Hi, so I am currently cycling a Red Sea reefer 140 gallon tank (60x25x24). I am upgrading from a 75 which currently has two small red spotted gold severums. In the new tank I want to add geophagus to the tank, my question is can I add just one or two of a couple different species of geophagus? I read that they like prefer to be in groups of 4+ but wasn’t sure if I could get like two balzanii geophagus and two red head geophagus and they would maybe group together? I’m mainly nervous about aggression in the tank. But if that even does work is that too many fish along with my severums in a 140 gallon tank? Thanks!
Keeping different geophagus species
- Thread starter Gabby101
- Start date
Those Red Sea tanks are very nice! Balzani prefer colder water than the red head geophagus. Also, the red heads do fine in groups until they pair off to breed and then they become pretty aggressive. I’ve had much better luck having a peaceful tank with geophagus sveni and heckelii.
Oh ok I must of missed where it said Balzani like colder water, I’ll skip out on those then. I just googled the sveni and heckelii breed and they are cool looking. How many of each did you have together?
I had 9 sveni and 6 Heckelli together but that won’t work in your 140 as the tank is too small.
Even when my sveni paired off and bred, it was very peaceful…only mildly territorial. My heckeli never bred so I wouldn’t know but they are extremely hard to breed so I doubt they’ll be a problem. You could get some regular and albino heckeli for more variety. Sveni are absolutely gorgeous and pics don’t do them justice
Even when my sveni paired off and bred, it was very peaceful…only mildly territorial. My heckeli never bred so I wouldn’t know but they are extremely hard to breed so I doubt they’ll be a problem. You could get some regular and albino heckeli for more variety. Sveni are absolutely gorgeous and pics don’t do them justice
S America is such a vast continent, it contains many climate and water type zones, so matching Geophagines does not always work from zone to zone.
Those species from Uruguay and Argentina do not exist in the same conditions are those from Manaus or Bogota, because the distane is further than the distance from Toronto to Miami, and conditions may be just as diverse, so one size does not fit all.
Warm, soft, low pH water parameters in the Guianas are radically different than harder, higher pH, and cool waters of Rio, just as are the shorter, cooler, alkaline riverine waters west of the Andes mountains, are different from warmer, waters in the Amazon river drainage.
Doing a little research before tossing random species together of the same genus would be recommended, as opposed to combining just because they look cool.
Be care of heckelli, I was warned my 6 ft tank was too small for heckelli once they matured, and found this to be the case after they started subtly killing each other as maturity started setting in at 3 years of age.
Those species from Uruguay and Argentina do not exist in the same conditions are those from Manaus or Bogota, because the distane is further than the distance from Toronto to Miami, and conditions may be just as diverse, so one size does not fit all.
Warm, soft, low pH water parameters in the Guianas are radically different than harder, higher pH, and cool waters of Rio, just as are the shorter, cooler, alkaline riverine waters west of the Andes mountains, are different from warmer, waters in the Amazon river drainage.
Doing a little research before tossing random species together of the same genus would be recommended, as opposed to combining just because they look cool.
Be care of heckelli, I was warned my 6 ft tank was too small for heckelli once they matured, and found this to be the case after they started subtly killing each other as maturity started setting in at 3 years of age.
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ok it sounds like I am just better off sticking to one geophagus species. Do you think 4 sveni would be fine in a 140 gallon tank with two severums?
A couple of things to your question, really. One is geos don't tend to form integrated groups of more than one species. In a large enough tank, more than one species of compatible temperament can be peaceful with each other, but it's not the same group interaction as within their own species. It's not like angelfish, for example, where you can mix different strains of scalare or scalare from different locations and it doesn't make much difference to them.
Another thing is geos like length in a tank, and in smaller numbers per species they're sometimes more territorial than social in my experience. In a longer tank it might not matter much, each group can have its own niche, but they're more likely to fuss with each other a bit with less length in a tank. Some of this depends on the specific species and gender mix.
Another thing is geos like length in a tank, and in smaller numbers per species they're sometimes more territorial than social in my experience. In a longer tank it might not matter much, each group can have its own niche, but they're more likely to fuss with each other a bit with less length in a tank. Some of this depends on the specific species and gender mix.
