Geophaginae

The Geophaginae are a subfamily of cichlid fishes from South America, where they are found as far west as the Andes and as far south as northern Argentina. The subfamily includes about 160 species. A single species, Geophagus crassilabris, is from southernmost Central America. For aquaristic purposes, the subfamily can be divided into two groups based on size, appearance, and to some extent behavior; given soft or sufficiently fine substrate, even dwarf cichlids behave like Geophagus, the "eartheater", and take up, mumble, and spit out sand and fine gravel, stripping it of biofilm nutrients. This grouping, however, does not reflect the phylogenetic relationships of these genera within the geophagine clade: