Cant Find Any Good Sources For T-Bars, But Might Be Able To Get Ahold

[Balloons&killies]

Hello everyone,


i was on littlefishcompany.com ,(its were my petland usually orders from,) And i was looking at some photos of fish they have (mostly cichlids) and they had geophagus Balzini, now i cant find any really good sources on them but could i have a male or female in a 55g>? i can see from there pics they get quite huge and the males are just stunning =O

 

[hamfist]

All geos do much better in a group. At least 3 minimum really. Ideally one male and two or three females. I'd say you could just about squeeze 4 in a 55G if they were the only bottom dwelling fish.
From what info I can find they can reach up to about 10" in the wild, but that will be the males of course. And also, fish in tanks rarely make quite as big a size as in the wild.

 

[minxfishy]

Ideally for such a large cichlid, you require a 75g for a group of them and as stated, Geophagus do better in groups, unless you are able to sex them before buying, which isnt easy in geophagus species, you will need 5-6 to get a pair and rehome the rest later on.

 

[Wills]

Hi - I kind of dont agree with Hamfist mainly because you cant group all geophagus into a group like that just because they vary in size and needs I would agree with 4 in a species tank if they were sp. Tapajo but the 10 inch Altifrons/Surinimensis types would just be too big.

Also the other thing needing to say is - These have been called Geophagus Balzanni which are actually a member of the Gymnogeophagus family so their proper name is Gymnogeophagus Balzanni. Now if these are the only fish in the tank the following is not a problem but these fish are not community fish as they have quite a special requirement.

In the wild these fish live in water which fluctuates greatly in temperature all year round In similar extremes to Brittish weather but a more constant warm in the summer. As a result these fish have developed a need to have a cooling period in the winter months. This is greatly needed and is not an optional kind of thing - the reason I can say this is because a friend of mine had a group that grew to adult sizes in about 14 months and they looked incredible truley stunning fish tons of colour loads of character and the males had a really good head growth eating fine and everything then when it got to 18 months of him having them they all died quite rapidly over the course of a week. And it was because he didnt drop the temperature if you browse through various other forum posts on this forum and others you will find other reports of similar stories.

So if you can give them a species tank and are able to do the cooling period over winter for them I would say go for it. You will be able to have tank mates but they will have to be carefully considered so that they will be able to handle the cooling period but there are plenty of fish that will be able to handle it as they are not alone in the water in the wild.

The G.Balzanii get to about 4-6 inches so not massive and would be great for comm tanks if it wasnt for the cooling period. They are also quite rare and interesting fish and you would not regret doing the specialist tank for them but if you would rather have a tank that you could mix without less complication maybe stay away from them.

Wills

 

[kaivalagi]

Nice post Wills, found this also: http/www.cichlid-f...us_balzanii.php

I'd say steer clear, just too demanding in my opinion, there are other good eartheater type fish available if you want that sort of thing.

But I have to say that 55g is not great for a nice sized group of 5 or more typical geo's, you really want 75 or higher. I have 5 geo red head tapajos in a 100g tank and that's just nice, any smaller and I think I'd see too much squabbling...mine are reaching maturity now, a couple of them are getting proper red/blue fin colouration and the space will definitely be warranted when all 5 reach this stage.

That said you could try and find smaller species and increase numbers to help, cupids would be great, not sure how many you could have in there, but I would guess atleast 8...

What would you prefer? south or central american cichlids? breeding pair or variety? small number of large or more of a smaller fish?

 

[minxfishy]

These have been called Geophagus Balzanni which are actually a member of the Gymnogeophagus family so their proper name is Gymnogeophagus Balzanni. Now if these are the only fish in the tank the following is not a problem but these fish are not community fish as they have quite a special requirement.


Wills

Thanks for that Wills, was unaware they were gymnogeophagus, in which case your points are more accurate than the point I made regarding larger sized geophagus

 

[star4]

Good point Wills, I have seen geophagus Balzini advertised, but they were Brazilliensis, which are completely different to the Balzini, these I wouldnt recommend as a group of one male to females as they breed worse than convicts I have experience on this one

 

[Wills]

Thanks guys no probs They are a really nice fish and worth the work - its not really that much hard work though really just turning the heater low in the winter and keeping them with other fish that are found in a similar environment to them as well.

As Kaivalgi said a good sized group of Cupid Cichlids would work in the same way as geophagus an other option would be to try and find Geophagus Pindare - Im not sure if he posts to Canada but Jeff Rapps an American fish breeder sells them quite often and you could have a look at his website (google his name) and see if he has any for sale.

Wills

 

[Balloons&killies]

ok, well ill check it out, i would be able to do the temperature drop in the winter no prob, just that i dont really think my angels would apreciate it but i could always rehome them,

Its just that here you cant realy find any cichlids only like severum, and africans, pretty much

 

[Wills]

To be honest if they can get Gymnogeophagus I would be pretty impressed they are not really run of the mill fish and I have only seen them twice in two pretty specialist shops. If you can do it and dont mind rehoming the angels it would be an option but no the angels would not handle the cold spell.

Wills

 

[Balloons&killies]

To be honest if they can get Gymnogeophagus I would be pretty impressed they are not really run of the mill fish and I have only seen them twice in two pretty specialist shops. If you can do it and dont mind rehoming the angels it would be an option but no the angels would not handle the cold spell.

Wills

ok great, how cold are we talking like 70F?

 

[Balloons&killies]

To be honest if they can get Gymnogeophagus I would be pretty impressed they are not really run of the mill fish and I have only seen them twice in two pretty specialist shops. If you can do it and dont mind rehoming the angels it would be an option but no the angels would not handle the cold spell.

Wills

ok great, how cold are we talking like 70F?

Well , ive received an e-mail from littlefishcompany.com and they said theyget them in regularly so i told them just to e-mail me back when the've got them in But im only getting i think 1 male and 2 females, or just 3 young one and hope i get a pair

 

[Wills]

Okay so if you are going to do it I would get a bigger group. In a 55 gallon tank I would go for a group of 5-6 a good mix of males and females are important but if you had say 4 males 2 females (if you got 6) it wouldnt be the end of the world.

Wills

 

[hamfist]

SOunds really exciting. It's a species I wasn't really aware of at all before this thread. SOme of the pictures on the www look awesome. The males in particular seem to get wonderfully stocky, with their great big nuchal humps. Awesome.
I hope you get some, and reward us all with lots of pics !!

 

[Balloons&killies]

ok thank guys,

And by any chance do they eat plants>?