Tank mates for polypterus?

[BurdenOfBreath]

Howdy,

I recently purchased a polypterus at about 2-3 inches and he has grown to almost 9-12 inches in the past 60 days. He is very active and eats almost anything... including some of my fish. Is this grown rate normal or did I get the mutant one?

The main reason I was posting was related to who can be housed in the same tank as this guy. I have been reading that plecos are bad tank mates for a polypterus but I don't fully understand why. I am also curious on if an arowana would be a good tank mate for this fellow.

Are there any recommendations/warnings about who/what can be housed with fish?

P.s. Here is a snap shot of the current set up and fish that are in the tank. The tank is an aprox. 75 gal bow front and I have a 125 gal tank to upgrade to once the fish outgrow the current tank.



~thank you for your time
Bob

 

[johnnyberotten]

yup, that a mutant alright.
I just added Datnoids with my bichirs they add some colour to the tank.
I do have a bristle nose Pleco that has never bothered them but they are known to suck the slim layer off birchirs.

 

[TheCanuck]

Total mutant. Enjoy!

 

[M4ttSyke]

what kind of bichir is it?

 

[Nman]

I only saw one bichir in pic... But looks like a sen


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[M4ttSyke]

I only saw one bichir in pic... But looks like a sen


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oh lol didnt notice that hahahah

 

[Mlsantos]

I've always had two one endli 16" an one Senegal 12" and never had any problems with my plecos and I have some plecos that can even fit it their mouth but never had any problems. I have Arowana and flowerhorn also mahseer with them. I guess it jus depends on how much u feed it.


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[BurdenOfBreath]

Good to hear that other people have had good luck with plecos $ aros.

I have 4 plecos in this tank (I know its overkill and not recommended) and none of them have bothered the poly at all. The poly almost eat the long finned but I guess it didn't taste too good.

I was reading posts and people were saying there polys grew 1" a month... this guy grew 1" the first week I had him! He did eat 2-4 neon tetra/2x 3"aro babys within the first 2 days of his new home. I'm still dumbfounded on how he ate the aros since they were as big as he was. My g/f recently nicknamed him orochimaru from naruto. I wonder how big this guy will end up by 2014...