Meridionalis eartheater

Gymnogeophagus meridionalis

Also known as Southern gymnogeophagus

FreshwaterFish

Meridionalis eartheater (Gymnogeophagus meridionalis) — CHUCAO · CC BY-SA 3.0

Care at a glance

Temperature: 61–79°F (16–26°C)
pH: 6.5–7.8
Adult size: 4.3 in (11 cm)
Minimum tank: 53 gal (200 L)
Temperament: Mostly peaceful
Social behavior: Social
Swim level: Bottom
Difficulty: Medium
Breeding: Medium
Rarity: Rare
Origin: Uruguay and Paraná drainages
Family: Cichlidae

Overview

This is a small, peaceful eartheater that does best as a social fish, so keep a group of five or six rather than a single specimen. It works the bottom of the tank, sifting fine sand for scraps of food, and stays calm with its tankmates apart from a territorial spell when a pair spawns. Give it other gentle, cool-tolerant community fish for company, since it will not trouble anything too large to swallow. Feed a mix of sinking pellets, frozen bloodworm, daphnia and brine shrimp, and make sure enough reaches the floor. A tank of around 200 liters gives a group room to dig and to hold loose territories.

In the wild

Gymnogeophagus meridionalis comes from the Uruguay and Parana drainages of southern South America, one of the coolest corners of the cichlid world. It lives over sandy margins in soft to medium-hard water and takes a real winter, so a temperature range of 16–26 C suits it and it can be kept without a heater. Aim for a pH of 6.5–7.8. Give it a floor of fine sand for sifting, with wood and smooth stones to break up sight lines and mark out territories.

Good to know

Gymnogeophagus meridionalis belongs to the cichlid family and reaches about 11 centimeters, making it one of the smaller eartheaters. Unlike several of its relatives, which brood their eggs in the mouth, it is a biparental substrate brooder: a pair attaches the eggs to a firm surface such as a stone or a leaf, and both fish guard the eggs and fry. Substrate brooding is the older habit in this southern genus, and this species keeps it while cousins evolved mouthbrooding.

Did you know

Gymnogeophagus is one of the southernmost cichlid genera on Earth, ranging into subtropical rivers where winter water turns genuinely cold, which is why this fish can be kept in an unheated tank in many homes.

Tank mates

Meridionalis eartheater is a mostly peaceful, social species that keeps to the bottom. These picks match on water type, temperature, pH, size and temperament.