickly in my large tank, and I have some that are at least 1" tall body and a good 2" long (TL). I could let you have some of my big ones, if you like.

--
Mats

[Martin S]

Mats
The one remaining specimen is a good 2", and about 1" deep, so I guess fully grown - the two smaller ones didn't last more than three days, so didn't get a chance to grow!
That's a very kind offer - thankyou. I may very well take you up on it.
Martin

[Carp37]

missed this post- my geos are:


the parents of this geo were sold by Wharf as Geophagus iporangensis, which is supposed to stay <100mm SL, but he's over 5.25" SL so I suspect that either he's very well-fed or really another member of the brasiliensis complex. The females seem to stay very small though (from <3-3.5" SL, which might not sound like much smaller but is in terms of weight). I'd not recommend them with "defenceless" cats either as they've got rather a lot of "character"- fine with hoplos/Callichthys/plecs but a bit feisty with anything that won't move.

[nvcichlids]

Hey Martin, what about the Keyhole cichlids? I have mine currently in with my cent. perugiae's and there is no issue what so ever. They are very docile and quite cichlids. I would also think that German Blue Rams would be fine, as they are pushovers against ANY fish I have tried to keep them with. Another possibility would be some of the dwarf pikes, they would eat the same food and stay small enough to not over compete for food.

Have you thought about hatchetfish? I saw some at my LFS that were 3.5" long and nearly 1.5" top to bottom.

I guess if you wanted color, uniqueness and laxed behavior, try the Biotoecus species of cichlids. I was trying to get some Biotoecus opercularis from a place called Atlantis (www.cichlids.net) but my LFS ordered from them before I could place my order, so I am out of luck for now. The only issue with these are that they may be too small (not sure about the T.wallaci's eating habits(sorry that was spelt wrong) but they could fit the bill.

Hope some of this may help.

[Martin S]

Hi
It's not the perugiae tank they are for, but thanks. I have cardinals and x-ray tetras in with my perugiae and sp2, but I'm having some problems finding fish large enough (but peaceful) to not end up as dinner (or dessert ) for my

Tetranematichthys wallacei

!
Biggest problem is finding fish large enough - most of them arrive at LFS small, and you don't often see them for sale fully grown.
Thanks again
Martin

[Shaun]

Nice pics. A few Geo sp are available here, but not really any of the "special" ones...Biotodoma, Guinacara etc
Shaun

[nvcichlids]

Nice pics. A few Geo sp are available here, but not really any of the "special" ones...Biotodoma, Guinacara etc
Shaun

Hey Shaun, I have a friend in Aust. that breeds rare geos. He has Geophagus Tapajos, A. Heckliee (that was spelt wrong.) and he just got a new species that is pretty rare. If you used the cich lids.com website, his name is Earth Eater (Keith). Would be worth checking into it if you really wanted some wild species.

[Shaun]

Thanks for that, I'll check it out. A few species are quite common here, but most are hard to find...
Shaun