Sveni eartheater

Geophagus sveni

Also known as Sven's eartheater

FreshwaterFish

Sveni eartheater (Geophagus sveni) — (c) Julien Lepage, some rights reserved (CC BY) · cc-by

Care at a glance

Temperature: 77–84°F (25–29°C)
pH: 5.5–7.2
Adult size: 7.9 in (20 cm)
Minimum tank: 119 gal (450 L)
Temperament: Mostly peaceful
Social behavior: Social
Swim level: Bottom
Difficulty: Medium
Breeding: Medium
Rarity: Common
Origin: Tocantins basin, Brazil
Family: Cichlidae

Overview

One of the better eartheaters to start with, now well established in the hobby and bred in reasonable numbers. Keep five or six over deep fine sand with a long open floor. It is peaceful for its size and mixes with calm mid-sized South Americans, though like all eartheaters it monopolizes the bottom. Feed sinking granules and frozen foods frequently in small amounts rather than one large meal.

In the wild

Geophagus sveni sifts sand in the tributaries of the Tocantins basin in Brazil, in warm water running soft to neutral. Keep it at 25 to 29 degrees Celsius and pH 5.5 to 7.2, over fine sand deep enough to work.

Good to know

Geophagus sveni reaches about 20 centimeters and was described in 2010, honoring Sven Kullander, the systematist responsible for much of the modern arrangement of South American cichlids. It is a delayed mouthbrooder: eggs are laid on a cleared surface and taken into the mouth a day or so later.

Did you know

Kullander named half this cohort's species; here his colleagues filed him into the genus he curated.

Tank mates

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