125 Gallon SA/CA Cichlid Aquarium

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mrwhite

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Aug 9, 2011
26
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Baltimore, Maryland USA
Greetings,
I have a well established 125 gallon SA/CA aquarium. It is well stocked and some would say overstocked. I am fully stocked now and only plan to add a pleco if possible. However there is plenty of hiding places and 2 aquaclear 110's for filtration. I do bi weekly water changes with my tanks cleaning with 30% water changes on the average. My stock is as follows 1 oscar, 2 jack, 1 blue acara, 1 jaguar, 1 texas, 1 flowehorn, 1 cuban, 1 pictus cat, 1 sun spot cat and a blue channel cat. My fish were all stocked within 2 weeks and started as small juveniles. My largest fish is my oscar which is about 8 inches down to my cuban which is only about 3 inches. There is some aggression but nothing out of control. I wanted to add a pleco so I purchased one about 6 inches long. It lasted about 2 weeks before it was killed. I will post some tank photos soon. I am not new to fish keeping. I have been doing these type of cichlids for about 3 years now and have became pretty knowledgeable and skilled at it. I would like to know if anyone has advice on getting another pleco or not. My LFS has some close to a foot long. Do you thing a big pleco that size would survive or would it be a crap shoot. I do not want to send another fish to its doom unless it is a feeder fish.

Thanks!
 
Don't bother with plecos, they create tons of waste. Your tank is full as it is and you may have to take some fish out once they hit full size unless they somehow manage to coexist peacefully at full size. I wouldn't bet my money on it though with a flowerhorn and a jag in there.
 
Aye, I agree. Plecos just create heaps of waste and not really do anything for the tank in return (i.e. eat up enough algae or the likes).

However, the question is whether it'd survive, and the answer is very possibly - they're quite hardy and resilient, and can stand up to being bullied by large cichlids. Not a definite tho, as some cichlids just won't back down and will eventually kill the pleco.
 
Also, if you wanted a pleco to help with algae the large ones are lazy and dont touch it. They are only good at making poop
 
I agree don't add a pleco. I would still keep an eye on the jag and FH for possible aggression as they closer to maturity. The oscar and acara may struggle with the level of aggression
 
I find plecos indispensable in keeping the tank look clean by removing slime and algae from glass and rock. But I found that big pleco don't do the job as good as smaller plecos that can move in and out of crevices. Big plecos are more vulnerable to attack by aggressive fish because they can't hide. Smaller plecos hide in crevices during day time and come out at night to do the cleaning job. This is why I don't keep common pleco anymore and keep only bristlenose that max out at 6 inches, but I also don't keep super aggressive team like Flowerhorn, Texas and Jaguar that are hard to coexist with plecos except for the toughest ones.
 
That is a lot of fish for a 125. I would do more than 60% WC per week with all those fish in such a small space that's an extreamly heavy bio-load. Yes, avoid the pleco at all costs.
 
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