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Geophagus
steindachneri
Text
and photo by Wallace Cox
Finformation,
January
2003
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 Geophagus
steindachneri is a South American mouthbrooding cichlid, commonly
known as the “red-humped eartheater.” This species grows
to approximately 10 inches. Males can be rather aggressive, especially
toward females.
I acquired a pair, the male 7 inches and the female about 5 inches
in total length. The pair was separated and the female was placed
in a 55-gallon tank, heavily planted with a dozen Ctenopoma kingsleyae.
The male was placed in a 10-gallon tank until his services were needed.
The male was fed earthworms, krill, and Tetramin pellets once a day.
The female was given pellets, flake, frozen bloodworms, and live blackworms.
After about a month of twice a day feedings and weekly 50% water changes,
I noticed the female had begun to dig a pit in the front left corner
of the tank. She was also very plump in the belly. The water was changed
on a Saturday afternoon as usual. The male red hump was added to the
55-gallon tank on the opposite side of the pit. The male sank to the
bottom of the tank and almost instinctually swam over the pit. He
had never been in this tank before, but it was like there was a homing
beacon guiding him through the tank as if he had lived there his whole
life. Within 1 hour after being added to the tank, the pair had spawned
and began in tandem chasing all of the other occupants away. The male
was then removed and placed back in his 10-gallon tank. This was the
easiest and quickest spawn that I have ever had the pleasure of working
with.
As mentioned before, this species is a mouthbrooder. The female lays
the eggs. The male fertilizes the eggs and the female spins around
and picks the eggs up in her mouth. The eggs are held for almost three
weeks until she spits them out, free swimming and fully developed
fry. She was removed on the 14th day to her own 10 gallon equipped
with a sponge filter, a baseball sized clump of Java moss, and a 4"
clay pot resting on its side. On the 20th day she released about seventy
1/8" fry. The fry grew to a 1-inch size in 9 weeks. They were
fed microworms and live baby brine once a day and crushed flake once
a day.
This is an interesting fish and is one of only a few known South American
mouthbrooders. It is fairly large and aggressive, so be prepared for
altercations, but don’t let that stop you from keeping this
beautiful eartheater. |
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