Are these good tank mates?

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BPags52

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MFK Member
Feb 22, 2009
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Tallahassee, FL
This weekend I'll be trading in my jaguar cichlid/pleco and starting over with a clean slate. I have a 125g aquarium that I plan to put 5-6 cichla juveniles (2"ers) in.

As far as tank mates go, i've been thinking about getting:

6 silver dollars
1 clown loach
1 pictus cat
1 common pleco

Do these sound like they'll fit together alright?

I figured I'd get the silver dollars to have something thats not aggressive in the tank, and hopefully teach the cichla not to be so skiddish. Plus if one of more of the cichla are bullies, I'm hoping the silver dollars will take the beatings...

and I thought the loach/pictus/pleco would be enough to clean up leftovers/etc.

What do you guys think?
 
At first I hesitated thinking about getting silver dollars, b/c I didn't want to have to put flakes and/or herbivore food in with the cichla. I was/am worried that it'll be harder to switch the cichla off live foods.

I'm thinking if the cichla start associating non-live food as the silver dollar's food (and stuff they dont want), then they won't go after anything that doesn't move.
 
BPags52;2839428; said:
At first I hesitated thinking about getting silver dollars, b/c I didn't want to have to put flakes and/or herbivore food in with the cichla. I was/am worried that it'll be harder to switch the cichla off live foods.

I'm thinking if the cichla start associating non-live food as the silver dollar's food (and stuff they dont want), then they won't go after anything that doesn't move.
Click to expand...

you may have a point,
i have two 6" red hooks with my two 4" temensis, the pbass are still all over bloodworms and freeze dried and frozen krill. i have some emerald entree (herbivore frozen food) for my uaru and the bass even eat that.:D
 
they sound like good tank mates besides the clown loach.. ofcourse things can change once the cichla get bigger..
 
pictus do better in groups
 
so do clown loaches!
 
Hmmm. Maybe 3 pictus? I don't want alot of cats...just enough to take care of the uneaten food. The cichla will be the main attraction ;)

I spent the last few days preparing my tank for its new inhabitants. Tomorrow I'm taking my cichlid/pleco to trade in to the LFS and also to pick up the silver dollars and the pictus if they have any big enough (only saw a 2"er when I was there a few days ago). A week or two after adding the SDs/cats, assuming nothing goes wrong...thats when I'll get the cichla.

Oh and I asked the LFS which type of cichla they can find, but he wasn't sure. He said they were just labeled as peacock bass, and said just 'the common type.' So, looks like I'll be in for a surprise :) I'm guessing either ocells or monos. I'm in FL so they're probably imports from south Florida, but I don't know. I'll be getting them for $13 each...

but back to the point: I don't want alot of cats...will 2 pictus be aggressive towards each other? If so, is a 3rd really enough to calm 'em down?
 
i'd suggest a smaller pleco. i had 2 commons that got 14" in a 120g and they took up alot of room. now i have a gold nugget and a royal, both are under 4". they grow big too but they are nice on the eyes and i'm planning an upgrade well before they reach the 1' mark.
 
The LFS had a gold nugget pleco that was about 3" for $30. I've thought about getting it, but didn't really wan't to spend $30 on a pleco, when that could buy me 2 more cichla ;)

edit: If the pleco got big enough that I was worried it was taking up space, I wouldn't hesitate to remove it...it's just there for maintenance ;) The pleco I have now is about 9-10", and i've had it for about 4 and 1/2 years....not sure what kind it is though. I know what you're talking about though, I've seen those behemoth plecos before.
 
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