F2 Geophagus parnaibae 1 - 1.5" - Central Florida - Shipping available

[Ryan]

These guys aren't discus, but they'd probably do really well in community setups with larger discus. They are one of the smallest Geophagus species, only growing to 4 - 6" max. Mine topped out between 4 - 4.5". They are peaceful and tend to ignore all fish but each other. Like discus, they do best in groups of 4 - 6. My fry are F2 from F1 parents that I got two years ago from Jeff Rapps.

My fish are raised in Florida tap water -- 7.6 pH with a hardness of about 150 - 200ppm. The temperature in all my non-discus tanks is 80 - 82F. These guys could probably handle 82 - 84F in a setup with larger discus. I have kept my Geophagus paranaibae with everything from large adult severums and chocolate cichlids to small rams and flag cichlids. These fry are eating everything -- bloodworms, brine shrimp, beefheart, small NLS pellets, and Hikari Cichlid Gold pellets. They will probably love the freeze-dried blackworms that a lot of you are using.

Parents are the steely-gray-blue Geos that are courting at the 1:00 mark in the video (the brownish-red fish are a different Geo):


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7cwkGvT8ZC4

Here are a couple pictures of the juvies for sale:

http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j49/ryansmith83/3343910f.jpg

http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j49/ryansmith83/d0ba769b.jpg

I am asking $40 for a group of 6 fish and that includes USPS Priority shipping (2 - 4 days to most locations). I will only ship within the US. If you'd like overnight or express shipping, you'll have to pay the extra cost. I shipped young cichlids last summer via USPS Priority and all made it just fine. I even had one group go 5 days with no losses. I will only ship on Mondays to ensure plenty of time before the weekend.

If you have any questions, just ask!

[YSS]

Nice fish! Good luck with the sale.

[Discus-n00b]

PM sent! :)

[Discus-n00b]

Just wanted to say, my Geos from Ryan came today. If you looked in the tank at them right now, you couldn't guess they were even shipped. Very impressed with Ryan's fish and his packing.

[Ryan]

Glad to hear they made it safely! They are a little small, but since they only get to about 5" you won't see as much growth as with other types of Geos.

Matt, I know you asked via PM, but I'll answer here for other people who've purchased them: as far as I know, these Geos will not interbreed with other Geo species. My adult trio shares a tank with two other species of Geo and they've only ever spawned amongst themselves.

[Discus-n00b]

Thanks Ryan, good to hear. I'm already becoming more interested in Geos lol. Means I'm sure more will come into the house eventually.

[Ryan]

The parnaibae may not be the largest or flashiest Geo, but for people who want to get into eartheaters and have limited space, they are pretty spunky little guys. They do a good job of sand sifting and are fun to watch when courting/breeding. If you really enjoy them, you'll start to add tanks and collect more species. lol. Check out Peter's (peathenster from MonsterFishKeepers) G. winemilleri (his Satanoperca daemon on the right side of the tank are gorgeous, too):


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E8xZn_Un-JQ

[laborelch]

Just wanted to say, my Geos from Ryan came today. If you looked in the tank at them right now, you couldn't guess they were even shipped. Very impressed with Ryan's fish and his packing.

mine got here safely as well. Awesome packing and super fast shipping! Will post pics as they settle in and grow bigger.

[TheOscarGuy]

Mine are small, but they show off to each other by swimming on side of each other and moving..or really "waving" their bodies. They are very interesting guys, definitely different in behavior than the Tapajos I have.

[Ryan]

^ They are establishing a pecking order. It's something they can't do when you have 80 of them crammed in a 65 gallon tank. :D Now that they're in smaller groups you will see those behaviors come out.

[TheOscarGuy]

Yeah I know. I have seen such behavior in more aggressive fish (all amphilophus for instance). I did not expect these guys to start showing off that early. They also try and get their gill plates flared up to appear bigger than their opponent.

[Discus-n00b]

I'm seeing that same behavior. I was surprised as well lol

[steakman]

Ryan,
PM sent

[Ryan]

I'm sold out! Thanks for looking, everyone!

[FischAutoTechGarten]

they are a beautiful fish.

[laborelch]

it's been about a month that I had them, they grew a lot and they are my new favorites!!!! Trying to sell of some of my discus to re-scape the 200g for them :-)

[steakman]

I received the package from Ryan today. He took his time to pack them very nicely.

The fish are healthy and active.

After an hour in their new home, they all came up to the surface fighting the local residents to get food ... :D

I order 6, and found 8 of them in the box.

Thank you for your generosity, Ryan.

[Ryan]

I'm glad they made it! I included a few extras because the weather is changing and I was afraid chilly nights might cause a problem. Luckily that wasn't the case. They can definitely pack away some food, so be prepared. :)

[Darsenion]

do you have any more available and how would they do in a BB?

[Ryan]

I have a few left. I originally thought I was sold out, but the more fish I net out, the more I seem to find. I guess I had more fry than I realized. Lol

They would probably be okay in bare bottom (that's how I grow out the fry) but the real appeal of Geophagus is the sand-sifting behavior. It's in their nature to sift sand all day looking for food. I recommend Geo keepers to put them in a tank with a nice fine sand like pool filter/silica sand.

Also, my adults tend to be pretty shy, so they do appreciate some cover such as driftwood or flowerpots. I've never kept them with plants but my guess is that they would dig up anything that's buried, so you'd probably have to secure the plants by tying them to driftwood or something.