geophagus compatibility question

[Tomcat]

Hi all! nice site you have here.


I currently have a 45 gallon freshwater tank, with only 3 fish. they are a geophagus brasilienses cichlid, a pink kissing gourami, and one fat black belt tetra.

Does anyone have ideas for a suitable tankmate (s) that will get along with these fish?

I've had the gourami for abouit 5 years now, and he's pretty big. a moonlight gourami I used to have was quite the bully, and he chewed the pinks tail down to nothing... the moonlight has dies, the tail has grown back, so I'm looking mainly for something that would be nice to it.

The geophagus & gourami chase each other sometimes, but it's nothing serious. they all let each other eat OK, and they pretty much keep to their own corners of the tank.

will more geophagus's be OK? the one I have is getting larger by the month, and I really like it.

Thanks for your help.

Tom

 

[wayne]

Sand is a good substrate. As long as there isn't too much squabbling you should be ok - try to keep on top of water changes , they are quite sensitive to water quality

 

[Tomcat]

Thanks.. I change out half the water every 3 weeks by gravel vac'ing the bottom.

Are two geos ok, or would 3 be better?

Tom

 

[wayne]

Two would be good if you can sex tham and get a pair. 3 is not likely to work - 2 pair, one suffers. Getting a pair is not straightforward - ususally people get 6 and let them sort it out.
I would rather go for a weekly 20%, but there are merits to 50% every other week. These fish naturally come from some pretty pure rivers, often in pH's so low bacterial growth/development is inhibited, so they can be fussy re water quality. Your low stocking levels are helping there.