dcookcan

I love geos. Sand is an absolute necessity for happy geos. As canucklehead indicated, the balzani will require cooler temps than the rest you mentioned. I have thread finned acara in with my balzani as the acara seem to handle cooler water better than most of the other eartheaters. People like Jeff Rapps actually recommend that balzani tanks should not be heated. They will develop better colour and live longer in cooler conditions. As far as aggression is concerned, they (all geos) are most aggressive with their own kind and mostly during spawning. I have daemon and altifrons in with discus and the discus are never harassed; even though the alts have spawned. My altifrons and balzani have spawned and I may have some fry available in a couple months time but I live in toon town (saskatoon).

OK, I understand the logic. This must be the reason the cichlid forum is so inactive.

So I can't post about cichlids that have apwned in the cichlid forum???

Yes this is the right forum. I currently have a gymnogeophagus balzani female holding eggs (mouthbrooder). This is her first go at it, so I don't expect fry the first time round. However, she has been holding for a few days already. The eggs were deposited in typical South American cichlid fashion inside a 4" flower pot. I noticed the displays and chasing going on but did not see eggs until Saturday Mar. 17. The female already had her mouth full and there were probably another 25 eggs left in the pot. Some lucky fish got a healthy snack. I also have a geophagus altifrons female holding (another mouthbrooder). This is their second attempt so I am a little more hopeful that I will see fry this time around. The pair are approximately 5" and 6". Their eggs were also deposited on Saturday Mar. 17 on the top of a 6" flower pot. The female did not pick up the eggs until Monday Mar. 19. In another tank, I have a pair of geophagus iporagensis. They are guarding their little PVC pipe again. Their first attempt at spawning was also not successful (big surprise). Maybe this time around; we'll see. If you can't tell already, I really am into the eartheaters right now. But I do have an established pair of Jack Dempseys that currently have fry. It took no less than four attempts for them to get to the free swimming fry stage, but I think they have it figured out now. I have scooped out most of the fry and put them into a ten gallon tank. The parents are left with about 25 fry to protect and raise. That's all for now. Obviously I will keep you posted on progress. Pictures may be in order as well, but I will be in BC until Friday, then in Lloyd on Saturday. Maybe by Sunday I will have time to post some pic's.

I have been changing over to sand. I only have one tank left that has gravel, it just happens to be where the CA cichlids are kept. I try to drop the pellet over a large flat rock so that they have a chance to eat them after they hit bottom.

I think the 1 mm pellets are great for my earth eaters. They love to sift through the sand all day anyway. But how realistic is it for central and south American bruisers? I have a breeding pair of JDs alone in a tank with their fry. They are around 4 - 5". When they are fed the 1 mm, they rarely get more than a few pellets before they are lost in the gravel and I don't have time to drop 2 to 3 pellets at a time until they are done eating. (They are getting the nutrition they need with nls, as this is all I have been feeding them - they have fry now and their colours are much more vivid than pre nls.)

Good points RD. One thing I would like to add is that the fish stores in Saskatoon have been selling 55 gal (4 ft) All Glass kits for $200. (if they can be found here (Petland); they can be found there for the same price or cheaper). That is a tank, filter, hood, lights, heater etc. All new with a warranty. Shop around.

Another awesome geo. I just tried to get some WC red heads from Spencer Jack, but he just ran out before I ordered. Apparently, there is a difference in the maximum size between the orange head and the red head. The orange head will apparently reach 10" but the red head only 6". Here are some pictures of the orange head: http://www.thecichlidgallery.com/g.tapajo.htm Some discussion: http://cichlid-forum.com/phpBB/viewtopic.p...de966fbe71201c8 A profile (that may not be correct on max size): http://cichlid-forum.com/profiles/species.php?id=465

Here are a couple pictures of my latest acquisition and new favorite fish: Geophagus Altifrons. Awesome fish but they can reach 12".

ive had sucess doing this method and having a perfect up and running tank instantly (say a 25 gal tank with 15 gal from a up and running tank/ 10 gal new water) with no loses.............ever I have always done the same thing, with no losses. The only difference is that I only use water from the w/c. I make sure that I squeeze out the sponges from the established filters into the w/c water before it goes into the new tank. I never bother to get rid of the big chunks of poo from the gravel vac either - food for the new filter. So the new set up looks like crap initially. 24 hours later, all the bacteria squeezed out of the sponge are now in the new filter and the water is clear and ready for fish.

I would suggest looking into the geophagus iporaguensis. It is like the g. brasiliensis, but is only supposed to grow to 6" and in my opinion, its colours are more impressive. I currently have three that I am trying to form a pair with.

Personally, I would go with a pair of Severums as the blue dempsey could get his a$$ kicked by the firemouths - when and if they breed. You could also add a pair of convicts to the mix. As for severums, if I lived in Calgary, I would check to see if Golds still has the rotkeil severums available - they look awesome. EDIT: I just checked the OP location - Edmonton. I am not sure if the rotkeil severum would be available there; Golds will ship. You can see the rotkeil here: Golds South American Cichlid Pics You could also add a salvini, but I would suggest only one (females have the best colour imho) as a pair can become extremely aggressive when they breed.

Almost any Vieja or geo and a pair of festae.

My unit is from: Aquasafe. They are based in Vancouver and sell most of their RO units on ebay, but you can simply order directly from them if you don't want the hastle of bidding.

I will be getting a group of festae here in Saskatoon. They are currently small (1") so I am looking at growing them out. When they are big enough, maybe we can don a swap (to diversify the genetic pool). However, this will probably take a year to get them to an appropriate size.