What kinds of bottom feeders do you generally include with Central American cichlids?

[bkfamus]

This is the one and only proper way to use plecostomus.

evil..

 

[bkfamus]

Unless I'm mistaken, there aren't any species of pleco, cory, or other catfish native to Central America that is available in the hobby. So what (if any) species of bottom feeding fish do you house with your Central American cichlids? If you choose to answer can you also mention what type of cichlid you have?

I've had mixed success w/ CA cichlids and plecos depending on the CA cichlid species.. I have medium sized SA plecos in all my tanks except my 240G Vieja melanura tank and my 210 Vieja maculicauda tank.. Also tried previously w/ Vieja breidohri (210G) and V. bifasciata (210G) w/ no luck. I'm sure others have had success, but not me, despite multiple attempts w/ the melanura.. But then, my Viejas don't seem to like anything in their space... except food...

I've also had zero success mixing plecos w/ Amphilophus istalnum, Herichthys carpintis “Escondido”, Nandopsis tetracanthus.. There may be other CA cichlids I ke[pt that doidn't work w/ plecos, but these are the ones I recall that did not tolerate plecos in their tanks..

I currently have plecos in w/ C. bocourti, O. heterospila, T. aureus, T. maculipinnis, T. helleri w/ no issues.. Note, the C. bocourti are still young and will mess w/ my L014 pleco occasionally, but no nipped fins or any damage...

I tend to keep plecos that max from 8 - 12".. multiple different species...

 

[Deadeye]

Kribensis do look interesting. Are they best kept in pairs, solo, or in shoals?

They’re a pairing cichlid. Like any cichlid it’s good to get a group and let a pair form. I have a bachelor group in one tank (they seemingly killed all the females) and it’s constant war with each other.
I wouldn’t buy them to put with ca cichlids though. Many are big enough to eat them. I only did it since I had excess from breeding.