ok people i have got geophagus Geophagus sp. "Pindare" (Parnaiba),
Geophagus brachybranchus ,Geophagus sp. "Araguari - Orange Head" ,
and heckelii they have to be one of the best cichlids!! some probley dont think so , but you wont regret having these beautiful eartheaters!
so supasi if you plant nice strong plants in the back of your tank with a couple in the middle, there wont be a problem with geos ripping your plants out. like you even said (baby snapper) thats the only reason why i got them, cos they look like snapper!! as for breeding they have to be young adults before they do any spawning (4-5 inchs) once they spawn there is no stopping them. its a shame nz cant get most geo's,but if you can get Geophagus sp. "Araguari - Orange Head" they are one of the best looking geo's. as for riversand not my taste in a tank, i use 1mm gravel brown as it looks good and its like sand anyway! also ROCKS is very important as geos love to lay eggs on flat surface rocks. well i better finish this off cos i can go for ever lol,good luck supasi with what ever you go with. and heres a video just to try and confince you to buy geo's,one more thing they are middly aggresive so dont get put off,and mostly middly aggesive to them selfs not other fish.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=jpT5vvTgwjs
peter