Geophagus Surinamensis

[nc_nutcase]

Just because it is inexpensive to purchase... doesn't devalue the life of the animal.

To be honest I dislike the belittling of the fish’s life far more than I dislike the way you keep them. If you want to feed your fish dog food, that's up to you. I am glad Lucky and others spoke up to discourage it as a 'common practice'. If someone wishes to do this as an experiment of sorts that's one thing, but it wouldn't be good for a newer person to read this and think that dog food is an equal replacement for cichlid pellets.

I'll hand it to ya, the tanks look cool. If that is all your after than consider yourself a success. If the welfare of your "pets" are of a concern, you may want to expand your aquariums or reduce your stock.

Side Note: To purchase 30 fish at once and have 8 die isn't shocking at all (which they probably died due to toxins if they were added all at once, which is avoidable aka poor fish keeping). The fact the 22 that survived the first couple weeks continued to grow and survive shows some credit to the way they are housed/kept. Now the true test will come when you see if their housing/keeping decreases their overall lifespan. Unfortunately this is often the only way we can see how well we've done. Many fish will survive less than acceptable standards for a period of time then apparently die of old age, when in fact poor housing/keeping has shaved 30% or more off their lives. Sort of like second hand smoke, no one dies of it immediately, but it takes it's toll in the long run.

 

[lucky62]

Is there someone in some kind of authority here to make sure over stocking and inappropriate feeding practices like this aren't misleading the people new to fish keeping .[ I'm just a plain old member ].

I've been keeping fish since the early 1970s never feed my fish , dog or cat food , but have been guilty of grossly overstocking tanks [ not anymore ].


And yes the tank does look good now , many of the fish will not reach maturity in such a crowded tank


A setup like this may work for African Lake cichlids [ I don't keep them ], but New Worlds need a good deal of room for safe , healthy lives .

 

[Ben]

you sure you never bought them from a actual lfs supplier not a lfs ari?

Geos are awesome fish, like a big bolivian ram with more personality

DD

 

[freddyk]

Overstocking isn't wrong, it's just pointless. You can stuff as many fish as you want in the tank, and as long as you can keep up with the maintenance more power to you. The thing is, most new world type cichlids need room for territories you want any sort of natural behavior out of them. Some people are happy with a ton of fish floating around a tank, but unless it's a fish store, it's pretty lame.

I just want to say that I don't feel Geophagus is a very good tankmate for a stingray. Both of these are exteme bottom dwellers, and it would be less stressful for both of them if a mid dwelling cichlid was chosen instead. Using all areas of the tank is a large part of compatability with fish.

 

[Big Rob]

Well, thanks for all the advice, peeps. I guess I'll stay away from them for now, maybe I'll do them in my next tank.

I had thought that a Black Ghost Knife and a few quality angels would look great with the two rays anyhow.....

 

[ari]

you sure you never bought them from a actual lfs supplier not a lfs ari?

Geos are awesome fish, like a big bolivian ram with more personality

DD

this is how fishes are sold from where i come ...

10 juv vieja Bifas for Tbaht100..3USD for the whole lot

firemouths ...20 for Tbaht160...USD4.50...try beating this price
either u take the whole pack or u dont take any at all, they wont sell in ones or twos

 

[ari]

i did what did, so who is there to tell me what i did was wrong? nor did i told anyone at gunpoint they must feed their fishes with dog or cat food! at no time did i susgest u must do what i did....did i?
talking about misleading...im sure people who turn up in this forum can jugde for themselves what is good or not for their fishes.

i know all about overcrowding ...those fish are young fishes ..its like a nusery tank . when they get bigger, i will decide if i should want to keep them ..if i do ...i will set up their tanks..and if i dont ...they will be feed to my giant catfishes. my adult fishes have plenty ..and i do mean plenty of room to carry on with their business.

plenty of room to cruise

synspilus breeding tank ...3 females , 1 male

 

[Paul_MTS]

loving your set ups ari.

i'ved heard of that kind of selling before somewhere, hadn't actually seen it though.

so 8 out 30 when the fish have been bagged up in a shop for a while waiting to be bought then travel to there new home is pretty good going. A mate imported 15 asian arowana and had 3 DOA and this was partically expected.

maybe the feeding is not a diserable thing to do but if there breeding on dog food then there must be something he's doing right.

Big Rob, don't be discouraged from these comments, they will make excellent tank mates for your ray(s). Buy a group of 3-4 and you will be fine.

here's a snap of 1 of mine with extra blur effect!!

even from that you can work out the brilliant colours in this 3" fish, unless the geo's at your LFS are under 1.5" then your ray shouldn't be interested depdnding on how big your ray is.

 

[Dwarfs]

Well to bring this back onto the topic of surinam geos...
Here's my 5" surinam (Flash killed the colors, but it is just as colorful as Paul's)

 

[ari]

yup..kill the flash . too much would make the photo blur
the reason why fishes are sold that way here is because the breeders need to get rid of their stock fast. there are over 500 fish breeding farms in thailand alone. majority of these farms are breeding on a large scale. most will be exported and the surplus are sold locally at a give away price.
juvenile cichlids in those farms are kept in big shallow concrete pools...thousands of them.surely u dont expect those juvenile to be feed with Hikari Gold Cichlid pellets...the farms will go bust if they do that. a pack of hungry young fishes will eat anything that resembles food.
i got the idea of dog pellets from a farm belonging to a friend of mine. his rottweiler wasnt in the mood to eat , so he threw those uneaten pellets into his cichlid pool...whoooosh..its gone in seconds.
farms need to get their juveniles to grow quickly...they longer they stay in the farm, the less profitable they are....considering the amount of food they need.
and back to topic about geophagus...here are photos of my latest collection. still in their 3x1.5x1.5 hold tank. their new home a 7x2x2 is in the process

nope ...these 2.5 inch juveniles are not sold in pack of 10 or 20. they are a bit more expensive.

 

[sevs]

I apologize for tanking this off topic and didn't mean to start such a debate about the morals of fish keeping. I'm sorry ari, I didn't mean to insult you in anyway just hearing that 30 fish added a week sounded so strange because I've always heard that 4-5 fish a week is pushing it but then again I've never seen a tank as big as your own outside of a public aquarium. I should just keep my mouth shut even if something sounds a little questionable like feeding fish dog food.

 

[freddyk]

Sevs, I feel it's important to say something as well, because those kinds of posts can be misleading to beginners. Cheers.

 

[lucky62]

Sevs, I feel it's important to say something as well, because those kinds of posts can be misleading to beginners. Cheers.

Exactly , and Sevs you shouldn't feel bad , I made the first dog food comment , and I don't .

Beginners can easily be mislead , is my point as well ....that's it ......done .


Good luck Big Rob .