Experience With Gymnogeophagus?

[sswm]

Does anyone have any experience keeping any type of these fish?

 

[minxfishy]

Ive had surinamensis (sp?) geos before, if that any help?

 

[duncs]

Gymnogeophagus are an entirely different genera of fish to standard Geophagus minxfishy

They live in significantly cooler waters.. from 21°C to 25°C, rather than the Geophagus "standard" of 27°C to 31°C. It's highly recommended to give this genera of fish an "overwinter" period where they're kept at 16 to 18°C. This helps simulate the waters in their natural habitats and can stimulate breeding.

I think there are.. 11? species of Gymnogeophagus, but don't quote me on that. You tend to only ever find one or two species in the shops however. One of the most common is Gymnogeophagus balzanii. We have a profile here that might be of some use to you.

There's an article about them in PFK this month I think, but I haven't got round to reading it yet. I presume it'll be well worth a read if you're interested though.

Feel free to send me a PM if you need any more help, I'll inevitably forget to view this thread again

 

[minxfishy]

fair enough, I saw the geophagus bit, the rest was alien

 

[sswm]

thanks for the info

how many do you think would be good for a 55 gallon tank? I was looking at Gymnogeophagus n. sp. norte (Ex-meridionalis)

 

[duncs]

They don't grow particularly large so I'd recommend getting a juvenile group of 6 to 8 and letting them pair off. Maybe construct two sets of territories at either end of the tank.

 

[sswm]

ok sounds good, what can I do plant wise since they like to dig?

 

[duncs]

They wouldn't really have any plants in their natural habitat.. stones, roots, possibly floating vegetation.