Geophegus Altifrons

Acpape0

Acpape0

Members
I ended up going with a group of geophegus altifrons as tank mates for my juvenile arowana. I found some locally but they were too small to safely go into that tank. I ended up ordering from a place in Pittsburg called exoticfishpgh. This was my first time shipping fish. These people had awesome customer service. I explained how I would need to ship these guys to my wife's work and leave them there until I got off of work in the afternoon. He ended up extending the live arrival guarentee Untill I could get these fish home. He also thew in a 6th fish for free! Very open lines of communication and great packaging. I will order from this guy again. He had a video of exact fish on his website also.
These guy are between 3-3.5 inches. They seem to really stay as a group. I would def. keep these guy in a group if at least 4. My guess is it is a safety / reassurance thing with a larger fish in the tank. Substrate sifting is a understatement with these guys. I came home today and they had upturned every square inch of sand in the tank ( you could see the small divots. These are awesome fish that will hopefully only get better with time. I am very happy with my choice and glad that these guys were recommended to me as compatible tank mates. Hopefully in time I may get a pair out of the group but that is not why I bought them anyways.

Just felt like sharing!

http://youtu.be/gB_3bE9kJqo




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Acpape0

Acpape0

Members
Thx ... It is amazing how these guys stick to the group ...they are always together. The video really doesn't do the colors justice they seem to be getting brighter every day


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neut

neut

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Nice. Glad they arrived in good shape.

They'll especially stick close together for a while in a new tank, also with a larger, unfamiliar fish in the tank, like you mentioned. Eventually, as they get comfortable in the tank and realize the arowana isn't going to eat them, I expect they'll get a little more confident and adventurous. At least ime at that size and larger they'll school together at times but not constantly, some of the time they'll explore individually and be content just to be in the vicinity of each other.

As adults they can be happy in a group or as a single pair with other fish, similar to discus-- if you wanted to keep them that way.
 
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Andrewtfw

Andrewtfw

Global Moderators
Make sure the intake of your filter is not close to the sand bed. Years ago, my altifrons indirectly damaged my impeller by spitting sand that was then pulled into the filter.

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zenins

zenins

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Andrewtfw said:
Make sure the intake of your filter is not close to the sand bed. Years ago, my altifrons indirectly damaged my impeller by spitting sand that was then pulled into the filter.
Click to expand...

Very good advice, I have my filter intake about 10cm ( 4 inches ) above the substrate with no issues for the impeller

A sponge pre-filter covering the intake is a good idea as well,
I have done that in many of my tanks :)
 
zenins

zenins

Members
Acpape0 said:
My lowest intake is approximately 6" from sand. Will that work?
Click to expand...

Yes, but I still recommend the sponge prefilter covering the intake.
It is a lot easier to rinse that filter in a bucket of water every couple of weeks than to open and clean the canister filter.
The time between opening the canister filter to do maintenance will be extended quite a bit ;)
 
Acpape0

Acpape0

Members
So I am starting to get some minor aggression issues with these guys, no real damage being done. I guess they are just getting their pecking order established ... A lot of chasing ... Thoughts?


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neut

neut

Members
I haven't kept that exact geo, but pretty similar to what I've seen from Suriname/Altifron/Tapajos in general, just seems to be something they'll do if there's a group of them and they're more or less the dominant fish in their strata of the tank-- in other words not another larger or more dominant fish to capture their attention and respect or break them up when they're fussing (like a larger severum, acara, etc.). Seemingly waxes and wanes somewhat according to mood, pair selection, a pair spawning, etc. Normally not too serious in my experience-- as long as you have a decent sized group-- lot of fussing and posturing at times, but not much more than that.

Also, sometimes a pair will appear to really get after each other, but a decent pair will usually work it out... and maybe have a 'makeup spawn' after their spat.
 
A

AndyNarwhal

Members
Yeah, the pushing and shoving is normal posturing and most Geo's do it all the time. My Brokopondo have a pair that formed and they own half the tank. But the others will continually test their resolve all the time and enter their territory just to get chased away. You may see some lip locking from time to time too.
 
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