Purple earth eartheater

Gymnogeophagus terrapurpura

Also known as Terrapurpura gymnogeophagus

FreshwaterFish

Purple earth eartheater (Gymnogeophagus terrapurpura) — (c) facundo cortondo, some rights reserved (CC BY) · cc-by

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: Common
Origin: Uruguay, lowland drainages
Family: Cichlidae

Overview

A subtropical eartheater that wants a cool season, which makes it one of the few cichlids suited to an unheated tank in a temperate room. Keep a group over sand and let the temperature drift down through winter; the fish will go dull and quiet for a few months and then color up hard in spring. Skipping the cool period shortens its life. Feed sinking foods and frozen fare, less in the cold months.

In the wild

Gymnogeophagus terrapurpura sifts sand in lowland streams of Uruguay, where winters are genuinely cold and summers warm. Keep it across 16 to 26 degrees Celsius over the year, at pH 6.5 to 7.8. The seasonal swing is part of the care requirement rather than a tolerance.

Good to know

Gymnogeophagus terrapurpura reaches about 11 centimeters and was described in 2016. Its name is Latin for purple earth, after the ground it was collected over. Gymnogeophagus means naked eartheater, for the absence of a spine on the first part of the dorsal fin that separates it from Geophagus.

Did you know

The species is named after dirt, affectionately: purple earth, the ground its describers knelt on.

Tank mates

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