I'm setting up an 8ft 240g and trying to decide on stocking. I can get my hands on 6 or so G. cf. brasiliensis and I was wondering if anyone had any long-term tankmate suggestions for them, as I know they are more aggressive than your typical geo. I currently have 5 Heros sp 'Inirida' and 5 Archocentrus centrarchus and a group of Colombian tetras. All are 2ish years old but I'm not set that they have to live in the 240. I could keep the Heros and rehome the centrarchus and go with an SA tank or I can do a CA/SA mix but I am not open to mixing continents. Thoughts or advice? Thanks.
Geophagus cf. brasiliensis
- Thread starter FedEXguy
- Start date
the brasiliensis i had were always picking fights,i had heterspilus ,and a few others.most ofthe fish in the tank eventually got harrassed as the geo.br. grew.i would try to keep it SA.the only fish in my tank they left alone was the chocolates.if you get six,u will probably end up with a pair.depends on what u prefer, i like a mellow,busy tank.maybe an oscar could work as a tank boss,or other large growing SA,urau maybe? check out chocolates very cool fish
I agree with above.I kept these years ago.Beautiful fish when mature but very aggressive towards other cichlids.If determined to keep them I would make them the only cichlids.
Robust tetras and catfish tend to get left alone.
Also agree about chocolate cichlids,great fish,Big and peaceful.
Robust tetras and catfish tend to get left alone.
Also agree about chocolate cichlids,great fish,Big and peaceful.
I kept silver dollars with my brasiliensis and he got along with them pretty well. He would chase them when showing off but never caused any serious damage to them. 
I kept silver dollars with my brasiliensis and he got along with them pretty well. He would chase them when showing off but never caused any serious damage to them.
what does "cf.." mean??
From what I can see/experienced, a pair of Brasiliensis tolerate nothing if they are in courting. I was going to move the other cichlids in the tank but then I decided they would just see my catfish and bottomfeeders and whole tank as a threat to the fry so I moved the pair and left the rest of the tank instead. They are at 66F and dropping them from 78F to 66F stopped breeding but keeps them eating and growing since they would have bred at like 2-3" each otherwise...to me this seems perfectly logical for a fish that can live in full marine environments, as the ocean gets very cold at times. I am curious if they can survive even lower temperatures after this.
Not my words an cf but something I saved a while ago because I wondered the same.
"The use of cf. in a scientific name (for example Schistura cf. balteata - the loach pictured above) means that the person using the name is saying the fish should be compared to a given species, as it might not be exactly the same species."
"The use of cf. in a scientific name (for example Schistura cf. balteata - the loach pictured above) means that the person using the name is saying the fish should be compared to a given species, as it might not be exactly the same species."
The Geophagus braziliensus complex are from southern Brazil, Uruguay, and Argentina, these places are cooler than the equatorial regions of Amazonia and other northern areas where many of our bread and butter, truly tropical species come from.
I believe one of the reasons braziliensus are overly aggressive in many aquarists tanks, is they are kept too warm, which spurs aggression. When I kept them at room temp (no heater) they were much more manageable.
To me, proper tank mates would buenos aires tetras, and other fish of the cooler regions.
Mine actually did very well, and spawned in my outdoor pond in Milwaukee where temps barely hit 70'F.
Of course as stated above, when they are in spawning mode, no matter what the temp, nothing is safe.
I believe one of the reasons braziliensus are overly aggressive in many aquarists tanks, is they are kept too warm, which spurs aggression. When I kept them at room temp (no heater) they were much more manageable.
To me, proper tank mates would buenos aires tetras, and other fish of the cooler regions.
Mine actually did very well, and spawned in my outdoor pond in Milwaukee where temps barely hit 70'F.
Of course as stated above, when they are in spawning mode, no matter what the temp, nothing is safe.
It seems that brasiliensis is even more nasty than I had thought! Now I'm not so sure I want to keep them as the intention of this tank was to be more of a community than a single fish tank. I've never kept chocolates but my impression of them would be they were too docile to stand up to a brasiliensis? What about psittacus as a tank boss? Or go CA with a bocourti or pearsei or one of the meaner exVieja/Vieja? I don't typically do the really aggressive fish, so maybe I'm out of my depth, here.
that's not a Cuban, is it?The Geophagus braziliensus complex are from southern Brazil, Uruguay, and Argentina, these places are cooler than the equatorial regions of Amazonia and other northern areas where many of our bread and butter, truly tropical species come from.
I believe one of the reasons braziliensus are overly aggressive in many aquarists tanks, is they are kept too warm, which spurs aggression. When I kept them at room temp (no heater) they were much more manageable.
To me, proper tank mates would buenos aires tetras, and other fish of the cooler regions.
Mine actually did very well, and spawned in my outdoor pond in Milwaukee where temps barely hit 70'F.
Of course as stated above, when they are in spawning mode, no matter what the temp, nothing is safe.
You mean the ones the Geo iporanguesis are squaring off against?
It's a Madagascan, Paratilapia sp andapa.
It's a Madagascan, Paratilapia sp andapa.
