# Geo and bolivian ram mix.



## Newbreed (Feb 23, 2009)

Many of u know me as the person who does not listen. I admit i am hard headed but some times it is for the best.

I know many of u follow the rule of providing enough ground for all your fish to live happily and i believe that to be awesome.

How ever in my tank, i have 7 bolivian rams and 5 Pearlscale eartheaters : Geophagus braziliensis

My tank is 46 gallons well planted and thriving. My 4 female geo's have all dug giant pits and are swollen and protecting their holes. My rams are also thriving, though they haven't picked a spot of the tank for them selves. my tank seems to be doing well and i would like to know the mating habbits of the geo's

I do plan on upgrading to a larger tank once they are about 6 inch's


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## Hubbynz (May 10, 2008)

opcorn:  :fish:


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## Newbreed (Feb 23, 2009)

I have 4 Female Geophagus Braziliensis and 1 Male.

2 of my females have taken refuge in different parts of the tank and have laid eggs. 1 female in a fake rock cave. 1 female on a flat stone in the back of the tank behind my 1 piece of lace rock.

But the male hangs out with the open spawn on the rock in the back of the tank and not with the female in the cave. Could he have already fertilized the eggs in the cave, Or am i looking at a dud spawn?

I have heard of Geo's Pairing up and thats what it seems to be like with the female and male in the back of the tank. But how come the other female has laid eggs as well? What should i do?

They just spawned last night. How can i tell if they are fertilized


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## Newbreed (Feb 23, 2009)

Pictures of my Geo / ram tank only 46 gallons but they have spawned and i have wigglers and no fatalities




























Pictures also of my 10g Blue/peruvian? ram mix spawn?? does anyone notice the differnce in colors?
Mom








Dad?


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## gage (Feb 7, 2007)

5 brasiliensis in a 46g... i wouldnt even put 1 in that size tank...


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## spxsk (Mar 29, 2006)

Your Geos are going to kick the snot out of those rams. When they hit the 3.5-5" range, you will notice that nothing is safe around those Geos. They are very very very violent fish and get some mass to them quickly. Please consider this when you upgrade, and start moving your fish around. The Rams will love the 46 all to themselves.


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## willny1 (Nov 17, 2008)

> Many of u know me as the person who does not listen.





> What should i do?


 :?


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## Newbreed (Feb 23, 2009)

I am currently working on re-homing the geo's

The funny thing is all my fish including the other female geo's are on 1 side of the tank and the pair is on the other the male doesnt chase the rams at all he only chases the other female geo's

I have found buyers for all of the babies that manage to survive and free swim long enough to be sold, i dont have another tank or any way of rehoming fish other than taking them back to the fish store and right now i cant do that as i dont want to desturb the tank and the breeding.

i talked to my lfs guys and averaged 5$ a geo for tank raised babies. and at about 100 babies maybe if i am lucky that will be another tank for the geo's hopfully 150+ gallons

Seeing these fish breed has learned me a few things lol yes i said learned. yes they are mean when paired and i see what u all mean..... well what can yah do when ur hard headed and learn the hard way now i have to try and count fish every hour to make sure they are all still alive and kicken and have no nipped fins or anything. my tank is doing really well though cause all of the wigglers are still with parents and maybe 24 hours from free swimming more pics to come soon.


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## klumsyninja (Aug 14, 2008)

You can buy a 20G tank off of craigslist or something for a buck a gallon usually. Also get yourself a really cheap sponge filter too.

Raise the babies in a bare bottom 20G with a sponge filter, feed them crushed flake or bbs 2-3 times a day and do a 20-30% water change every or every other day. Clean water and lots of fod are important for fry to prevent spinal deformities, disease, and death... You'll be way happier this way.

It'll take 3 months before they are of selling size


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## klumsyninja (Aug 14, 2008)

On second thought you should throw like an inch of sand in there since they're Geo's but keep on top of the gravel vac'ing when doing WC's..

