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Hi!

My wife believes our display tank in the living room is too ''dead''. The scape is beautiful but there's nothing happening except the S. Festivum, in her opinion.

We have both took a liking to the cichlid Geophagus sp Orange head tapajos. So my question to you guys are the following.

Will my Sturisoma Festivum, Ancistrus SP L181 and Baryancistrus Xanthellus L177 do okey if i put in a small group of these cichlids?

Will they still be able to breed/keep offspring with the cichlids moving in?

The cichlids i can buy are fry, but will ofcourse grow up and i will most likely only keep a pair once they pair out.

But i don't want something ruining the long beautiful fins of the sturisoma, and it would be even greater if they didn't eat the fry.

If they will eat fry, L181 is pretty easy to take care of fry artificially in breeding box after they hatch, but how do i get the Sturisoma younglings before they depart? They spawn on the glass of the aquarium and leave it once they hatch.

A lot of things spinning in the head, I also have the opportunity to get Aequidens Metae and Aequidens sp Jenaro herrera, if any of those would be better suited for the above.

Thank you on beforehand!

I would expect Geophagus would eat small fry. Or so I've been warned.

Regards, Eric

Geophagus sp orange head is one of the most active - that is, most unquiet - geophagus.

Some people like them for this, others don´t. Geophagus pindare, for example, are much more quiet.

with regard to eating fry, almost all fishes would eat anything small enough. However, Gophagus live on the sand, and this is not the place your precious fry would go to. Assuming you have an area in the tank with ample wood, I don´t think your Geophagus have a high chance of meeting any of these fry - let alone eating them.

However, do pay attention to their need for space. G pindare would require a tank of 1,5 meters long or more, and I would suggest for G orangehead a larger tank.

Lastly, I had a group of orangeheads consisting of 6 males and 3 females. This was not a good comobination, and I was happy their tank was large. assuming you take 6, make certain you have 3 males at most, better 2. For G pindare this would not be a problem.

Thank you both for your replies!

At the store i stumbled upon another cichlid i caught a liking too and decided to go for that one. It's adult size is smaller than the Orange head which i only see as positive. The species name is Biotodoma Cupido. I got a group of 8, the largest one is about 7 cm and smallest 4 cm. Quite dull right now but they get more colorful as they mature. I hope they will work with the plecos when they become adult

This is a far more docile fish, which will, most likely, suit your purposes better.

I´m happy you got 8, they need to be amongst themselves