I've maintained Geos of various types for the last 4 years. Time for a change. You won't be disappointed in your tank though. If I ever get a 300+ and want something that will be low maintenance and low drama, I'm gonna do exactly what you're doing!
Adding new fish to my 330 gallon
- Thread starter Fishnthehood
- Start date
Added some wild Angels, 3 more double spot Acara and 4 more baby geos.
Yes. Always. Only twice had a problem... I had 7 adult Red Head Tapajos and in kept them in a tank that had Panda Cories. You know , the little ones? Get maybe an inch tops....
Anyhow, what I believe happened was the Geos were spawning, as they are apt to do, and I think one of the cories wandered into their "no fly zone". Anyhow, the big male sucked up the corie. Cories pectoral spines lodged in the Geos mouth. It was stuck. I saw this in the morning as I was running out the door late for work. I got home and the corie was still there. I opened the lid to stick in the net and the Geo swam straight to the surface... I thought "what the hell" and out my hand in the tank. He swam into my hand.
No lie.
I pulled him out. The corie was dead, but I couldn't get it dislodged. I had to grab some needle nose pliers and twist the little bugger out.
Dropped the geo back in the tank - didn't know if he would make it since I had hi out of ten water at least 3 minutes, closer to 5.
Anyhow he swam right back down to the female and resumed tending the spawn.
My wife was there when I got home and performed this extraction. To this day she wonders why I ever got rid of the fish "that used to ket you catch them with your bare hands".
Anyhow, same group of fish, but different male geo (and different corie, obviously - but same species) it happened again. Only this time the male didn't make it. He was a bigger male and got the corie further down his throat. I didn't know what it was. I thought he was holding fry so never tended to it. Found him floating a few days later. It was inky when I was examining his corpse that I saw the end of a caudal fin in the back of his throat.
After that day I got rid of the panda cories and switched to sterbais. Had them with Tapajos and now Winemilleri for maybe 18 to 20 months without any problems.
Anyhow, what I believe happened was the Geos were spawning, as they are apt to do, and I think one of the cories wandered into their "no fly zone". Anyhow, the big male sucked up the corie. Cories pectoral spines lodged in the Geos mouth. It was stuck. I saw this in the morning as I was running out the door late for work. I got home and the corie was still there. I opened the lid to stick in the net and the Geo swam straight to the surface... I thought "what the hell" and out my hand in the tank. He swam into my hand.
No lie.
I pulled him out. The corie was dead, but I couldn't get it dislodged. I had to grab some needle nose pliers and twist the little bugger out.
Dropped the geo back in the tank - didn't know if he would make it since I had hi out of ten water at least 3 minutes, closer to 5.
Anyhow he swam right back down to the female and resumed tending the spawn.
My wife was there when I got home and performed this extraction. To this day she wonders why I ever got rid of the fish "that used to ket you catch them with your bare hands".
Anyhow, same group of fish, but different male geo (and different corie, obviously - but same species) it happened again. Only this time the male didn't make it. He was a bigger male and got the corie further down his throat. I didn't know what it was. I thought he was holding fry so never tended to it. Found him floating a few days later. It was inky when I was examining his corpse that I saw the end of a caudal fin in the back of his throat.
After that day I got rid of the panda cories and switched to sterbais. Had them with Tapajos and now Winemilleri for maybe 18 to 20 months without any problems.
I officially hate this damn iPad. I can hardly make out what I wrote in that long post, and I'm the one who wrote it.
Wish I could edit.
Coles notes: Cories and Geos are usually okay, but don't use dwarf cories. I had two "incidents" with dwarf cories that cost me 3 fish all together... I don't think my Geos were preying on them. I think cories are pretty dumb fish and it didn't have the good sense to stay away from spawning cichlids more than 100x it's size. Geos on the other hand are smart - damn thing practically jumped into my hands to let me pull a corie from its mouth, thus saving its life.
Wish I could edit.
Coles notes: Cories and Geos are usually okay, but don't use dwarf cories. I had two "incidents" with dwarf cories that cost me 3 fish all together... I don't think my Geos were preying on them. I think cories are pretty dumb fish and it didn't have the good sense to stay away from spawning cichlids more than 100x it's size. Geos on the other hand are smart - damn thing practically jumped into my hands to let me pull a corie from its mouth, thus saving its life.
Man the joys of fishkeeping for real .... I was thinking of going with Cories over 1 inch ... On another note someone needs to do an animated series based on stories like these.
I'm going to try and trade my sterbais for some Brochis Splendens, also known as Emerald Catfish (when I get my GT's). These would be a great choice for Geos as well because they grow large and you'd never run the risk of the issue I had with dwarf panda cories.
I'm going to have to look for them locally, The Wet Spot doesn't carry them as of now.
