# Are they Geophagus Surinamensis



## ric (Apr 23, 2008)

Hi

My lfs has some fish labelled as the above but after reading various bits on the net the chance of this being accurate is slim, are they more likely to be altifrons, im after some geos for my big tank but cant source any orangehead tapajos so based on the profiles section of this site the surinamensis sound great. The thing is i have about 30 cardinals so if they turn out to be altifrons are they more than likely gonna eat them?

thanks ric :thumb:


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## dwarfpike (Jan 22, 2008)

Odds are they are deffinately not surinamensis if at a LFS ... the true surinamensis comes from a country that never has allowed commerical exporters into it. Thus unless you are getting them from someone that flew to French Suriname and collected them, odds are either altifrons or proximus. Which means yes, cardinals would be a snack. Of course even the orangeheads I would think get big enough to much on cardinals, but will differ to someone that owns them on that.


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## DeadFishFloating (Oct 9, 2007)

I've never lost a tetra, otocinclus, or female A. agassizii to predation from my G. araguaia orange heads. Must be one the most mellow geos around. My female agassizii would be half a mouthfull to an adult araguaia, yet I've watched her chase one away from her cave. Admittedly she high tailed it out of there when the geo turned around to swat what ever was nipping at it's tail.

As for other geos, I believe most altifrons (there are a few location variants) would try and eat a smallish tetra. If they are proximus, I'd buy them as they grow into a nice geo.


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## ric (Apr 23, 2008)

The tetras are pretty chunky about 2" long, the geos in lfs are just labelled geo surinamensis so really they could be any type im gonna go and ask them but doubt il get much info, would it be best to leave them and carry on searching elsewhere.


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## Guest (May 9, 2008)

If they are true surinamensis, from what I've read, they do not eat their tank mates. I don't know about other geos. I have a red hump in my tank but he doesn't seem to be interested in smaller tank mates. My understanding of geos are that they sift through the substrate for food which means that they don't usually eat other fish.


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## ric (Apr 23, 2008)

Its the altifrons that may eat them, but my black ghost (12") is supposed to do that and he/she hasnt.

Thanks for the info il just get as much info as poss and see. :thumb:


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## ric (Apr 23, 2008)

Just been to lfs and asked them about the geo, reply was they are definately surinamensis not much else i could get from them :? .

The only distinguishing feature is they have a black patch on their side and also a black line running thru the eye and down the cheek, cant find any geo with this black line?

Anyone any ideas what geos they are


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## lloyd (Aug 24, 2005)

acarichthys heckelli has both the eye stripe and side spot. and i've seen them labeled incorrectly at lfs before...once as jurupari, lol.


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## dwarfpike (Jan 22, 2008)

Sounds like _Geophagus taeniopareius_ to me ... they aren't as common but have been coming in lately. I think they are a substrate brooder if I remember right instead of a delayed mouthbrooder like a lot of the surm group. But I don't own that nifty new geo book so could be wrong on that ...


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## ric (Apr 23, 2008)

*** just read the profile cant believe i missed it  , what about the point of them maybe being acarichthys heckelii is there any other feature to look at, are their mouths different maybe? :-? :-?


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## dwarfpike (Jan 22, 2008)

They just look differant, hard to describe though ... the geo's should be missing the black in the the dorsal fin ... and depending on size will have that alternating pattern of orange and blue on the body, heckeli won't have that. The shape is differant, but that's harder to tell unless looking at the same time ... heckeli are taller but have more of geo shape when young making it difficult to tell.


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## ric (Apr 23, 2008)

They are about 2" long im pretty sure there was no black on the dorsal fin but the whole body colour was dull grey/silver and the fins all see thru. At this size should there be some colour on the body?


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## lloyd (Aug 24, 2005)

i can't recall if the trait is truly original to the species, but my heckelli had a touch of red in the top of their eye. HTH.


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## ric (Apr 23, 2008)

http://www.plecofanatics.com/gallery/displayimage.php?imageid=25939


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## ric (Apr 23, 2008)

http://www.plecofanatics.com/gallery/displayimage.php?imageid=25939

Managed to get some pics, what you guys think?

http://www.plecofanatics.com/gallery/displayimage.php?imageid=25938

http://www.plecofanatics.com/gallery/displayimage.php?imageid=25940

http://www.plecofanatics.com/gallery/displayimage.php?imageid=25947


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## dwarfpike (Jan 22, 2008)

_Biotodoma wavrini_ ... not a common fish but not uber rare either ... Probably at a great price if listed as surms ... I'd snag them if it were me ... deffinately in the geo family, max at 6 inches instead of 12" of heckeli or altifrons ...

http://www.cichlid-forum.com/profiles/s ... php?id=428


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