fish to go with my mata mata

[snakeguy101]

If I notice any of the problems you have mentioned, they will certainly be addressed. I am not ignoring your advice however none of it as been accurate thus far. If I do see the pleco ever picking on the mata mata, I will move them into separate tanks but right now, all the pleco does is suck on the drift wood and occasionally the glass. I can assure you that the mata mata has absolutely no problems with reaching the top of the tanks for air as it is only about 75% full for that reason. I too have more than enough experience with aquatic turtles to know this along with how to care for my mata mata . Believe me, it is not the turtle i am worried about, it is the fish that i put in with him as he is going to be the most aggressive animal in the tank regardless of what else is in there. As far as the Silver dollar fish, i will look into those more, i was under the impression that they stayed small. I will also look into discus more. Thank you for all of your help.

 

[dirtyblacksocks]

You guys really need to start separating your posts into paragraphs for easier reading.

Pleco's will be less inclined to attach to turtles and harass them if they have their own hiding place, and even then they are far more inclined to suck/attach to a smooth soft shelled turtle.

Fish I would personally look into to go with a mata mata and peacock bass:
Red hook/wide bar silver dollars
Medium to large roseline sharks (iffy because of pbass)
6+ large bosemani rainbowfish (iffy because of pbass)
Flagtail/fei feung
Niger catfish
Royal clown knife
Jardini arowana (hit or miss, they can get psychotic at larger sizes)
Larger member of the geophagus family, such as altifrons
Oscar
Chocolate cichlid
Blue shark (canero azul)
Red tail giant gourami
Larger red tailed shark
Bucktooth/exodon tetra
Congo tetra
Buenos aires tetra


Keep in mind that it's always going to be hit and miss with turtles - odds are that sooner or later they're going to take a bite out of one of your fish.

 

[dirtyblacksocks]

Ok so your saing we should put animals well being in second plan and do what ever setup we want to do regardless of them? Plecos dont need hiding places to get of the mata way, they are the agressor not the hurted, the mata is the hurted, sooner or later pleco will do what pleco does and that is chew on stuff including other living things. I dont have a pleco-mata combo for many years to back it up but my own circunstancial evidence and other peoples direct evidence say its a very risky combo for the turtle. Plecos do injure wide surfaced fish and both hard shelled and softshelled turtles, period. If you ask to a experienced discus breeder if you can keep a big pleco with them he will trow stones at you. Matas are a delicate hard to adapt turtle species, they need shallow ,filled with vegetacion pristine warm waters and a calm lifestyle to tip the balance on their favor, that is actualy were you find them in the wild, having them to cope with fast deep water and stress from big fish going from one side to another may prove too much. Yes matas can drown And I beleave hands on esperience with this and like 26 other turtle species over 19 years gives me enough credit, thank you very much The reason we say no to a particular plan or combo is because we want to save other peoples ANIMALS, TIME, HARD WORK and TEARS for something that obviously aint gonna work, many times errors that have been done contless times and that cost MANY animal lifes. LEARN from others peoples mistakes dont comit your own, or at least new ones, not the same ones. In this case I beleave it is possible to reach a compromise. The pleco is in my opinion the bigest treat, maybe the peacok can be with the mata in the long run. However in its mind must allways be present the though that some day it could no longer work. Actualy a buch of big discus could be a great idea They are really peacefull and their temp and water requirements are the same as for the mata. At the same time they are hard to swallow, at least wille the mata is small

I bred discus for 5 years for a living before I decided it was way too much work - never did I have a problem with a pleco attaching to a discus, nor have I heard about it actually happening from any of my friends.

Pleco's generally only attach to fish when they are totally starved out and stressed for a lack of hiding spots - while I'm sure it can happen, I think it's due to a neglect for the pleco's environmental needs. Most discus breeders keep their discus in a completely bare bottom tank - in instances like that I can definitely see how a pleco might attack the fish.

 

[snakeguy101]

Thank you. I am looking into all of these options now.

I did not even think of a giant gourami, if I can come up with the money for one, it seems like my best bet thus far. It looks like i am going to go with the RHsilver dollars though as they are much more readily available.

 

[callmesethro]

I'd look into a scomb payara...sometimes youll get one thats communal...but they stress easily

 

[Vicious_Fish]

I think Flagtails and Red Hook Silver Dollars would be a good choice.

 

[elindra]

If you want more colour... they do well with earth eaters as well

 

[Death Pony]

Keep in mind that Mata matas have huge mouths that function as an underwater vacuum cleaner. Anything that is skinny enough to fit into their mouth will most likely be appreciated as a nice meal. Pbass would probably be the best option. I would contact a zoo employee and ask what they keep with them.

 

[snakeguy101]

According to a friend who works there, they keep large black pacus, arapima, and rays with theirs.

Also, here is a picture of the tank after it was first set up. I have since added a large Cypress knee and some more fake plants, and the water level has been lowered about an inch and a half.

 

[Vicious_Fish]

Nice tank. My only suggestion would be to have a shelf for the mata to rest on. They like to sit in shallow water where they just have to stretch their neck up to reach the surface as opposed to swimming to get air.