pink tail chalceus school in my 180?

[dmopar74]

would a school of 6 pink tail chalceus be a good schooling fish for my 180g?
stock is-
2 small dats-2"
small oscar-4"
7 mixed silver dollars 3-5"
2 blood parrots softball size
gibby pleco 18"

the chalceus are 3" at $10 a piece, and by no means do i want my dats harmed, but the dats are hanging with the rest of the fish no problem.

 

[Bogwoodbruce]

They should be fine, ive worked with these before in my LFS they are a peaceful and active species that can get quite large but expect a solid 8".They like los of vegitable matter in there diet.

They will mix well with your current stock.

 

[DB junkie]

Agreed. I have had 1 for a few years now. Had 3 but only the strong survived....cause it killed the other 2. Best kept singly or in a large group (like you are planning) VERY peacefull IME. If anything I'de worry about the dats picking on them way later down the road. The Chelceus will keep to themselves at the top of the tank. Mine never goes down farther than 6 inches from the surface. The Armatus don't even know he's there. My only regret is not getting 1/2 dozen like you are planning.

 

[CTU2fan]

Something to watch for...when I got mine he was a bit small for the "big" tank so I had him in my growout 55G with a couple of little severums and a small oscar. I ended up having to take out one of the severums because he was just tearing the chal up from below (this while I was away). When I saw him his underside from ventral to caudal fin was torn up badly. Luckily he healed up and I've since put him with the big guys and he's fine.

If you do get a large group please post how it works out as I'd love to get a few more if possible. One thing I've noticed is since adding him to the 170G he's much more assertive re: feeding, he loves krill and steals from the big cichlids he's in with. He's still somewhat skittish but luckily in the 6' long tank he doesn't hit the sides anymore when he bolts.

 

[badreverend]

I've got 2 pink tails and threw 2 red tails (or yellow fins) in with them due to the fighting amongst themselves, now it's more of tag instead of kill. A similar sized leporinus shoals with them on occasion, but aside from him, they're in their own world. My dat is an inch smaller than they are, and there has never even been one case of stink eye between them and him, or anybody else for that matter.Good luck with what sounds like a nice setup.