I can say there has only been one tankmate fatality in the time that I have owned him so far. However it was not an attempt to eat a tankmate it was more like self-defense. I had a very large sailfin plec who was a relentless bully towards my aup. Constantly pestered him, chased him, pounced on him, etc. Just a belligerent turd all around. Not too long ago though the tides turned. The aup seemed to have had enough and he began ramming, pummeling, and bulldozing the crap out of the plec. It wasn't none stop, just when the plec would start his antics with the cat. The aup however had much more power and a determination to end the bullying than the plec had to fight back. The aup eventually stressed him out to the point the plec's health took a nose dive over a few days and finally I found the aup just ramming him into a corner, the plec's lifeless body just bobbing around. The flagtail, pike cichlid, pinktail, and several others have lived with the aup from the beginning with no issues. I also recently added a pretty long and slender spotted pike characin to the tank, something that is the size and shape of the frozen fish I feed the aup regularly, with no issues at all. The aup could gobble him down in a heart beat but hasn't. Maybe it has something to do with regular feedings, conditioning, awareness that food is provided by myself, individual temperament, who knows. I do know cohabitation is possible. He will have been with me a year pretty soon, has grown from 6 to a shade over 16 inches with me, and has yet to eat a tankmate despite being very capable of doing so. Def the coolest, most interesting cat I have owned and I have owned many species. These guys are hardy, low maintenance and are not active tankbusters like shovelnoses and retails. They prefer to slug around in their tubes, cruise clumsily at a leisurely pace around the tank when they feel like it, beg for food, eat till they are ballooned out, rest, and repeat. Not always available but I advocate for people to give them a shot when they are available. My dream is to try and breed them but one thing I do know is that they HATE each other in smaller spaces. We shall see though. I have ideas. Will give things a shot. Gotta dream big, right?
