My Geo's Aint Making Friends! :-/

[Big_eyes]

My new pair are fitting in great with each other after arriving fighting but are at complete war with my original tapajo. I don't know what to do, I've tried taking them out and rearranging twice and still a week on they are taking shreds out of the original one.

And then to add to it my keyholes aren't giving in easily to accepting the new pair of geo's.

My tank is a war zone

 

[star4]

You say a new pair, are they a breeding pair? if so then I doubt they will accept the other one,they will see it as a threat to future young and will possibly kill it. I have the same with my 4 geo brazilliensis, 2 have paired and spawn, they tollerate the other 2 but very grudgingly. What is the size difference? I find it difficult for existing fish to accept adult and sub adult fish (had a few probs with Bailey the Royal acara I had from Wills but got through it) adding juvinile fish is easiest.

 

[england]

Welcome to the world of cichlids, what i do is rehome the agressor,in your case thats a hard choice to make, i would get another tank for the breeding pair to have all to themselves, tough choices ahead, or you could ride the waves and see if they form a high raki, which i highly dought, 3 in the cichlid world is not the magic number,

 

[kaivalagi]

Getting some more could be another answer...?

As you know Big Eyes I have five Tapajos in my tank, 1 of which got a good few months head start on the others. Yes there can be the odd chase and lunge between the group but on the whole everyone plays ball and their fins are in good condition etc. I also have an FM, Port Acara and HRP in there with them right now, which I think may have shifted behaviour and brought the group more together.

 

[Big_eyes]

Star - they aren't a 'pair' as far as I know. The guy selling them said they 'seemed to be pairing' but I didn't think anything of it as I just wanted them and they don't seem all that interested in one another that much really either. They're both exactly the same size as the first one I have, round about 4-5 inch.

Kav - I wish I could get more but at the minute I have a LR Discovery and a holiday chewing at my wallet

I do want more, but they're just either rare or expensive to get my hands on

 

[Wills]

I think increasing the numbers is the best idea, geos work best in groups of 4-6 (depending in tank limits) and you will me more likley to breed them in a group setting than just a pairing from what I have heard.

I have 3 Geo.sp Tocantins atm as I lost a runty one about a week ago and a bit worried how they will pan out long term now as its not going to be easy to find an other one.... I will see how the tanks pan out and might get an other group of geos to go with them I really like S.Auticeps so might try and source a group of them at some point.

But yeah once you can get two or so more it should level out IMO. In the mean time have you considered a divider as a temporary measure? Im having a few issues with two fish atm and Im going to get one tomorrow (a divider) to let the weaker fish recouporate and then once they are healed up it should be a level pegging situation and they can properly determine the hierachy and once thats determined it should work for me but at the moment the new fish is just too disoriented to do anything.

Wills

 

[ChilliPepper]

Yep, options are either rehoming the aggressor or upping the numbers, though no guarantee that this will work either. This is the trouble with cichlids.

It is very difficult rehoming fish you are attached to. I have just had to rehome my beautiful GT that I had for 18mths, but she was being a b$5ch to everyone, so only right she should be the one to go really.

How much are these Tapajos each, on average?

 

[Big_eyes]

£21 each on wildwoods + delivery

They're anything as cheap as £4 up wards for juvi's through private sellers. Which is annoying though because in the last 4 months I've only seen 1 advert for them within 100 miles of me. And people never allow anything but collection.

I was lucky with these last two as they were the one advert I've seen and luckily the guy although he lived 30 miles away, worked in the town where I live so could drop them off to me.

 

[kaivalagi]

I feel your pain, that wildwoods pricing is extortion frankly, one of my LFS charges < £8 each for Tapajos, less for more, and it's a 4 branch business (Swallow Aquatics).

It's hard to believe that there is nowhere close by that sells or can at least get these fish in for you