Gymnogeophagus Blue Neon

[danielp]

Fish Gallery has these and I think I'm going to pick two pair.

A few questions.

They will be housed in a 36 gallon bow front with clown loaches.

1) What the proper aquascaping?

2) What the proper diet?

3) How easy are they to breed?

4) What's another good dither fish?

Thanks

[newb]

not very aggessive fish. aquascape with wood and plants and such. NLS thera A and cichlid formula would be fine. you could give them shimp every once in a while too. No clue on how easy to breed.

[TaTeR ToT]

That picture looks very familiar

they need fine sand, ideally leslies pfs, sparse driftwood and small stones, make each male a obviously seperate territory.

Preferably at opposite ends of the tank.
Have as much open sand area as possible.

Proper diet, ie what I was feeding that guy in my pic.
Nls 1mm cf, hikari frozen bloodworms, hikari frozen mysis shrimp, and hikari frozen brine shrimp Daily.
I fed all of those foods daily.
Also, aquarian tropical flakes.

they need very food filtration, like tropheus filtration,
I was running 1x 2217, 1x xp4, and 1x ac 110 hob on the 55g
gymnogeophagus tank that's pictured above.

Lighting was 2x 54watt T5HO 1x 6,700K
and 1x 10,000K.

[TaTeR ToT]

These types of geos are extremly
agressive! They are like firemouths and will fight viciously
also, their aggression skyrockets when breeding.
I dought both pairs will be able
to live happily in a 36g bowfront.
They reach 4.5" tl for males
and 3.5"'tl for females.

They are fairly easy to breed, about like firemouths.
They need a ph less then 6.5 acidic soft water.
They also require large frequent wc's.
I was doing 75% every 4 days.

[danielp]

A lot of good information.

That's a heck alot of filtration.

Might rethink this one.

I typically have low maintenance stock in my office tank.

I've usually kept barbs and such.

I do like the looks of this fish though.

[TaTeR ToT]

keep in mind, these were ideal conditions provided to breed them.
if you dont try to breed them then 1x ac 110 hob, 150watt heater, PH ~7 decorated like i stated, regular lighting, and once weekly 50% wc's and nls 1mm cichlid formula and aquarian tropical flakes daily, along with weekly feeding of brine and mysis shrimp along with bloodworms, and they will do fine.

[mark razmandi]

sorry, no ca do buddy...these fish require very special care...they need a cool down period 3 months a year where the tank is kept at cold as 62 degrees...stay away from gymnogeos...geos are the way to go...i have 3 blue neons now and they are doing fine but not easy to take care of

[danielp]

sorry, no ca do buddy...these fish require very special care...they need a cool down period 3 months a year where the tank is kept at cold as 62 degrees...stay away from gymnogeos...geos are the way to go...i have 3 blue neons now and they are doing fine but not easy to take care of

Ok.

So how do you get your tank down to 62 without a chiller.

Guess I'll look for some regualr geo's.

[danielp]

Mark,

I see that yuo have a large geo community tank.

What would you put in my 36 bowfront. I do want a little bit of a wow factor.

Thanks

[TaTeR ToT]

a pair of red head tapajos would be ideal, they only reach ~5"tl, and are incredible to see.

[danielp]

a pair of red head tapajos would be ideal, they only reach ~5"tl, and are incredible to see.

Cool looking fish.

Where can I find this fish you speak of?

[TaTeR ToT]

I got my old wc pair from Jeff wrapps.

They are one of the most beautiful geos.

[danielp]

I see that Daves rare fish in San Antonio has some listed.