Geophagus.

[jeremeypardun]

I would really like to get into breeding Geophagus cichlids. I really love these fish. Does anyone know where I can find good supplier for them?

[discusluv]

For wilds, I would get them from Jeff Rapps at Tangled up in Cichlids. That is where I got my g. sveni and neambi around a year ago. They are all healthy and very colorful. Here is a picture of one of my g sveni taken a couple months ago. In the second picture on the left you can see the picture of the neambi, which were much younger than the g. sveni when I bought them.

[jeremeypardun]

Awesome thank you. Love your tank. That is one of the reasons I want to to do geos. They won't bother an aquascape. Right now I mostly have African cichlids. They remove everything.

[Rocksor]

You're going to have to look at softening your water with a reverse osmosis filter if you are looking to breed them

[jeremeypardun]

What ph do geos prefer.

[Rocksor]

What ph do geos prefer.

it's not about the ph, it's about the total dissolved solid value (TDS), and each species will vary, but generally you're looking at a TDS at 70-150ppm (soft water TDS) for geophagus. A water softener does not really soften water for what fish need.


The gymnogeophagus are a different matter and will breed and produce viable young in hard water, but you need to let the aquarium go down in temperature to around 55-60f for 3-4 months, otherwise, they burn out and die around 2-3 years.

[Syno-cat]

it's not about the ph, it's about the total dissolved solid value (TDS), and each species will vary, but generally you're looking at a TDS at 70-150ppm (soft water TDS) for geophagus. A water softener does not really soften water for what fish need.


The gymnogeophagus are a different matter and will breed and produce viable young in hard water, but you need to let the aquarium go down in temperature to around 55-60f for 3-4 months, otherwise, they burn out and die around 2-3 years.

I know this is an old post but I'm curious how the Geophagus do without soft water. Is the reverse osmosis system also good for their overall health and longevity, or is it mainly for the breeding of this species?