kacie

I just got them on Wednesday and I am liking them. I got 5 Gymnogeophagus Blue neons about 2-3 1/2 inches. Does anyone here have any experience with gymnos? They are doing well, swimming, eating and spitting sand. I am having such issues with getting my lights up and running that I can barely see the fish but it seems like a few of them have some nice color on their fins and blue spangles on the body. I am keeping them in a room temp tank at 65-68 F. When my lights finally get set up I think the temp will rise.

Okay kids need me I will post pictures asap.

Attached Images

IMG_0304.JPG (357.3 KB, 78 views)

Lucy

Congrats. They look really pretty. Darn kids, we want more pics. lol

Sorry I don't know anything about cichlids.

capekate

great fish there! I love finding new SA Cichlids and learning about them. I am prone to keeping SA Cichlids in my tanks and I have to say after doing a little research on your beauties I am very interested in this species!
I was surprised to find that they do like the cooler water temps considering they are from the southern tip of SA. So your water temp you have them in now must be great for them. I read they really do like to burrow and dig up plants too.
Your little ones are going to show some wonderful color when they mature!
Best of luck with them

kacie

Thanks Kate. These fish seem like exactly what I was looking for. A small pretty less aggressive cichlid. So far they are swimming around together so I am hoping they don't just settle into separate territories like my Bolivian rams. The cooler temps are the only drawback as I'd like to have some sort of algae eater and I seem limited in my dither fish.

capekate

Hi Kacie
I am very interested in adding some of this species to my next tank. Glad to hear they are doing well. I was thinking that there are some pleco's that prefer a cooler tank temp? As far as algae eaters? But you are right, it does limit what type of tropical fish you can add. I will have to keep that in mind as well. Maybe they will not be able to go into my future 120g tank after all.

kacie

If you are planning such a large tank go with a nice Geophagus community. They get too big for my 55g but can be soooo pretty especially tapajos or altifrons.

capekate

Hi Kacie
I found a great site, wish I bookmarked it. It had great photos of each species of Gymno's. They are beautiful looking fish and I guess they come in different sizes as well? I dont know a very lot about them, just was curious and started doing a search. Now Im very interested. You say they are a peaceful fish too? That sounds great. I dont know the ones you mentioned above, but I will do some reseach as I have the time before I get the bigger tank. I noticed somewhere that they are related to the flowerhorn as well? Or was it just the humphead gymno's that are? I think I saw some that were orange and black stripes too. WoW... I really liked them as well. The smaller ones almost look like rams to me, which I really like.
Thanks for starting this thread that got me very interested in this species of SA fish!

kacie

Yeah I couldn't figure out what SA cichlids to put in my 55g until I saw these and knew they were exactly what I wanted. They are young so they might get less peaceful but I see no real aggression and they hang out together.

kacie

There is not much info on them but I found the most at cichlaholic.com and the guy who originally collected them will quickly answer any questions.

capekate

Thanks Kacie,
I will look for that site and check it out.

kacie

Kate,
I found this crazy thread in cichlid forum about someone's trip to uraguay. So far they swim together like they almost slowly school.

capekate

I was reading about the trips to Uraguay too.. Guess there is a group or at least one guy that goes all the time and is an expert on them.
So far what I have come across are wild caught. I will not for personal reasons buy any wild caught fish and prefer to find this species if I can from a breeder.
Most sites are located in Canada tho and I cant find anyone in the lower states who has breed or knows where to find this species.
If you come across any sites can you post them here? Thanks..

Angela_96

WOW now thats a cool cichlid (as my eyes pop out and I drool in jealousy!)

I did read an article in one of my fish mags about the cool water fish being a lot more than just minnows and goldfish. There were a lot of cichilds on that list.

Good luck with them! They are BEAUTIFUL!

kacie

Kate,
I found mine on aquabid and have seen others there from different sellers. I think the people who go on the collecting trips sell on aquabid. Mine were tank raised but I've also seen some wild ones on aquabid. I wouldn't buy wild either and even feel weird about how close these must be generationally from their wild caught relatives.

Right now on the site are quite a few wild ones for sale...

Have you checked out the gymno videos on youtube?

capekate

Hi Kacie, I do check out youtube vids of all the different fish, I have quite a few there myself lol. Thanks for the tip, it would be nice to check them out there, I havent done that yet.
And good for you on finding the tank raised rather then the wild caught.
I will have to take a peek at aquabid just to see them, thanks for letting me know there were some there to check out.
.

kacie

Oh in New Jersey there is this guy who sometimes carries them Jeff Rapp, Tangled up in Cichlids. Can you believe I hadn't looked for them on youtube when I before I got them and I was just dying to know how they behave and there it was on youtube. A few people have Gymnos on cichlidforum.

capekate

Thanks Kacie, I wonder if Jeff Rapp has a website? Or is that the name of his store? I would be interested in buying some from him in the spring when I get the new tank.

kacie

Tangled up in cichlids is his website. The five gymnos that I have are all siblings so I wonder if I should find a few unrelated ones and trade/sell a few of these to have a healthier breeding group?

capekate

Thanks Kacie
I would think that may be the best if you want to breed them, but others may offer better advice, as I have never bred my fish.will check out jeff rapps website, thanks for the info!

Juand15

Watch your Neon's get really Awesome Colors, just keep a very healthy diet and good water quality and you will have a really nice Gymno!!

any new pics?

jen.chris

Hi, I have a community peaceful tank and went to my LFS, Terre Quatics in Champlin. I asked her if she knew of a good centerpiece fish for my tank, I told her that I had found out no gouramis or angels since I have a betta in my tank (were talking my 75gallon tank).
Anyways, she reccommended a Gymnogeophagus sp. "Blue Neon Valentine". She told me it would get to about 5 inches, that is was ok by itself (I didn't want to risk fighting in my tank) and that it would get along just fine with my platies, etc and with my Betta. She did say that it would eat any platy fry, but leave the adults alone. She also warned that it might not do well with small tetras. She advised me that they live anywhere from 5-10 years and that they eat flake and sinking food.

Anyways, I think the one I have is REALLY neat! It's about 3 inches and beautiful. The store owner told me that not many people know about these fish and that they are a great fish.
So what are you feeding yours?
& I will definitley check back for anywebsites..I read that they are somewhat unknown species and that their is very little information about them...so the trick is finding someone who's had them
Best of Luck & I will get up a picture Asap-probably change it to my main pic!

jen.chris

Here is what I do know:
Store owner said that it would get along well with my mollies, platies, corys and beta. That it would eat the platy fry and possibly tetras. To feed it flake food as well as sinking food (mine loves flightless fruit flies, if I squish them so they sink).

That it would get to be about 5 inches and be red (can’t remember if she said red on the tail or red on the whole body) with blue spots. She said I could get an M/F pair or just a single fish of one sex, that they’re outgoing fish and don’t need to be in groups. That it would live 5-10 years.

I've also read online that their is not much out about the species and that the best way to find out more information is from owners of the fish.

I did read about a 90day, gradual cooling 'season' for the fish, but that it was related to breeding, so will my one fish be ok w/o a cooling season if I have no plans on having more than one at a time/breeding them

Thanks

kacie

I've done a lot of searching and I don't know how important the cooling off period is. It certainly initiates breeding but I did read somewhere that without it they will fade away. I also had the impression that they like to be in groups. I have five and they are always interacting.