h psittacus in planted tank?

[bbortko]

I have 2 psittacus (1.5" & 2") growing out in my 20g hospital /grow out tank. I have a 36 bow front that is heavily planted w8th a wild Peruvian scalare, cories, black neons, and dwarf rainbows. I'm thinking of moving the psittacus to the 36 so that I can shut down the 20 but can't remember how plant friendly they are. I know I will hate netting them in the 36 when they are ready for the 235 but I can't remember if I've seen them in planted tanks or not.

 

[FluffySackson]

I've seen them in tanks with Amazon swords. They will most likely uproot plants that are in places they do not want them to be (like pretty much all cichlids) Also they will likely devour the black neons and dwarf rainbows when they get to a medium size once you add them to the 36. They can also devour cory cats (Or try to. Many cichlids who attempt to eat cory cats end up killing themselves. The thorns on the corydoras' fins are like pulling the pin on their own grenade, they take their killer with them. Hoplo Psittacus are carnivores, so they will most likely not try to eat plants. No guarantees they will try to renovate their home themselves. Hope I helped.

 

[bbortko]

Thanks for the input. I added them earlier today figuring its easy and quick to setup the grow out tank again if needed. I don't plan on growing them to large, just big enough not to get eaten by my bellycrawler. I've found with low aggression fish like sevs, heckellii, etc. It's easy to introduce fish significantly smaller than their tank mates, too big to eat but not big enough to be competition, so hopefully I can move them to the 235 before anything bad happens 8n the 36, my heckellii couldn't have been but 3" when I added them.

 

[FluffySackson]

Cichlids are usually able to eat fish like cardinals (smaller ones) when they are 3.5-4 inches. Best to be wary of that. Though, once I had a 7 inch P. Breidohri (My avatar fish) who had some nasty fungus whom I had to move into my 20 gallon baby musk turtle/small tetra tank to medicate (He was being picked on at the time by a crenicichla lugubris) . He didn't eat a single cardinal or black neon, and still ate pellets very well.

 

[ryansmith83]

My group of 1" psittacus killed and ate a 4" bristlenose pleco the day I got them. At that size I was a bit surprised they even gave the pleco a second glance. They will definitely hunt down and eat smaller fish. I hope you're not too attached to your tetras.

The growth of them is fast, so it shouldn't be long before you're upgrading them. Remember that they are sensitive to poor water quality so make sure to stay on top of the water changes while they're in a smaller tank. As for plants, mine didn't really eat them, but they will dig stuff up and rearrange things to their liking.

 

[mrrobxc]

I have mine in with plants. Put your plants on the perimeter of territory markers and they will likely leave them alone.

 

[bbortko]

Thanks for all the input. They have been in the 36g for 24hrs now and seem to be enjoying themselves, they're very active and owner responsive. They definitely are enjoying being out of a lower tank, my dogs always startled them.

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