My 3ft Geophagus altifrons tank

[iwishweallcouldwin]

Taking the leap from 'dwarf' apistogrammas to 'normal' sized Geophagus altifrons, I decided to give these entry level juveniles a try, and my they're lighting up my entire tank! Enjoy the pictures.

PS: Pardon the dirt particles, did a rescape to the tank and was too impatient to wait for the tank to settle down before taking the pictures.

Whack!


Super greedy fellas!


Gulp! You were supposed to share man...


See what see?


I love their sheen. Too bad I can't capture it well.


Tankmates:

Pterophyllum altum


Hyphessobrycon erythrostigma


Corydoras pulcher - the culprits responsible for the bulk of the flying dirt and sand particles


Full tank shot


Thanks for viewing! By the way, any idea where we can get nice eartheaters besides altifrons and orange heads in Singapore?

[Fingerling]

Nice setup bro, great selection choice of tankmates and love the C pulcher especially. Do i see a betta in the last pic?


Am also very interested to know if there are more unique and interesting eartheater species out there.

[iwishweallcouldwin]

Nice setup bro, great selection choice of tankmates and love the C pulcher especially. Do i see a betta in the last pic?


Am also very interested to know if there are more unique and interesting eartheater species out there.

Haha yeah that low grade DT is a gift from my brother's friend. It's totally off. But I can't bear to flush it down the toilet bowl so yeah, he'll just have to stay in that tank for now.

[illumnae]

Wow clint I love your tank! You're making me want to revamp my green discus tank into an eartheater one!

[psp1000]

eartheater tank is always nice, green tank look cool unless u got the time for it, else it will look more green :-)

[iwishweallcouldwin]

Thanks yi xiang, your tank is bigger than mine, more conducive for them

Thanks psp!

Any idea which lfs specialize in the rarer variants of the geophagus family? Seems like besides altifrons and red head tapajos, we seldom see other variants in our shores.

[Fingerling]

There's another species of geophagus variant carried by NKS - Geo Blazanii.
Maybe these fishes are seasonal, or there isnt really a demand for them here hence there arent alot of eartheaters species we could choose from.

[illumnae]

My biotope tank is 3ft too clint Currently housing green discus, L134 and baby eartheaters - biotodoma wavrini

[Morgan01]

is it typical for tank with lots of wood to have many floating particles? I am one who's experiencing this.

iwishweallcouldwin can share?

[iwishweallcouldwin]

There's another species of geophagus variant carried by NKS - Geo Blazanii.
Maybe these fishes are seasonal, or there isnt really a demand for them here hence there arent alot of eartheaters species we could choose from.

Thanks for the info! Wow they look like the oddballs of the family! Cool! Will drop NKS a message.

My biotope tank is 3ft too clint Currently housing green discus, L134 and baby eartheaters - biotodoma wavrini

Alamak, pictures please!

is it typical for tank with lots of wood to have many floating particles? I am one who's experiencing this.

iwishweallcouldwin can share?

Floating particles were present because I just did a rescape of the tank. After a while the water will clear up. But of course, with my corydoras team inside, I do see sand particles being stirred up once in a while, but not to the extend of constantly floating in midwater.

[stormhawk]

@iwishweallcouldwin:

Nice layout. Perhaps you can consider dropping in some ketapang leaves for more natural "feel" . Did you lay fine sand over the ADA? Africana? soil?

I used fine sand in my 1 footer housing my wilhelmi pair, and I love seeing them sift through the sand when rooting around for food. As for Geophagus, I think I used to see them at Gan's fish farm. Occasionally C328 has a bunch of eartheaters, but species, I'm not sure of, because I don't keep them.

[iwishweallcouldwin]

@iwishweallcouldwin:

Nice layout. Perhaps you can consider dropping in some ketapang leaves for more natural "feel" . Did you lay fine sand over the ADA? Africana? soil?

I used fine sand in my 1 footer housing my wilhelmi pair, and I love seeing them sift through the sand when rooting around for food. As for Geophagus, I think I used to see them at Gan's fish farm. Occasionally C328 has a bunch of eartheaters, but species, I'm not sure of, because I don't keep them.

Thanks stormhawk for your suggestion, yup I put river sand over africana.

[stormhawk]

You're welcome. I actually like seeing dead leaves over a sandy bottom.

I used to have a setup with fine sand at one area, then ADA Amazonia for the rest of the tank's substrate. Drove me mad at one point, because the rooting habits of my Corydoras at that time, made the ADA soil go over the top part of the sand section, and the sand slowly seeping into the bottom layer of the Amazonia section.

[iwishweallcouldwin]

You're welcome. I actually like seeing dead leaves over a sandy bottom.

I used to have a setup with fine sand at one area, then ADA Amazonia for the rest of the tank's substrate. Drove me mad at one point, because the rooting habits of my Corydoras at that time, made the ADA soil go over the top part of the sand section, and the sand slowly seeping into the bottom layer of the Amazonia section.

Oh yes, tell me about it. my sandy bottom is virtually gone haha. Would a leafy bottom be tough to maintain?

[stormhawk]

Just take notice of the rotting stage of the leaves. I usually fish the leaves out when they start to fall apart into smaller pieces. The leaves usually last a long time, if they're lighter colour. Takes awhile before those lighter coloured ketapang leaves begin to rot, so it should last for about a month or so before you have to change to new leaves. The darker brown ones / more drier ones will start to rot almost immediately once soaked in water.

I find the lighter leaves with the ketapang leaf shape still intact, do not leach as much tannins compared to the darker leaves.

[SCOPE]

Good try. these are very beautiful specimens and they breed readily. Hope to hear the good news soon.

[barmby]

Nice. Looks like a river. Natural. Easy maintenance. and prevent burn out..

[iwishweallcouldwin]

Just take notice of the rotting stage of the leaves. I usually fish the leaves out when they start to fall apart into smaller pieces. The leaves usually last a long time, if they're lighter colour. Takes awhile before those lighter coloured ketapang leaves begin to rot, so it should last for about a month or so before you have to change to new leaves. The darker brown ones / more drier ones will start to rot almost immediately once soaked in water.

I find the lighter leaves with the ketapang leaf shape still intact, do not leach as much tannins compared to the darker leaves.

Thanks for your suggestion. Maybe I would drop some ketapang leaves in to try try first.

Good try. these are very beautiful specimens and they breed readily. Hope to hear the good news soon.

Thanks Joe. They're still juveniles so I wouldn't count on them to breed so soon. Nonetheless I know that they have an incredible growth rate. Trying out an alternative to apistogrammas...

By the way, does anyone foresee any issue with placing apistogrammas and adult eartheaters in the same tank?

Nice. Looks like a river. Natural. Easy maintenance. and prevent burn out..

Thanks! I find myself sitting in front of my tank and just staring at my fishes more often these days... Not to mention feeding them more frequently as well...

[SCOPE]

Thanks Joe. They're still juveniles so I wouldn't count on them to breed so soon. Nonetheless I know that they have an incredible growth rate. Trying out an alternative to apistogrammas...

By the way, does anyone foresee any issue with placing apistogrammas and adult eartheaters in the same tank?



i used to put apistogrammas and adult EE together in the same tank.
adult apistogramma is definitely no problem....i only worry on the fries...they may be suck up by the EE

[iwishweallcouldwin]

Thanks for your advice Joe. Planning to transfer my Wilhelmi pair over. Not enough tanks already.