Changing to Americans

[mathobes]

Hey all,

within the next 6 months I'll be moving to an apartment in Brisbane. Unfortunantly this means not enough room for all the tanks. So I'm going to sell everything before I go. I keep malawians and riverine, but after seeing some photos of geos on the forum I've decided to change direction to Americans.

Problem is I know very little about keeping Americans so I'm doing some research in advance.

I will only be able to fit one tank where Im moving so I was thinking a 5ft.

I am interested in geos, columbian and orange heads. With the Africans I use rift lake salt plus prime for conditioning.

What kind of conditioners are used for geos?

And buffers to keep the ph near neutral?

How many geos could be put into a 5x1.5x1.5?

What are the best water parameters?

What tank mates are commonly used?

What kind of lighting shows them off the best?

How difficult is it to find great quality geos, and what do they cost?

Can't breed them so is all male advised?

And any other information or advice would be appreciated.

Cheers

[mcsx]

1.No need to use any conditioners, but you can use aqua-pics has an amazon liquid/ also driftwood will keep ph pretty stable.

2. how many geo's depends on type. id have maybe 4 orange heads in that size tank, or 3 columbians, dont think theres space for both.

3. water parameters are same as most fish, just make sure all toxins are 0, and your ph is lower.

4. alot of people use tetra's or corydora's as tankmates, they work well.

5. lighting is generally more of a personal choice, one thats not too bright.

6. once again depends on variety to what they cost, anywhere from $15-200, the ones you listed normally go for around 15-25 dollars.

7. you can have all males if you dont want to breed them.

also something to add, try and get a tank with a larger footprint rather than height.

something like a 5x2x2, this size would give you more options.

but yeh bigger is better.

Cheers Mark~

Hey all,

within the next 6 months I'll be moving to an apartment in Brisbane. Unfortunantly this means not enough room for all the tanks. So I'm going to sell everything before I go. I keep malawians and riverine, but after seeing some photos of geos on the forum I've decided to change direction to Americans.

Problem is I know very little about keeping Americans so I'm doing some research in advance.

I will only be able to fit one tank where Im moving so I was thinking a 5ft.

I am interested in geos, columbian and orange heads. With the Africans I use rift lake salt plus prime for conditioning.

What kind of conditioners are used for geos?

And buffers to keep the ph near neutral?

How many geos could be put into a 5x1.5x1.5?

What are the best water parameters?

What tank mates are commonly used?

What kind of lighting shows them off the best?

How difficult is it to find great quality geos, and what do they cost?

Can't breed them so is all male advised?

And any other information or advice would be appreciated.

Cheers

[mathobes]

If I had a 5x2x2 could I keep 2 columbians and 3 orange heads? Regrding the pArameters i'm a little confused on what the kh and gh should be, alot of websites differ on what they state the gh and kh should be. I know the gh should be soft, but how soft? And as for kh, some websites say none at all whilst others say 80ppm whilst others say 190ppm.

[mcsx]

I dont bother with those parameters, i dont think they make too much difference to geo's, they seem happy no matter what, mine spawn either way.

But yeh, just adding some of the aqua-pics amazon liquid would probably be enough, if you do want to add something.

And yes i beleive it should be ok to keep those fish in a 5x2x2, along with some tetra's / other smaller fish.

Cheers Mark~

[mathobes]

Sweet, cheers for the info. Seems to be alot simpler than keeping Africans. So the ph won't fluctuate with kh being nil?

[mcsx]

Just put driftwood in the tank, it should keep the ph pretty stable.

There about the same, malawi's aren't exactly difficult to keep.

There easy when you compare them to fish like tropheus, or some other sensitive tangs.

But they still require weekly water changes, as older fish get HITH.

And they eat just about everything.

Cheers.

[mathobes]

Simple in the way of not having to muck around with their water to much. I didn't mean malawians are hard to keep. Yeah I always do weekly 30% changes, this won't change with geos.

[ozarowana]

So the ph won't fluctuate with kh being nil?

Yes it definately will.

Bris tap water is pretty soft atm which is perfect for Sth Americans. Last time I measured it was GH <20ppm, KH 65ppm. Don't need to add any salts etc... maybe a little bicarb if the KH gets a bit low before your next water change.

[mathobes]

So the ph won't fluctuate with kh being nil?

Yes it definately will.

Bris tap water is pretty soft atm which is perfect for Sth Americans. Last time I measured it was GH <20ppm, KH 65ppm. Don't need to add any salts etc... maybe a little bicarb if the KH gets a bit low before your next water change.

Yeah I thought there had to be a little more kh than nil, I got a few people tell me it the kh didn't matter but I thought that was weird. Cheers mate