Question For Flagtail Owners

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Chromobotia

Fire Eel
MFK Member
Aug 12, 2008
1,136
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Southeastern PA
I'm researching fish to have an idea of what I want when I upgrade to a much larger tank. I have done a search on the Flagtail here and on Google so I know the very basics about the fish but it seems that detailed information is missing from my search. I would like to hear real life experience from some Flagtail owners.

I currently have Clown Loaches, Tin Foil Barbs, Bala Sharks and some Plecos. I'm going to move these fish to the new tank and possilbly add a school of Silver Dollars, some more Tin Foil Barbs, a Tig, Lima Shovelnose, another Pleco and perhaps a different species of catfish.

I have heard that Flagtails at some point will start to suck on fish slime. How true is this? Anyone have experience with this? If I add just one Flagtail to the tank with the above mentioned stocklist, will I run into compatibility issues? Anyone have a Flagtail with any of the fish that I mentioned above? In my search, one person on here said that his Flagtail attacked his Silver Dollars. Anyone else experience this? Thanks for reading this post.
 
I've always had at least one flagtail in my tanks. They are the best tank cleaners, look awesome and do not **** as much as plecos.
My flagtail gets along with most of it's tank mates (aro, TFB, plecos, clown loaches, parrots & frontosas). They are a very low maintenance fish and not once have i seen it suck slime off any of the other fish.
My advice is to not chuck in two flagtails together, one will eventually kill the weaker one although i've seen a guy school around 10 flagtails in one tank and they seemed peaceful.
 
I've read that Flagtails are agressive with their own kind and that they are best to keep alone. I would like to try to get a school, but their potential size prevents me from doing that. I plan on just one in my tank.
 
Ive kept a few flagtails and ive lost 2 to jumping threw the tiniest of gaps. Ive got one now who ive had for comming upto 2yrs now and hes had a fairly good grow rate, hes around 9" now, and (touch wood) so far hes been behaving with tankmates hes been in with a real assortment inc, clownloach and other fish that you mentioned :)
 
Mine has also never sucked any slimecoat that I've seen. The only problem I saw with mine and tankmates is that he didn't like my silver dollars (maybe he thought they looked too much like conspecifics?). He chased them quite a bit, but that was in a 75 with 3 SDs. Now that he'll be moved up to a 150 tomorrow, I'm thinking about trying a bigger shoal (including my original 3 back) and see if it works out
 
I have 5 flagtails living in a community atm. They do chase one another but no damage is apparent at this stage. Great fish to watch swimming in a big setup.

Very very slow growers so i wouldnt worry about size to much. In any case you can sell some off as they do grow.
 
I have my flagtail living with two orino pbass and a crenicichla. He does like to chase my bass everynow and then but it is getting a little cramped in the 75. Im moving all of them into my 180 in about a month. So far he has been a great fish but they do like to jump, he has hit the lid numerous times. He used to be very skiddish but has gotten to the point that he follows me around the tank and comes up to eat out of my hand while i pet his nose. As for growth i got mine at 3" and is now about 9" in the span of 8 months. Never seen him try to suck on any of my fish so i cant really comment on that. I think all of mine move to fast to be able to be sucked on. I would reccomend these fish to anyone who can house them very entertaining.
 
Thanks for the responses. I think at some point I may try a Flagtail. My fear is that this fish would bring death and destruction to the tank as I have no experience with them and information about them is fairly vague. They sure are a good looking fish. My tank is going to be 96X36X36, so hopefully the size will have a calming effect on all the fish. I hope to get a school of Tin Foil Barbs (about 5), school of Silver Dollars (6-8) and eventually a Flagtail. I'm still researching other fish to add, but this is what I thought of so far. I may have to rethink mixing the Flagtail with Silver Dollars though as several people have said that their Flagtail was very agressive with them.
 
I have raised 3 flagtails together from less than 3" to around 9+" in about 9 months. They are currently being kept in a 100 gallon with a random assortment of fish including discus. They have never bothered anyone but argued amongst themselves. They went through a phase where they fought almost the entire time the lights were on, and I almost got rid of them. Once they worked out who was in charge though, they have been living in total peace. I always do check my fish for any damage, but as of yet haven't found a scratch. They are fed a variety of foods including algae wafers, sinking cichild pellets, massivore, random steamed veggies, bloodworms, tetra bits (can't get my discus onto anything healthier), defrosted krill, etc... They get a huge variety of food and there is lots of hiding places in their current home. I think these two aspects keep them happy, relaxed and uninterested in bothering anyone. The glass in that tank is spotless. I have tons of different species of plecos and cleaning fish they are not. If you want a cleaning fish, flagtails are the way to go. They are active fish, and they will be getting an upgrade in about 2 to 3 weeks to the 180 gallon where I think they will hit another decent growth spurt. So, this is my experience with flagtails. :)
 
Ive kept a 7" and a 10" together along with some 6-10" cichlas...
they were fine together, although they do tend to split the tank in half and each stayed in its own side....
later i moved the 10" into a bigger tank and i started chasing my 15" indo tarpon , so ... my assumption is that flagtail tends to chase silver scaled fish....
right now , i have that 7" that now grew to 10" in with a couple cichla around 8" and a giant herd of 19 clown loaches up to 9" , and it works out fine, it just shares food with the loaches
 
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