Central American Tank Scavenger?

[House 64]

I've been setting up my Central American tanks and need a recommendation for a scavenger(s) that can with stand the aggression of these cichlids. One of my tanks will have Clown and Yo-yo Loaches since the cichlids are still fairly small...... but my larger CA's will need something.... any recommendations?

 

[terd ferguson]

Synodontis eupterus. Easy to find, relatively cheap, awesome at janitor work, grow large enough to be safe with Americans but not too large, fraction of the bio load of a pleco, etc....

/thread

 

[octofasciatus]

Large Plec? Gibbiceps or literatus perhaps. Remember though that as well as scavenging they will still need the correct diet. I actually keep a couple of corydorus with mine. They keep to the bottom and they get out of the way fast.

 

[terd ferguson]

Large Plec? Gibbiceps or literatus perhaps. Remember though that as well as scavenging they will still need the correct diet. I actually keep a couple of corydorus with mine. They keep to the bottom and they get out of the way fast.

Lol, you reinforce the snodontis. No special diet needed. They will eat and thrive on whatever the others chew up and spit out. My Oscars spit out more than goes into their bellies. My synodontis is correspondingly fat as hell.

Plus, a properly fed pleco at around 8" can leave four foot long strings of poop. This was not something I was looking for with an already large bioload from a bunch of large Americans.

 

[House 64]

Terd.... I'll google the Synodontis eupterus... but you've got a pic for giggles?

 

[REDhooK]

i conclude with synodontis cats they are tough and good scavangers.... i keep em with africans too

 

[svtim]

If I'm not mistaken that cat is from africa not america

 

[south coast nelly]

cae are tough critter's.....hoplo........

 

[terd ferguson]

Terd.... I'll google the Synodontis eupterus... but you've got a pic for giggles?

Here's the only shot I have handy of mine, his whiskers are crooked on his face, not all are like that...

And yes, they are african. But they're an excellent match with New Worlds.

Here's a link to more photos...
http://www.planetcatfish.com/catelog/species.php?species_id=121

 

[ewok]

red tail cat.
they'll clean everything up inside the tank

i heard that yoyo loaches were actually aggressive. so you might want to reconsider.

the Synodontis euruptus is not bad. i had one that used to fight with my larger cichlids. grew to around 6-7 inches.
might want to be careful though cuz they might actually take on those sissy fish you keep... and beat the crap out of them