If you could find a 20 Long that'd be WAY better


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## spxsk (Mar 29, 2006)

Betting on fry to pay for the next tank is sometimes tough. You should take klumsyninja's advice and buy another tank to raise the fry. Even the rams will eat a first batch of geo fry as the parents are not all that good at raising them yet. 
Your Geos are not very old yet, and are only going to get more aggressive. They are great looking specimens and so are the rams. I would say, go with the rams, and sell the Geos. You will be able to find Brasiliensis again. See if you can get your rams to spawn in the tank, you know the tank has the "mojo" for it already. I wish you luck in your experiment.

PS This is my experience talking. I had 4 Geos in a 90 Gallon tank with other fish. They killed or tried to kill everyone by the time they all had 4 inches. I ended up selling them, and once they were out of the tank, it came alive, spawning and flashing, and color changes like you cannot imagine.

All this is just my $0.02


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## Dutch Dude (Sep 14, 2006)

> Quote:
> Many of u know me as the person who does not listen.
> 
> Quote:
> What should i do?


 :lol: funny but true


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## illy-d (Nov 6, 2005)

Don't Braziliensis get to be 12"?


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## Dutch Dude (Sep 14, 2006)

Jep,...some even larger and they are quit temperamented (sometimes realy agresive) as well. But I don't expect the OP is interested in that becouse HE wants to make this combination and like quoted,....


> Many of u know me as the person who does not listen


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## illy-d (Nov 6, 2005)

Well, in the past I mixed G. Steindachneri with Bolivian Rams (and other non-aggressive cichlids such as Festivums & Keyholes)... The Steinies are one of the smaller Geo species with females maxing out around 5" and males usually getting to 6" or 7" (I have seen some really old males that were pushing 8" and very, very deep bodied & thick - shaped like an NFL football, but I would say that is atypical).

For the most part the Steinies (Red Humped Eartheater) stuck to themselves and ignored everybody - however of all the other fish in the tank (cories, tetras, plecos etc) the only ones who the Steinies paid any attention to was the Bolivians - I wouldn't go so far as to say they were aggressive, but I did witness some flaring between a male steinie and the female Bolivians (the male Ram was chased away with no physical damage done)... I don't know if this was courtship or what, but I didn't want to see it escalate so the Steinies were moved to a different tank.

Speaking from experience mixing Geos with Rams I would say proceed with caution... But yeah for a 12" fish you will need a bigger tank...


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## Newbreed (Feb 23, 2009)

I do plan on getting a bigger tank eventually and the only problem i see in my tank right now is not enough rock. I have lots of plants but in high aggression times like breeding i need more rock in the tank to create more caves and hiding spots. I most likely will be re-homing all but 1 large male and 1 large female Bolivian and the 2 geo's that paired off so 4 fish total in my 46 gallon.

First i intend to ad more rock to the tank sides and middle, and put the plants into them to create more hiding spots and see if that can lower the aggression.

The geo's only seem to hunt each other and i notice one of the females that the male laid egg's with in the beginning ( there were 2 batchs ) is trying to kill or eat the babies of the female he is courting now.

If i cannot reduce the aggression even more, with more rock. then i will be forced to take the otehrs back and keep only 2 rams and 2 geo's untill i can upgrade tank's

I know these fish can reach sizes of 10-12 inch's but the ones that i have picked up are from a private breeder who has them all tank raised and was told they dont get over 6 inch's could be a lie maybe they are stunted or maybe they are not even brasiliensis who knows. but i think they will addapt to my enviorment and i will be only keeping the 2 geo's but maybe all of teh rams or maybe just 4 rams i dunno what i am watching it carefully though


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## klumsyninja (Aug 14, 2008)

Geo's don't want rock or caves, that's more african cichlids that want that. They need very large sandy surface areas as they will sift the sand all day for food. If you want to break lines of sight plant the tank or use driftwood. The driftwood will also soften the water.

(Personally I strongly strongly recommend returning the Geos, and getting them later on. You've tried them and know you like them and now you can have a future goal and tank to look forward to. Thus allowing you to have a more appropriately stocked tank that won't cause you stress or hurt you're fish.)


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## spxsk (Mar 29, 2006)

Please make the decision to be" the guy who used to not pay attention to what people suggested, and started to listen" your fish will be so much happier, not stunted, and give you the opportunity to view their natural behaviors.

Keep only the rams in that tank. You are just delaying disaster by keeping the Brasiliensis.


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