Paraguay Eartheater

Care at a glance

Overview

The Paraguay eartheater is a stocky, sand-sifting cichlid that is fairly territorial, especially between males, so it is usually kept as a single fish or as one male with a couple of females in a larger tank. It spends its time over the bottom, taking mouthfuls of sand and sieving out food, and needs a soft sandy floor to do this without harming itself. It can be pushy at spawning time but is not a relentless killer, and it mixes with robust, similarly sized tankmates that are not small enough to be seen as food. Provide open sand, some smooth rocks and driftwood, and a few hardy plants. Feed sinking pellets and frozen foods such as bloodworm and brine shrimp. A tank of at least 140 liters gives it room to forage and hold a territory.

In the wild

The Paraguay eartheater comes from the Paraguay and Parana river systems across Uruguay, southern Brazil, Paraguay and northern Argentina. This is a subtropical range with real seasons, so the fish experiences a cooler winter and does best with a temperature of only 21 to 25 C and a seasonal drop rather than constant heat. The water is neutral and moderately soft to slightly hard, so a pH of 6.5 to 7.5 works well. Give it a sandy floor to sift, some rocks and wood for structure, and open swimming space, keeping the tank on the cooler side of tropical.

Good to know

Gymnogeophagus balzanii is a member of the cichlid family, Cichlidae, reaching around 14 cm, with mature males developing a tall, rounded nuchal hump on the forehead. Unlike many of its substrate-spawning relatives, it is a delayed maternal mouthbrooder. The pair spawns on the substrate, and after a day or two the female takes the eggs and larvae into her mouth, where she incubates them for a further week or so before releasing free-swimming fry. She does not feed while holding, and her care continues for weeks after release, which makes this a rewarding species to breed.

Did you know

Mature male Paraguay eartheaters grow an oversized, rounded hump on the head that gives the fish its other common name, the Argentine humphead. The species is also unusual among eartheaters in being a mouthbrooder rather than a simple substrate spawner.

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