In 2016, French aquarists in Colombia discovered a new eartheater, which they named after the place where it was found in the Rio Cauca inlet – a Rio Sinu. However, this Rio Sinu is not identical to the much larger Rio Sinu of the same name in Colombia! For the exact locality see the article by Uwe Werner in DCG-Info 9/2023. This new Geophagus is a redhump eartheater ( = closer relationship of Geophagus steindachneri, G. crassilabris and G. pellegrini) with particularly splendid flank coloration. The entire group of redhump eartheaters needs to be revised and it must also be clarified whether they should actually remain in the genus Geophagus or whether they should be separated and transferred to a separate genus. Geophagus sp. Alto Sinu is considered by all aquarists to be clearly different from G. steindachneri and is therefore seen as an undescribed species. All redhump eartheaters grow to a length of 15-20 cm, burrow quite heavily at times and are maternal mouthbrooders.
Geophagus sp. Alto Sinu is a very typical redhump eartheater, but a particularly beautiful one. As with all redhump eartheaters, reports on its compatibility are contradictory. Some keepers describe it as extremely aggressive at times, others as lamblike. It is not sufficiently clear why this is the case. We can only say that the photographed animals, which are about 7-9 cm long and apparently sexually mature, are very peaceful with each other. They are German offspring.
For our customers: the animals have code 676574 on our stocklist. Please note that we only supply the wholesale trade.
Text & photos: Frank Schäfer
